Question: My tenant’s lease ended at the end of October, but he is still staying in my property. He has been late with rent payments several times and gave me two bad checks. I have already filed a legal case about this. He later paid some money, but some is still unpaid.
He is not responding and did not let my power of attorney check the property. I paid the Dewa bills and then turned off the service in December after waiting a month. The tenant needs to pay for this too. He has been messaging my power of attorney after the Dewa service was turned off and is trying hard to stay.
What legal steps should I take right away to evict him, and how long will it take? What costs might I face, and what is the fastest and cheapest way to get my property back? Can the police help with this? OS, Dubai
Answer: To evict a tenant who is not paying rent, you need to send them a notarized letter asking them to pay all the money they owe right away. You must also give the tenant an extra 30 days to fix the problem before you can take the case to the Rental Dispute Committee in Deira, Dubai.
In the past, the committee has made a decision in a few weeks, but it can take months if the case is complicated. Filing a case costs 3.5 percent of the rent amount, and using lawyers and translators will make it more expensive.
The fastest way to get your property back is to send the notarized letter as mentioned. After 30 days, you can take the case to the dispute center and show that you gave the tenant this time. The court will then start the eviction process, which might take a little longer to finish.
Unfortunately, the police cannot get involved. However, if you think that talking with them and your tenant might help speed things up, you can ask for their help.
Q: A friend of mine recently bought a property. He knew about the agency commission of 2 percent plus VAT, but there was an extra 0.4 percent charge for conveyancing that was not explained. Is this a normal fee to charge? JB, Dubai
A: Conveyancing fees are a normal part of buying property, and any company should explain this through dedicated conveyancers. In the past, brokers handled the whole process from start to finish. However, sometimes problems happened, leading to legal issues because unqualified people were involved.
The property company your friend used should have explained all the fees and listed them. Conveyancing fees depend on how difficult the case is and whether the sale is done with cash or a mortgage.
There are four types of purchases:
- Cash to cash: The buyer pays with cash and the seller does not have a mortgage. This is usually the easiest sale.
- Mortgage to mortgage: The buyer needs a loan to buy, and the seller also has a mortgage. This is the hardest case and takes the longest.
- Cash to mortgage: The buyer pays with cash, but the seller has a mortgage that needs to be paid off.
- Mortgage to cash: The buyer needs a loan to buy, but the seller does not have a mortgage.
On average, conveyancing fees range from about Dh6,000 ($1,633) to Dh8,000 plus VAT. These fees can be paid by either the buyer or the seller, or they can be shared between both.
