Irish wife

Hi everyone

We recently moved to Doha for my husband's work.

We have been living in a hotel for the last month or so, whilst we found a house and his residency permit was sorted. He will receive his first pay cheque next week. He also receives a housing allowance, again paid next week.

However, today he was told he won't receive the housing allowance for September as the company used it to pay for the hotel. This has now meant we have no allowance to pay rent for October, for the house we have lined up to move into (or indeed for the hotel if we stayed). They have offered to loan him the money and pay it back at a ridiculous amount (basically half his wage over the next 2 months!). He has been in contact with HR again - we can't afford to pay the rent of our own back (we have our house in the uk and contributions to school fees and the cost of living for the month and furniture etc. the list goes on and on!)

Is this a normal situation to be in? In our previous overseas positions this has never occurred, the company has always covered the first month accommodation.

It has been an extremely stressful move and I am finding the city difficult to adjust to, so this on top of it all really is making me wish we never came

Thanks in advance and sorry to rant.

martinbkk

I cant speak to the specifics of any particular company but from my own experience of Qatar coupled with the usual amount of expat hearsay I'd say it's very much the sort of chicanery and cost avoidance that companies and their HR departments rely on for daily entertainment.

It doesn't in any case though seem unreasonable, they are paying the housing allowance one way or the other, be it in hotel or apartment/villa rent. Of course if the signing agreement specified that the first month housing allowance would essentially be double or that there would be other set up costs paid in the first month then that's another matter.

What I have also found is that you simply cannot be complacent and should insist on ratifying every single tiny detail, how and on what date payments will be made, exactly what will and will not be paid for. Any missteps here will always end up in the company's favour.

iggle

I found that the 1st month of the hotel was paid for, then your on your own.

Fossildog

So the company paid for you to live in a hotel for September and are paying HA for October but you also expected them to pay HA for September as well? Think the company is in the right here, they housed you in September and are paying for October so cant see what the issue is. Setup always costs a fortune here unfortunately.

DXBtoDOH

Well, it's Doha. It's a place known for *****ing over people, again and again.

I know where you're coming from as my previous and current expat stint always had the first month's accommodation provided by the company separate from the housing allowance (so it was "free" accommodation for the month).

What does your husband's contract specifically say?

scrubbedexpat141

We put people up for two weeks when they move and it's deducted (limited to two weeks of their housing allowance) from that month's housing.

Some people don't like it, others see it as fair enough.

I'd suggest negotiating the terms of the loan to a longer period with them or taking out a loan with a bank for the rent.

DXBtoDOH

Is two weeks long enough to allow newbies to set up their bank accounts and get chequebooks so that they can rent a property?

scrubbedexpat141

I think it should be a month personally, although all arrive with visas prepared so just medical and stuff to get done. HSBC will set up a bank without a visa in a day or two and we do rent loans, so there aren't many excuses to 'need' a month etc etc etc.

But...the party line; "we want you to get settled as quickly as possible so you can start focusing on work, not worrying for a whole month where you're going to live etc"

It's frustrating but I've never had a person drop out because of it. Some have pushed and negotiated and I'm sure lots just extend the hotel apartment and stay longer anyway.

mission

when I moved to Dubai my company paid for 2 weeks in a hotel, while I searched for my accommodation....we had no offices at the time and so I was also working from the hotel. I pretty much found the accommodation within that time frame. The company paid the full year's lease up front and then it was deducted from my salary on a monthly basis from the time the lease started.


I am surprised you didn't negotiate for the company to pay for your full year's lease up front and any short fall/surplus from the annual housing allowance is either deducted or paid to your husband on a monthly basis.

DXBtoDOH

Doha operates on a monthly rent system, so the practice of a whole year's rent upfront isn't standard, unless the company rents the property for you outright.

mission

ah I see....wasn't aware of that. ta

co durham boy

To be honest it seems like the company have met their obligation towards the housing allowance as it's something that i have seen before and it happened to me in Qatar as well .

The one thing you must prepare for is the detail of the contract , it can be very different in Qatar and you must be prepared to cover the cost if something happens just like you have to in a lot of situations overseas.

Qatar has a monthly rental system which is it's biggest plus in my eyes for new people coming in as a lot of firms are now looking to shift the cost and risk to their employees . The first few months are very hard and difficult and more so in a place like Doha.

Stick with it if you can and remember the devil is always in the detail .

martinbkk

The upside of this seems that Doha rents are a dropping, or at least not rising. Supply seems to have caught up with demand, more so at the higher end so you can likely negotiate a better rent deal than say 18 months to 2 years ago.

Irish wife

Thanks everyone

Sadly, we didn't get anything in writing...hindsight, for next time!

However, they verbally agreed to pay for our hotel for the first month. Then once he had a pay cheque (which included the HA), we were on our own. The reason we are so cross is now they say we have to actually pay for the hotel using his September wage/HA...which we have arranged to use for October rent. Hope that makes sense.

We are still negotiating with them now. All other staff at the company are moved into accommodation that is owned by the company from the beginning, but we are not as we have children and my husband is higher up the line and the company don't want him to live with the staff. (For whatever reason?) Hence we are finding our own.

Maybe I am very naive, but I am afraid I did expect the company to put us up for the first month 'for free' since he hasn't had a pay cheque from them yet. This is also how it works for all the other staff. If we went over the month of course we would pay it from his wage/HA. I am not expecting double HA at all. Just somewhere to live while we set up.

Oh well, who knows!! Thanks for everyone's feedback.

co durham boy

Remember you'll be dealing with very low level HR who won't deviate from any policy whatsoever.

Try and get in front of a Senior honcho and get your case across in a measured manner .

You'll find there's always politics at play and one upmanship coupled with the usual office demographics in this region .

Good Luck !