I have just given one month's notice that I will be vacating the property at the end of the lease period. However, the property management company pointed out that the tenancy agreement states the following: "Not less than two months prior to the date of expiry of the term, the tenant shall inform the landlord in writing whether or not the tenant intends to renew this agreement". They are now requesting that I pay one month's rent as a penalty. This penalty is not mentioned anywhere in the tenancy agreement. The subsequent clause in the agreement only mentions the following: "If the tenant does not give notice of intention to renew this agreement within the period set out in clause 10.1 the landlord shall be entitled to show the premises to other prospective tenants during the said notice period". Are they entitled to demand one month's rent as a penalty? VG, Dubai
The law actually states that 90 days’ notice is required by either party to inform the other of any changes to the contract. This can include rental amounts, renewing or not of the agreement or any changes to the terms and conditions of the contract. I presume you have agreed to the notice period stated by your contract, so the fact that you have given only one month’s notice will mean you have breached this part of the agreement. The absence of any financial penalties for breaking the clause, however, means they are not entitled to charge you for this. The only time a landlord is normally entitled to claim compensation of one or two months’ rent is when a tenant wishes to break the contract early and leave before the end of the agreement. My understanding is that you will remain in the property until the end of the agreement, but you have only given them 30 days’ notice of the same.
My developer recently notified me of the handover of my villa. However, upon viewing the home and before handover, I discovered a series of shortcomings in the villa, some of which will cause significant delays in getting rectified. I will be taking on a mortgage to take handover of this villa and my intention is to rent the property out as soon as I have possession. Since the snagging and defect rectification process will take a few weeks, I will not be in a position to rent out my villa, thereby causing significant financial losses to me. Therefore, can I refuse to take handover of my villa from the developer until a formal snagging process has been carried out and all the defects rectified? RG, Dubai
You have every right to accept handover of your villa only when all the obligations of the developer have been rectified. This process may take longer than you have anticipated, but finding a compensation solution from the developer due to loss of rent may be challenging, and its success is possibly only down to your ability to negotiate the same with them.
We renewed our rental for the year in November, now our landlord has said he is selling the house. He told us the contract carries over and if the new landlord wants to evict us, he only needs to give us two months' notice. But I have read that to evict us we need to be given one year. We have a four-year-old and a four-month-old baby, so I am not looking forward to going house hunting or losing out on any money. Any advice is appreciated. KT, Dubai
If your landlord has indeed sold the property, the new owner takes over the responsibility as your new landlord, including all the same terms and conditions of your existing agreement. The new landlord can only legitimately evict you due to specific reasons by giving 12 months’ written notice sent via notary public or registered mail. Assuming you do not wish to leave, your worst case scenario would be that (for example) the new landlord wishes to move in himself, as is obviously his right to do so. But as stated you would not need to vacate until 12 months hence, assuming the proper notice has been served.
Mario Volpi is a real estate professional who has worked within the industry for the past 31 years in London and Dubai. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and they do not reflect in any way those of the institutions to which he is affiliated. It does not constitute legal advice and is provided for information only. Please send any questions to mariovolpi64@gmail.com
