Council urged to reject draft building law over fears of added expenses for homeowners

TDT | Manama

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Muharraq’s municipal councillors are being urged to reject draft Building Regulation Law that accompanies Decree-Law No (53) of 2025, after the council’s Financial and Legal Committee said it would increase costs for homeowners and introduce penalties, including possible jail terms, for breaches of building rules.

Working under Municipalities Law No (35) of 2001, the committee said it had reviewed the draft, examined its articles on permits, inspections and procedures, and studied its likely effect on neighbourhoods and local services. On that basis, the committee recommended that the council should not approve the draft.

The committee stated that its main concern lies with Article 25, which would require every project and building job to be supervised by an engineering office.

Report

According to the report, applying the same rule to all works, including minor repairs and routine maintenance, would place an extra financial load on citizens.

The committee added that the law does not group projects into large, medium and small categories, which in its view could lead to measures that do not match the scale of the work.

It also noted that many of the detailed rules are left to the implementing regulation, without a clear general frame in the law, raising the risk of uneven practice between different areas.

Engineering office

Under the same article, the competent authority would be allowed to appoint an engineering office with the required technical capacity to inspect a project before issuing a completion certificate, with the licence applicant required in all cases to pay for the inspection.

The committee said that, in the absence of a ceiling or fee guide, inspection charges could rise and differ from one office to another.

It also pointed out that the draft does not spell out any right of appeal or re-assessment and argued that bringing in a second office to check a project already supervised by a first could result in duplicated steps and higher costs without clear technical need.

Duties

Article 27, dealing with the duties of the engineering office and building contractor, would require the supervising office to inform the authority of its appointment, the appointment or removal of the main contractor and any subcontractor, and any stoppage of work.

One paragraph treats the stoppage or suspension of building works for three consecutive months, or for another period to be named in the implementing regulation, as a case that must be reported.

The committee warned that compulsory reporting in such situations could expose project owners to penalties or fines even when work pauses for reasons outside their control, such as funding delays, family issues or changing market conditions.

Paperwork

For small or non-structural jobs, it added, this could add paperwork without clear benefit for safety or build quality.

On penalties, the report raised concerns about Article 41, which allows a fine of between BD500 and BD1,000 for certain breaches.

The committee argued that a minimum of BD500 does not take account of the range of possible violations and could be high for minor or non-structural cases.

It also noted that the draft does not classify violations as serious, medium or minor, which, in its view, could lead to different treatment of similar cases.