What is the ruling on one who permits taking money in exchange for vacating a premises on the grounds that this applies only in important commercial areas and not elsewhere?

The questioner : For example, the one who says that this "vacating fee" is not a problem; he tells you: "If I were in a non-commercial area, or in an area with no demand, we would not ask for a vacating fee. We ask for it because the area has a lot of activity and a lot of benefit, so we ask for this from that perspective."

The Shaykh : This statement—may Allah reward you—has no meaning. Does this statement answer what you clarified earlier? That is, this place is in a commercial area; does what I said earlier not apply to it? We say to this owner of this place in the most upscale commercial area: "The vacating fee you are asking for is in exchange for what?" There is no difference, meaning, whether the shop is in a commercial area and an important commercial center, or on the outskirts of the town; there is no difference. We want to understand why this vacating fee is charged? Some people say things that may be somewhat reasonable, but they do not justify committing this forbidden act. They say that today tenants are dealing with the rented property as if they were what? Owners. This statement has some validity, as we said earlier, that today people do not deal according to the rulings of the Shari'ah. One of these rulings of the Shari'ah is that believers are bound by their conditions. This place must be rented and leased with clear conditions; because clarity drives away Satan, and believers are bound by their conditions.
It must be specified, for example, that the annual rent for this place is such-and-such, and that this contract is renewed every year, every two years, every five years, and so on. They do not do this today; and so the tenant has become as if he were the owner. Incidents have occurred to us in Syria, meaning, in a place that might be smaller than this place, we charged the tenant a vacating fee of millions. The tenant took millions, perhaps he did not earn all these millions in his entire life, the one who was a tenant in this property. Is it his right to take this money? Wrongfully. They consume the wealth of people wrongfully.
So the point is, we say... there is a Shari'ah condition between them. It is possible to take what is called today a "vacating fee" as a pledge, a pledge, not a vacating fee that makes it lawful for him, as if it were rent. This pledge, when the agreed-upon time for vacating comes and you do not leave, I will take it in compensation for the harm that will befall me due to your breach of the condition we agreed upon.

Another questioner : Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
And this, in reality, reminds us that there is no problem that occurs in this world that does not have two solutions: a Shari'ah solution and a non-Shari'ah solution. People now want non-Shari'ah solutions. Do we not find Shari'ah solutions? But people have distanced themselves from the Shari'ah in both aspects: the scholarly aspect and the practical aspect. So often we know the Shari'ah and then deviate from it. The clearest example is men imitating women and women imitating men; this is a matter no one is ignorant of, but despite that, it has spread and become widespread. But there are matters that even some of the specialists do not know, let alone the general public. What is the cause of this? Distancing oneself from studying religious knowledge. So we are facing two problems: ignorance of the correct knowledge, and action; abandoning action according to the correct knowledge. And each of them is severe.
This is the answer to that question.