Writing a residential lease and lodging copies within thirty days
Keys are sometimes handed over on a spoken understanding, and months later the parties disagree about duration or who may live in the home. Property Lease Law (No. 87, enacted 1979) sets a clear formal rule for residential leases within its scope. The office of lawyer Ali Barakat in Baghdad, al-Yarmouk, explains that rule and the related drafting points.
Is the lease within the Law?
Article 1 applies the Law to built property let for Iraqi residential occupation within the Amanat Baghdad and municipal boundaries, subject to exceptions that include property let to non-Iraqis. A foreign tenant or a commercial purpose moves the question to the lease rules of the civil legislation or a dedicated statute. The wider landlord file is covered in the landlord's file before and after a lease; this page concentrates on writing, lodging and contents.
Writing and lodging within thirty days
Article 7(4)(a) places a joint duty on landlord and tenant to record their bargain on paper and hand one copy to the property-tax office and another to the local information office, using the police station instead wherever that office is absent, all inside thirty days of signing. Because the duty is shared, neither side should simply assume the other will deal with it.
Keep evidence of lodging and its date. It assists in any later disagreement over the start date or terms and removes argument over whether a lease exists.
Consequence of omission: open proof
Article 7(4)(b) deals with an unwritten or unlodged arrangement. Once a year or more has run from the agreement and move-in, with no written challenge from the owner, and with the owner or a representative living in Iraq throughout, the tenant can establish the arrangement and its terms through witnesses, circumstances or any other evidence.
Two practical points follow. An owner who relies on an oral arrangement may face witness evidence on terms never written down. The text also treats an owner living outside Iraq differently, which matters where property is run through an agent, as discussed in running property for an owner abroad. A written dispute within the year also changes the analysis.
What the document should contain
A useful residential lease records:
- the property as described in the registry, the parties and the landlord's capacity;
- the handover date, since article 2 runs the term from the named date or from handover of vacant premises;
- a furniture list for a furnished let, because article 5 gives the tenant the choice and article 7(1) links furniture to valuation by the property-tax office;
- the names of those who will live with the tenant.
The last item matters. Article 13 bars the tenant from housing anyone not named in the lease without the landlord's written consent. It exempts ascendants, descendants and their spouses, siblings described in the text and anyone the tenant supports by law or custom, provided the premises can accommodate them and none of them owns residential property in the same city.
Duration in newer buildings
Article 3 extends a lease after expiry while the tenant remains in occupation and keeps paying rent as the Law requires. It excludes residential buildings completed on or after 1/1/1998, where duration follows the parties' agreement. Recording the completion date, where known, therefore helps identify the rule governing duration.
Practical steps at signing
Prepare enough signed originals for both parties and for the two receiving offices. Write the signing date clearly, because the thirty-day period runs from it. Landlord and tenant, or their representatives, then attend the property-tax office and the information office. Keep proof of lodging with the lease. If occupants change later, record the landlord's written consent in a signed annex.
Legal basis and sources
Frequently asked questions
Who must lodge the copies?
Article 7(4)(a) places the duty on both landlord and tenant.
Where is the copy lodged without an information office?
At the police station, alongside the property-tax office.
Does a lease of a newly built home extend automatically?
For buildings completed on or after 1/1/1998, article 3(2) leaves duration to the agreement.
Related topics and articles
- 01What a landlord reviews before and after a lease in BaghdadWhat a Baghdad landlord reviews before and after a lease under Rent Law 87/1979 and the Civil Code.
- 02An eviction claim for unpaid rentEviction under Rent Law 87/1979 for unpaid rent (art. 17, first paragraph): the notary warning and the seven-, eight- and fifteen-day periods.
- 03Managing Iraqi property for an owner living abroadManaging an Iraqi property from abroad: the mandate, reporting, records, delegated powers and handover under the Civil Code.
- 04Sale or mortgage and the real-estate tax step in governorates not organised in a regionSale or mortgage and the real-estate tax step in governorates not organised in a region, under Law 162/1959 and Land Registration Law 43/1971.
- 05Ending co-ownership of shared propertyHow co-ownership of property ends under the Civil Code: agreed partition by registration, a First Instance claim, or sale if it cannot be divided.