In a decisive move to preserve the residential character of Kuwait’s neighborhoods, authorities have declared that private institutes are no longer welcome within private housing areas—though nurseries are still allowed, provided they walk a regulatory tightrope.
Municipal acting chief Eng. Manal Al-Asfour made it clear: the only exception to the ban is for nurseries operating under strict legal and spatial conditions. Drawing from Law No. 22 of 2014, she outlined that nurseries can legally function in private, investment, and commercial residences—but only with prior approval from neighbors and the municipality, and only if they meet a comprehensive set of rules.
Those rules, baked into the law’s executive regulations, paint a tight framework:
- A maximum of three nurseries per residential plot
- One of those must be designated for children with special needs
- The nursery must fully occupy the building—no sharing with residents or side businesses
- Parking must match the number of vehicles used by staff
- No activities or operations in the basement
Location matters, too. Only plots within designated service areas make the cut, and even then, the green light from the municipality is non-negotiable.
While nurseries have a narrow legal pathway, private institutes have no such luck. Ministerial resolutions have locked down residential zones for one use only: private living. Educational institutes, training centers, or similar ventures are flat-out banned from setting up shop in these spaces. If one slips through, enforcement kicks in fast.
So far, watchdogs have caught 41 violators across Farwaniya and Mubarak Al-Kabeer, and 17 more in Capital and Jahra. Hawalli and Ahmadi are next on the list, with municipal teams currently building their case files.
When violations are detected, offenders are slapped with a seven-day eviction notice. Fail to comply, and the matter escalates: a formal case is filed under building regulations, with the legal department stepping in to pursue further action.
The message from the municipality is clear—residential zones in Kuwait are for living, not learning, unless you’re a nursery ready to follow every rule in the book.
