The Association of Realtors is proposing the introduction of state regulation of the rental housing market.
According to informburo.kz, experts have commented on this information. In their opinion, tenants' rights being infringed upon is a frequent topic of discussion. However, they are interested in another question: how tenants can legally protect themselves.
In turn, a member of the council of the self-regulated Association of Realtors of Kazakhstan, Vitaly Brailovsky, believes that the person renting out the property could also be the one who suffers.
"One party can win a case in court, recover the costs incurred, and quietly receive their passive income – that is the purpose of renting. For the tenant as well, there are many risks these days. Often, as we hear, people come, seemingly rent a place, and pay the money. It turns out these are not the owners, but some unknown people who rented the place themselves for three days", Brailovsky noted.
It is noted that the rental housing market needs to be brought under state control to protect tenants' rights. However, the director of a branch of the Union of Builders of Kazakhstan, Vyacheslav Lazarev, disagreed with this opinion.
"In my view, this will kill all market mechanisms, and the rental market will go into a 'grey zone'. In practice, contracts will be signed according to prices set by the state, but unofficially, there will be an additional payment in the form of cash, so-called 'black cash'", Lazarev said.
At the same time, economist and director of the Public Policy Research Centre, Meruert Makhmutova, stated that transparency in the rental market would allow for additional replenishment of the budget and bring the sector out of the shadow economy. According to her, people are queuing for mortgages, including those hoping to earn money by renting out property.
"Our citizens also need to be taught to earn money in a civilised way. All those who rent out property will be registered. That is, the tax authorities will then track their tax payments depending on which form – legal entity or individual – they choose", Meruert Makhmutova noted.
The experts only agreed on one thing: state regulation of housing rentals should be balanced, without bureaucratising the processes. At the same time, it should protect the rights of the parties, without touching on pricing policy.