UAE property: 'When should a tenant respond to a landlord's rent increase request?'

I own a three-bedroom villa in Dubai. I have taken good care of my property and sign maintenance contracts on a yearly basis for any preventive maintenance and to sort out any issues for my tenant.

I decreased the rent to reflect market conditions, especially during the peak of Covid-19. Occasionally, I did not cash my tenant’s cheques for a month upon his request. Now, he is not willing to pay a higher rent and refuses to vacate the property as well.

I sent him an email that I plan to increase the rent by 20 per cent at renewal but he insists on responding to me exactly 90 days before contract expiry. Please advise. LA, Dubai

Ninety days before the expiry of an existing contract is the notice period required to make any changes to the rental agreement at renewal.

You can speak and agree on future terms with your tenant earlier than this, but I have my suspicions as to why he will not engage with you earlier than the 90-day period.

With reference to increasing the rent, you can only do this by checking the Real Estate Regulatory Agency’s rental calculator, which can be found on the Dubai REST app or on the Dubai Land Department website.

After providing all the details, such as the location, type of property, number of bedrooms and existing rent, the calculator will let you know exactly what rent increase is permitted at the next lease renewal.

A 20 per cent increase is the most a landlord can demand in a year and only if the calculator states that this is allowed.

I agree that you have been a model landlord in the past. However, when it comes to rental increases at the time of renewal, there are restrictions in place and the increase is not determined by market prices as those reflect vacant units waiting to be rented.

Rental increases for properties with an existing tenant can only be determined by the Rera rental calculator, unless otherwise agreed.

I believe your tenant is waiting until the 90-day period before telling you what the calculator states. Be one step ahead of him and check this out yourself. But I suspect that the rent increase will not be as high as the 20 per cent you want.

The next step is to negotiate with your tenant to come to a mutual agreement.

I own a one-bedroom apartment in Dubai, which I leased for Dh48,000 a year. This lease ends on September 30, 2022.

I seek your guidance in negotiating a rent increase. If the renegotiated rent is not satisfactory to me, how can I commence eviction proceedings? VB, Dubai

Shortly before the expiry of your tenancy agreement, contact your tenant to find out if they wish to extend the lease. A 90-day notice is required to allow for any changes to the contract, such as rental increases at renewal.

Before doing this, you need to check the Rera rental calculator online to see what rent can be quoted at the next renewal. Whatever the rental calculator says is the only permissible amount that can be quoted at renewal.

If you don’t agree with the amount, you are at liberty to speak to your tenant to see if you can convince him about your price, but remember he has access to the same calculator online.

If your tenant doesn’t agree to your rental amount, you cannot evict him immediately. Remember that you are not allowed to re-let the property for a higher amount when you already have a tenant in place.

However, you can request eviction of your tenant, citing one of the four reasons below:

For purposes of selling the property
For own use or use by next of kin of first degree
For extensive modernisation
For demolition

Regarding the second point, if you evict for this reason, you are not allowed to re-let your property for a period of two years. If you do and the tenant finds out and files a case against you, you are liable to compensate them.

Regarding the third and fourth points, you will need the approvals of specific authorities for the planned works or demolition.

In all these four cases, you will need to send a written notification of eviction citing the reason and serve 12 months’ notice. This needs to be sent either via registered mail or notary public.

Mario Volpi is the sales and leasing manager at Engel & Volkers. He has worked in the property sector for more than 35 years in London and Dubai. The opinions expressed do not constitute legal advice and are provided for information only. Please send any questions to mario.volpi@engelvoelkers.com

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Understand What Black Is

The Last Poets

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RACE SCHEDULE

All times UAE ( 4 GMT)

Friday, September 29
First practice: 7am - 8.30am
Second practice: 11am - 12.30pm

Saturday, September 30
Qualifying: 1pm - 2pm

Sunday, October 1
Race: 11am - 1pm

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

England World Cup squad

Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

The biog

Occupation: Key marker and auto electrician

Hometown: Ghazala, Syria

Date of arrival in Abu Dhabi: May 15, 1978

Family: 11 siblings, a wife, three sons and one daughter

Favourite place in UAE: Abu Dhabi

Favourite hobby: I like to do a mix of things, like listening to poetry for example.

Favourite Syrian artist: Sabah Fakhri, a tenor from Aleppo

Favourite food: fresh fish

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

SUE%20GRAY'S%20FINDINGS

%3Cp%3E%22Whatever%20the%20initial%20intent%2C%20what%20took%20place%20at%20many%20of%20these%20gatherings%20and%20the%3Cbr%3Eway%20in%20which%20they%20developed%20was%20not%20in%20line%20with%20Covid%20guidance%20at%20the%20time.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%22Many%20of%20these%20events%20should%20not%20have%20been%20allowed%20to%20happen.%20It%20is%20also%20the%20case%20that%20some%20of%20the%3Cbr%3Emore%20junior%20civil%20servants%20believed%20that%20their%20involvement%20in%20some%20of%20these%20events%20was%20permitted%20given%20the%20attendance%20of%20senior%20leaders.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%22The%20senior%20leadership%20at%20the%20centre%2C%20both%20political%20and%20official%2C%20must%20bear%20responsibility%20for%20this%20culture.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%22I%20found%20that%20some%20staff%20had%20witnessed%20or%20been%20subjected%20to%20behaviours%20at%20work%20which%20they%20had%20felt%20concerned%20about%20but%20at%20times%20felt%20unable%20to%20raise%20properly.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%22I%20was%20made%20aware%20of%20multiple%20examples%20of%20a%20lack%20of%20respect%20and%20poor%20treatment%20of%20security%20and%20cleaning%20staff.%20This%20was%20unacceptable.%22%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg
Real Madrid (2) v Bayern Munich (1)
Where: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
When: 10.45pm, Tuesday
Watch Live: beIN Sports HD

While you're here

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How will Gen Alpha invest?

Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.

“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.

Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.

He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.

Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”

THE SIXTH SENSE

Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Rating: 5/5

In numbers

Number of Chinese tourists coming to UAE in 2017 was... 1.3m

Alibaba’s new ‘Tech Town’ in Dubai is worth... $600m

China’s investment in the MIddle East in 2016 was... $29.5bn

The world’s most valuable start-up in 2018, TikTok, is valued at... $75bn

Boost to the UAE economy of 5G connectivity will be... $269bn