Rental Cases
Rental cases arise between owners of residential and commercial rental units and owners of commercial land and real estate. Such disputes mostly revolve around the non-payment of the due rent for the rental period. However, there are also other disputes related to rental cases, including claims to refund the rent for not using the real estate unit either after or before receiving it as a result of a landlord’s failure to deliver the unit or renting a non-usable unit. Often, such disputes arise due to the intermediary rental agencies that seek to complete deals without ensuring the usability of such units to be rented. Moreover, such rental agencies make many promises to tenants without the owner being aware of such promises. Therefore, the tenant has to be very careful when renting a unit. In addition, rental cases also arise after the expiry of the lease contract to compensate for the damage caused by the last tenant or the last tenant’s failure to fulfill contract termination conditions such as giving the required warning period according to the contract, failure to pay the compensation stipulated in cases of early termination, or failure to deliver the property in its original condition according to the agreement between parties. Such disputes may also arise when landlords want to evict tenants from residential or commercial units without giving them a clear reason in a manner that contradicts applicable law.
Mohamed Al Hajeri Advocates & Legal Consultants Law Firm represents many clients, whether companies or individuals, in rental cases whether they are the plaintiffs or defendants. The Firm represents the clients before rental committees in various Emirates as well as working to get the client’s rights in the rental dispute before the court. Our Firm has a team of legal consultants who are highly specialized in rental cases and who have extensive experience in directing rental cases that arise between claimants and defendants which are concerned with rental disputes and lease conditions.
Mohamed Al Hajeri Advocates & Legal Consultants Law Firm advises corporate clients to consult attorneys and legal consultants who are specialized in rental disputes, as they work on drafting clear and specific contracts with tenants, especially in case of commercial companies. The Firm also works on ensuring flexibility when it comes to payment of rent, as the rent may be a fixed amount, a fixed amount with a percentage of the income, or a rent that is based on a percentage of income. Companies should seek to draft clear agreements that specifically define the obligations of parties when rental disputes arise. Moreover, clients of owners should take due care when authorizing the tenant to sublease the unit and collect the rent, as this may extend beyond the years of building’s lease. In addition, the original tenant may keep the amount of insurance paid by the subtenant. Often, the subtenant will ask the landlord to refund the insurance amount after the sublease contract has expired, and the landlord is surprised that the original tenant has received such amounts without handing them over to him/her.
Mohamed Al Hajeri Advocates & Legal Consultants Law Firm advises individual clients to hire attorneys and legal consultants who are specialized in rental cases since individual clients constitute the largest share of judicial disputes before the lease committee. The reason why individual clients constitute the largest share can be attributed to the fact that because they did not take the necessary precautionary measures to preserve their rights and interests and they did not ensure their full understanding of the conditions and laws of lease contracts, in addition to signing them without understanding the risks they become exposed to upon the termination of contracts. The Firm advises individuals below of some aspects that should be taken into consideration that include, but are not limited to:
- – Ensuring that the landlord’s email address is included in contracts in order to send notices and warning electronically. All agreements shall be in writing and proven by e-mail to be submitted to the court in case if rental disputes arise.
- The lessor shall send a notice of non-renewal or eviction before the expiry of the period for issuing a notice of non-renewal or eviction, during the negotiation period of the rent if the lessor is not satisfied with the renewal of the contract under the same conditions in any way.
- The client shall ensure that rent cheques are issued in the name of the landlord and not the real estate broker, unless the real estate broker has a power of attorney that authorizes him/her to collect rent and cheques in his/her name of his/her company’s name. Moreover, the client shall keep a copy of the respective authorization and power of attorney before issuing the said cheques
- The client shall carefully read all the terms and conditions included in the contract when signing it and ensuring that they conform to the conditions that were agreed upon with the landlord.
- If the client finds out that there are defects in the property at first, the client should immediately report this to the landlord by sending photos via e-mail – rather than WhatsApp- noting that the photos shall highlight the unit’s condition and its defects. The client shall request the landlord to repair defects via e-mail correspondence and to use the e-mail as well when delivering the unit back to the landlord to ensure that the value of the repair is not deducted from the insurance amount.
- The client should ensure seeking professional legal advice to be protected from any potential legal risks.