The House
A name that meansproperty, and root.
عقار — ʿaqār — is the Arabic for real property: a thing that does not move. Akar is also root. We chose a name that says both, because the two halves of this business are exactly that — the modern discipline of documentation, and the oldest idea in property, which is that something is here to stay.
عقار
ʿaqār — real property. A thing that does not move.
And akar — root. Two words, one name, and between them the whole of what this company is for: the modern discipline of documentation, and the oldest idea in property, which is that something is here to stay.
It began withone empty house.
In 2017 a friend of the family left Tangier for Brussels and asked whether someone could look in on the apartment now and then. There was no company, no name and no fee. There was a set of keys and a promise.
What became clear over the following year was that the service he actually wanted did not exist here. There were agents, who wanted to sell. There were managers, who wanted bookings. There was nobody whose only job was to make sure a building was still in good order and the owner still knew it.
That is the whole business. It has not changed since, and it has not needed to.
Principles
Five things we hold to.
- I
The owner's interest, first and always
Where our revenue and the health of the building disagree, the building wins. This is written into every engagement, and it is the reason we decline work.
- II
Nothing happens without a record
Every entry, every contractor, every dirham, photographed and logged. An owner should be able to reconstruct a decade from the file.
- III
Discretion is structural
We do not publish addresses, owners or unit numbers. We do not use client property in marketing without written consent. We do not discuss one owner with another.
- IV
Repair before replace
A repaired original is worth more than a new equivalent, in money and in every other way. We use the trades that made the thing in the first place.
- V
A small number of houses
We take on a few each year. Growth that costs us the ability to stand in every room every week is not growth we want.
Ground
Tangier,and the coasteither side of it.
We work in Tangier and the northern coast — Aouama, Malabata, Cap Spartel, Tanja Balia, Achakar, and as far as Asilah.
It is a deliberate limit. Stewardship means being able to reach a house within the hour, and no company can promise that across a country.
Trust is built long before the keys change hands.
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