UAE Property: 'How do I evict overstaying tenant whose lease has expired?'

The notarised letter to the tenant requires you to give them another 30 days before you can file a rental dispute case. Getty Images

Question: My tenant’s lease expired at the end of October, but he has been overstaying in my property. He has delayed rent payments multiple times and provided two bounced cheques, for which a legal case has already been filed. He then transferred the amount, but some is still pending.

He has been unresponsive and did not allow my power of attorney to check the condition of the property. I paid the Dewa bills and then disconnected the service in December after waiting for a month. The tenant has to pay this, too. He has been messaging my power of attorney after the Dewa service was disconnected and is actively resisting eviction.

What immediate legal steps would you recommend for eviction and what is the estimated timeline? What are the potential costs involved and what is the quickest and most cost-effective method to regain possession of my property? Can the police assist on this matter? OS, Dubai

Answer: To evict a tenant for non-payment of rent, you will have to send a notarised letter to them requesting immediate payment of all dues. Unfortunately, the letter will require you to give the tenant an additional 30 days to rectify the situation before you can file a case at the Rental Dispute Committee in Deira, Dubai.

In the past, the committee has issued a judgment within weeks, but I stress that this timeline depends on the complexity of the case and it can take months if it is complicated. The cost of filing a case is 3.5 per cent of the rental amount, but if you are using lawyers and translators, this cost will be higher.

The quickest way to regain your property is to send the notarised letter, as outlined above. After 30 days, you can file a case at the dispute centre, explaining you have already given this time to the tenant. The court will then proceed to eviction, which can take a bit longer to finalise.

Unfortunately, the police cannot intervene. However, if you feel a discussion between them and your tenant may help to speed up the matter, by all means seek their help.

Q: A friend of mine recently bought a property. While he was aware of the agency commission of 2 per cent plus VAT, there was an additional 0.4 per cent charge for conveyancing, which was not explained. Is this a normal fee to charge? JB, Dubai

A: Conveyancing fees are absolutely part and parcel of the buying process and any company should be promoting this via dedicated conveyancers. In the past, brokers would complete the transaction from A to Z. However, problems would occasionally arise and these sometimes led to legal complications due to non-qualified people being involved.

The property company your friend used should have explained all the charges and listed them. Conveyancing fees are based on the difficulty of each case and will depend on whether the sale is conducted with cash or a mortgage.

There are four types of purchases:

1. Cash to cash: This is when the buyer is buying without finance and the seller is mortgage-free. Typically this is the easiest sale.
2. Mortgage to mortgage: This is when the buyer requires finance to buy, and the seller has a mortgage, too. This is technically the most difficult case and takes the longest.
3. Cash to mortgage: This is when the buyer is proceeding with a cash payment, but the seller has a mortgage that needs to be redeemed.
4. Mortgage to cash: This is when a buyer requires finance to buy but the seller is mortgage-free.

On average, conveyancing fees range from about Dh6,000 ($1,633) to Dh8,000 plus VAT and can be paid by either the buyer or the seller, or shared.

The opinions expressed do not constitute legal advice and are provided for information only. Please send any questions to [e-mail]