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Saturday 31 May 2025
LOCAL EDITION
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LOCAL EDITION
Towers built under the Hiyaa Housing Project in Hulhumale'. (Sun Photo/Fayaz Moosa)
“I don’t have to pay rent. I refuse not.”
This is the response by a 29-year-old man who lives in a Hiyaa flat with his wife when asked about why he don’t pay rent. It is not that he does not have the financial means to pay rent. He doesn’t want to.
“When I look out from the balcony of my flat, I see plots of land handed away to multiple people just free of charge. Land that is worth MVR 15 million to MVR 16 million apiece. Just freely handed away without taking anything in exchange. And I am supposed to pay rent for this cramped place?” he responded angrily.
“Do you know how much the government owes me for various projects? But you don’t talk about that, do you?”
Housing is a fundamental right. And ensuring housing is a duty entrusted upon the state.
Another person who does not pay rent provided a different response. “I will pay if everyone else does too,” he said with a laugh. He does not appear to believe there’s an issue with the non-payment of rent.
All social issues facing the congested Maldivian capital traces back to its growing housing crisis. Dozens of people cramped into a single room, locked in constant dispute. These families spend 68 percent of their income on rent. But this still leaves out utilities, food and other necessities.
A 2019 survey by National Bureau of Statistics show households in Male’ spend an average of more than MVR 37,000 on living expenses each month, with each member of the household spending more than MVR 7,000.
Most of this spending on basic necessities.
60% of tenants do not pay rent; MVR 700 million in outstanding rent
Information obtained by Sun under the Right to Information (RTI) Act shows that out of 8,511 flats managed by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), 193 flats have been paid off. There are outstanding rent payments on the majority of the remaining flats.
Its not just the “regular people” who aren’t paying rent. There’s over MVR 1.2 billion in outstanding lease payments for land leased to businesses for commercial use. The Parliament is working to recover this money.
Why aren’t people paying rent?
The monthly rent payment for Hiyaa flats is lower than MVR 5,000. The monthly rent for flats located in Hulhumale’ Phase II is MVR 6,500. These figures are significantly lower than commercial rates. So why aren’t people paying rent? Isn’t this what they agreed to?
“I pay a rent of MVR 15,000 for an apartment the same size as a Hiyaa flat. So why are they refusing? The flats need to be seized from them,” said a man angry over the refusal to pay rent for Hiyaa flats.
Different people have different excuses and different reasons for their refusal to pay rent.
The state spends billions of Rufiyaa on housing projects. The people refusing to pay rent are living in housing towers that cost the state billions to build. These towers were funded with massive loans, and paid using taxpayer money.
Housing is a fundamental right. But the failure to pay rent by one is also an encroachment on the right of thousands of people. The burden falls on the people. And this creates a shortage of funds that could have financed housing for others.
An issue that requires research
Next to Hiyaa flats, regardless of its low rent, lies plots of land given to people free of charge. This was done at a loss of MVR 11 billion to HDC.
“The people aren’t going to be responsible in a society where its leaders are not. They can’t be held responsible. The sublease and refusal to pay rent for social housing flats is something that needs to be studied in order to identify the causes. The reasons are many from what we can already see. These issues need to be addressed,” said Midhuam Saud, founder of The Commoners, an organization that advocates for the rights of tenants.
“While we are on this subject, we must understand this is something that cannot be resolved without resolving all the issues surrounding this.”
What he is talking about is also the land plots. It might be hard to enforce rents on USD 62,000 flats that oversee 1,250 square feet plots that are given to people free of charge.
Midhuam believes there’s only one solution to the issue of non-payment of rent; leaving the management of flats to unions. Leaving both the management and maintenance of flats to unions. To “name and shame” people who refuse to pay rent.
He does not believe there’s any other way to enforce rent.
“Let’s accept this reality. That we cannot get this done any other way,” he said.
There’s a reality that everyone must accept. That people cannot be allowed to live in flats they refuse to pay rent for. They cannot be allowed to openly flout the legally binding agreements they signed. They must have the flats seized from them.
But this cannot be done without resolving all the injustices surrounding this.
