Parag Deulgaonkar

Landlords in Dubai can face up to Dh50,000 as penalty for non-registration of the rental contracts on Ejari, the e-registration portal, according to Landmark Properties.

"Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) can impose penalties of up to Dh50,000 in case of non-compliance with the Ejari law. Besides, tenants will not be able to get Dewa, du or etisalat connections as well," Christiane Murray, Head of Landmark Property Management, Landmark Properties, told Emirates 24|7.

Earlier on Tuesday, we reported that landlords or real estate leasing and management companies are being warned to register rental contracts on the Ejari or face penalties for non-compliance.

Asked what recourse does a tenant have if the landlord refuses to register the contract on Ejari, Murray said tenants will eventually suffer the consequences as the law states that utilities can only be connected based on an Ejari tenancy contract.

"Landlords might find themselves in a position that prospective tenants will not rent their properties anymore if they cannot provide proof that the tenancy will be registered with Ejari."

However, tenants don't have the option of registering the contracts on the Ejari.

"Only the landlord or a licenced property management company can register provided they have taken the Ejari course, which is the pre-requisite to get access to the system."

Landmark started registering tenancy contracts, which are under its property management since August 2010.

"It is a quite tedious process as the data collection for each registration is time consuming. We have to liaise with the respective landlords to collect the required information such as title deed, enter it into the Ejari system, requesting registration approval before we can issue a management contract in the system that allows for the final tenancy contract approval and the actual issuing of the Ejari tenancy contract."

According to Murray, Rera has published a fee of Dh160 per tenancy contract registration/approval. Besides, the agency charges Dh500 per individual landlord for the Ejari course.

"If landlords and especially the ones not residing in the country don't want to go through this time consuming process, we are offering this also as a onetime service to register a tenancy contract on behalf of a landlord," she added.