KUWAIT: Minister of Justice Nasser Al-Sumait issued a decision on Sunday to form a committee to set conditions for property ownership of investment companies in which expats are shareholders. An Amiri decree was issued last week allowing listed companies in which non-Kuwaitis have shares, in addition to investment entities, to own property in the country for their businesses but excluded private residences.
The decree relaxed strict conditions set by a 1979 law that banned foreigners from owning property without the prior approval of the Council of Ministers. Al-Sumait said the new step comes to improve the legal environment to encourage investments and facilitate their ownership of property in the country, adding that the proposed legislation aims at striking a balance between attracting investments and protecting property ownership.
The committee will list the conditions in a new decree that will include rules and regulations for licensing the property ownership, naming the areas where foreign ownership is allowed and restrictions on reselling them, the minister said. Most Gulf countries currently allow foreigners to own houses directly and some states even offer long term residence permits to big buyers.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Council on Sunday approved a request by Kuwait Municipality to change the names of 591 streets and roads to numbers, while renaming three streets after Arab capitals and retaining 66 existing names. During an extraordinary meeting, the council approved recommendations by a special committee formed to study the issue which called for changing the names to numbers. The new decision came after a change in the law stipulating that names of persons should not be used to name areas or streets except for rulers, crown princes, leaders of Arab and friendly nations, historical figures and some members of the ruling Al-Sabah family.
