I have a colleague that has been in his apartment for 12 months and renewed for a full 12 months in January. The contract has been signed and the rent paid in full, and although the landlord took the money, he did not sign his part of the tenancy agreement. Last month my colleague received a letter from his landlord asking him to vacate the property. The reason for the eviction notice was not detailed in the letter, but when called, the landlord told him he wanted to completely gut the building and carry out extensive renovations. Sixteen other families living in the same block have received the same letter. ST, Abu Dhabi
Your friend’s landlord should give at least 2 months’ notice to vacate. This has obviously not been given if he signed a new contract in January. Unfortunately for your friend, the fact that the agreement has also not been signed by the landlord would mean the contract has not been validated. If the building does indeed need this amount of renovations, there must be paperwork from the municipality to confirm this. The least the landlord can do is show evidence of this. My advice would be to get together with the other families and jointly request that the landlord give more notice to vacate. This will then help him and others to find alternative accommodation.
Mario Volpi is the managing director of Prestige Real Estate in Dubai (prestigedubai.com). He has 30 years of property industry experience in the emirate and London. Send any questions to mario@prestigedubai.com
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