Where to sleep is among the biggest questions facing fans traveling to tiny Qatar for the World Cup amid a feverish rush for rooms in Doha.
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But in the run-up to the world's biggest sporting event in the world's smallest host country, the struggle for housing is hardly limited to tourists. Qatar's real estate frenzy has sent rents skyrocketing and priced long-term residents out of their own homes, leaving many in the lurch.
Residents in the country, where expats outnumber locals nine to one, say the surging demand and shortage of rooms ahead of the World Cup has empowered landlords to raise rents by over 40% in many cases on short notice, forcing tenants to pack up and face an uncertain future.
The Qatari government acknowledged the "increased demand for accommodation" and encouraged tenants who believe they have been wronged to file a complaint with the government's rental disputes committee.
Some 1.2 million fans are expected to descend next month on the Gulf Arab sheikhdom, which has never before hosted an event on the scale of the World Cup.
