- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 04:31 05:49 12:21 15:48 18:47 20:05
Abu Dhabi registered a y-o-y rental increase of 12 per cent in Q2 2014 while the same ranged between 11 per cent for villas and 27 per cent for apartments in Dubai. (Shutterstock)
The Rental Dispute Settlement Centre, the judicial arm of the Dubai Land Department (DLD), will become operational from December and will resolve most of disputes in a maximum of 30 days.
“The decree has been issued and the centre will be operational from December,” said Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director-General, DLD.
On September 22, Dubai government issued Decree No. 26 of 2013 establishing the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre aimed to enhance legal procedures that facilitate the settlement of rental disputes which, in turn, will reflect positively on socio-economic stability among members of the community.
According to the Article 16 of the decree, all committees will have to judge all rental lawsuits within a period not exceeding 30 days from the date of referral of the case to them. The deadline may, however, be extended in accordance with the rules and procedures adopted by the chairman of the Centre in this regard.
Mejren said that the centre will have 10 committees, out of which eight will be committee for first instances and two for appeal.
“We have already recruited 48 legal experts for the centre,” he informed.
Although the judgments passed by Dubai Municipality Rent Committee were final and could not be appealed, the Centre will allow an appeal only in cases were the value is over Dh100,000. In other cases, all judgments are considered final and not subject to appeal.
Mejren disclosed that the Centre had not yet finalised any fees and hence plaintiffs will currently have to pay 3.5 per cent of the annual rent as fees as charged by Dubai Municipality Rent Committee.
“The fee will remain the same as charged earlier by the Rent Committee for a few months until the Centre revises it if need may be.”
The Centre’s scope of practice does not cover rental disputes arising within Dubai’s free zones, which have their own judicial committees, or special courts, to adjudicate in such matters.
Moreover, its authority does not extend to disputes arising from contract leasing, as well as those arising from long-term leases covered by the provisions of Decree No. 7 for the year 2006, which pertains to real estate registration in Dubai.
The final judgments issued by the First Instance and the Appeals Departments will be executed by the Execution Department, but the chairman of the Centre may also resort to the Dubai Courts to execute judgments.
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