Company accommodation can vary depending on what you are used to in your home country.
F/o's get apartments (usually 3 bed, but sometimes 2). Capt's get 3 or 4 bed Villas.
Utilities are paid for...upto 300 QAR a month. Personally I need about 400 QAR on average to pay all bills a month.
You can get out of Company Accom...but like has been said before...you go on a waiting list and......wait! At the moment I think people wait about 4 weeks to get the allowance...but this could increase to over a year.
Renting here is pretty easy, the places are big but not well looked after. Expect to get on your knees and scrub if you want a clean house....We found our grout was actually white...even the landlord didn't believe it!! Still..in my opinion getting your own place is a must, if you want to spend any time here.