Single expats can’t reside in residential areas of Sohar

Muscat: Sohar Municipality has issued an administrative decision determining the type of residential and commercial real estate use.

A statement issued online by Sohar Municipality said, ”According to the local order regarding the organisation of buildings in the Wilayat Sohar and the decision of Royal Court regarding the registration of lease contracts in Sohar Municipality, the following has been decided:

1. Certification of lease contracts in homes and villas is limited to residential neighbourhoods for family housing only, whether the tenant is accompanied by his family or by himself.

2. It is forbidden to register lease contracts for workers and single employees in homes and villas in residential neighbourhoods.

3. Combining residential place and commercial economic activity is not permitted in the unit.

4. It is prohibited to register lease contracts for unskilled or semi-skilled single workers in buildings designated for residential or commercial residential use.

5. Lease contracts concluded for apartments in multi-storey residential and commercial buildings, more than two floors without a roof floor, maybe certified for singles of the following categories: managers, doctors, engineers, and their level at the rate of one employee in each room, and students, administrators, technicians, professionals, and their level at a rate of only two people in each room with the need to adhere to the following:

A) Register the lease contract with the institution with which the employee works and not with the employee himself.

B) The lessor must install external screens on the windows of the building from the directions overlooking the houses and residential villas, if any, before concluding the contract, as well as appointing a permanent employee to supervise the building and its residents.

C) The chartering institution must adhere to not stopping the buses to transport employees in front of the rented building, obliging the employees to stay inside the residence while they are in it and not to appear outside it with indecent clothing.