Private landlords vs corporate in Doha?
 

Let me apologise in advance if I've missed an existing thread on this...

My wife and I are keen to get permanent (1yr+) housing ASAP after spending some time in company digs. We've come across an apartment that has 2 that we like, one with a private landlord, and the other owned by the developer, which is QAR1000/month more expensive and not quite as nice in terms of position (but perfectly decent compared to your average UK flat). Both claim to have maintenance crews on or near site.

Does anyone have any experience of how private landlords are over here, and if there is any way to protect ourselves (other than write our own tenancy agreement which is not gonna happen)? Is there much protection under Qatar law? A premium of 12,000 a year seems quite a lot to us for the supposed comfort of going with a big company!

Thanks!