Water, electricity and municipality tax

24POSTS

10 years ago

Hey there. We are busy signing a contract for a new place. I see in the contract that the landlord has set a cap at bd 600 per annum for water, electricity and municipality. Is this a fair amount? Also do they usually include the municipality tax in that cap?聽 My realtor said they don't usually include municipality in the water and electricity cap.
Thanks in advance.

1 member reacted to this post

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Carl2016 Active member

41POSTS

10 years ago

Good point I would like to know the same too.

logicalindian Bahrain Expert

3515POSTS

10 years ago

Hello,

Most of the contracts do include electricity, water & tax and it also depends on the length of the contract 1 or 2 years. If 2 years then if its 600 divide by 24 which is approx 25BHD pm, and in most cases it should suffice a months cost (for a 2BHK). I am sure if anyone has more info on the same they would reply back.

T&R

2 members reacted to this post

Farhaz ViP

2081POSTS

10 years ago

BD 600 per annum works to BD50 per month. I would say this is a fairly reasonable cap.

I used to live in a 2 roomed apartment earlier. The monthly utility bill was around BD20 on average. I presently live in a mid-size villa. My monthly average is about BD50 - its obviously higher in the summer months and lower in the cooler winter months, but irons itself out to about BD50 per month.

A small word of caution - there is a rumour that the government may remove the subsidy on utilities soon. Make sure you have a clause that will allow you to negotiate this cap, if the government were to indeed remove these subsidies.

Make sure the municipality rates are separately handled in your agreement, to prevent any confusion later on. Some greedy landlords stay silent about this, and you may end up taking on this cost also as part of this cap.

All the best.

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XTang Bahrain/UAE/KSA Expert

11978POSTS

10 years ago

Municipality rates are usually NOT part of the cap.聽 The cap generally applies to electricity & water.聽 Taxes are an obligation to the Government and are linked to the rental contract value hence the landlord should treat them separately.

On the flip side, if you were in Dubai, as the tenant you would be liable for ALL water/electricity/taxes as rentals there are completely exclusive - costs of being in a preferred destination for expats!!.聽 The one thing I really love about Bahrain rentals (after 5 years in Dubai) is how much cost the landlord picks up.聽 So you might want to agree to the cap if you really like the place.

Also, I live in a 4 bedroom villa.聽 My average monthly electricity & water bill ranges between the 50-70 BD mark (Highest is in summer and it can go to 150 BD+) and my cap is 720 BD on an annual basis聽 which allows me to offset high summer months vs. low winter months.