9.52 PM Thursday, 28 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:57 06:11 12:27 15:53 18:37 19:51
28 March 2024

Rent contract is a must for more Abu Dhabi public services

Published

Expatriates seeking to benefit from the services of three government departments in Abu Dhabi must produce attested tenancy contracts in line with new rules outlined by the emirate on Thursday.

Tenancy contracts must be attested authorized property agents before they are presented with any application for services at the Department of Economic Development (DED), the Department of Transport and the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (Adwea), the municipality said.

The new rules have already been enforced and would be extended to cover other services including residence visas, it said in a statement carried by the Dubai-based Arabic language daily Emirat Alyoum.

It said the regulations are part of its project to set up a comprehensive data base for housing units in the emirate of more than two million people, adding that nearly 185,000 units have already been registered in the base.

“Producing an attested tenancy contract is now a must for all expatriates with a valid residence visa to benefit from those services….any one with a valid visa will not be able to receive such services and facilities from those departments without submitting an attested tenancy contract,” it said.

The paper quoted Hamdan al Falahi, deputy director of the real estate data registration division, as saying expatriate tenants can have their rent contracts attested by nearly 110 authorized agents, including the rent unit of the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Al Dar Properties, Diyar, Burooj, Abu Dhabi National Properties Company and other firms registered with “Tawtheeq” programme introduced by the Municipality for the creation of the data base.

“Those who do not have valid residence visas can not have a tenancy contract…the Municipality will stop any application that includes a rent contract attested by a party not registered with Tawtheeq,” he said.