Leasing flats for two offers, yearly or monthly

26-4-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu, Shaykh. There are flat owners here in Makkah who rent with two offers, one is a yearly contract, and the other is monthly or for a period of months, etc. I have noticed that some owners have mentioned that if one will do the yearly contract for that flat, he will have to pay 30,000 Saudi riyals (for example), but if the same flat is rented for a month or for a period of months, less than a year, the price is different, it is more if a percentage is taken out of those 30,000 of yearly rent. Is this wrong? Please advise, and it is quite urgent. May Allaah reward you, Shaykh.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

As long as the landlord and the tenant agree on one of the two offers before leaving the contract session, then this is permissible, and there is no problem regarding the difference of the rent according to the length of the lease. Most scholars held that it is permissible for the Muslim to sell his commodity at a specified price on the spot or at a higher deferred price.

The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Fiqh reads, “If a person sells the commodity for one thousand as an immediate payment or for one thousand one hundred to be paid within a year ... if the two contracting parties agreed on one of the two specified prices before leaving the session of the contract, the sale is valid ... This is the view held by the majority of scholars.”

Allah knows best.