Dubai's landlord-tenant law found most effective

Residents in Dubai have shown wide support for the existing laws and regulations that govern the real estate in the country.

According to a new survey conducted by legal firm Hadef and Partners, respondents who participated in the study showed widespread support for the existing real estate laws in Dubai with the Escrow Law and the Landlord & Tenant Law seen as the most effective.

The Escrow Law was issued in order to control the real estate market in Dubai and to regulate the construction and selling of properties off-plan to guarantee the rights of buyers.

According to Dubai Land Department (DLD), the law applies to all projects announced by before/after the publishing of the law in the Official Gazette.

“In some cases, the developer may be excluded from opening the escrow account, especially for projects near completion and if the company doesn’t have other issues in its projects or with its investors. However, the granting of the exception is jurisdiction of Rera,” reads DLD website.

This is coupled with an increasing awareness of the rights of all interested parties. For example, on the rental front, many tenants confirmed they have successfully challenged landlords who wished to evict them or increase their rent without a valid ground.

However, most residents who decided to challenge the decision of the other party did so through negotiation rather than resorting to the Landlord & Tenant Tribunal.

The survey also shows support for the DLD to enable “alternative financiers (i.e., other than banks) to register mortgages if they fund development. This would enable wider sources of real estate finance to be made available and ease credit squeezes cause by the banks current real estate loan concentration limits.”

To end the practices of unscrupulous brokers, respondents also spoke in favour of regulations that seek to limit or bar the undue payments charged by them.

“There is support for further regulation in relation to the practices followed by real estate brokers with many complaints about buyers being forced to accept payments to brokers who played no part in the transaction or to accept the terms proposed by the broker rather than the seller or the purchaser themselves,” reads the survey.

Even as most support the favourable rules that control the real estate in Dubai, respondents called for faster implementation of the Jointly Owned Property Law citing concerns about being overcharged for services in the current environment.

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