Abu Dhabi tenants caught in middle of villa mix-up

Tenants are being warned to beware of a housing scam in which fake owners advertise properties that are not theirs to rent out.

ABU DHABI // Nine people fear they have lost a total of Dh350,000 amid confusion over the ownership of a villa they rented.

Filipina Aquel Brual and eight others were left scrambling for new lodgings after an official from Abu Dhabi Municipality posted an eviction notice on the front door of the property last week.

“This owner who let us rent the rooms in his villa has a problem and he’s no longer the owner, the court asked him to leave the villa in May,” she said.

Ms Brual and the others moved into the house in Al Dhafrah on August 1 and she is worried that she will lose the Dh30,000 rent that she paid up front, as well as Dh2,500 in commission to the estate agent.

She said she learnt from the courts that the man purporting to be the owner had amassed more than Dh600,000 in debts since 2013.

“He has a lot of cases filed against him,” she said. “It’s a big file.”

She originally found the property through a listing on classifieds website Dubizzle.

“We were just given a copy of the owner’s Emirates ID and passport,” she said.

“We were assured it was legal because the owner is a local.”

A contact phone number on the listing was traced to an agency called Parkline Real Estate Management. An official with the agency said he was unaware of the eviction notice and said agents typically had a limited role in the relationship between an owner and the tenant.

Estate agent Mario Volpi, head of projects at Asteco Property Management and an advice columnist with The National, said: “There has to be some legal redress here.

“Clearly, they [the owners] have every right to get their property back and you have a situation where the tenants, who have done nothing wrong, clearly need their money back.”

Real estate professionals are warning tenants to ensure due diligence is done before renting property.

Mr Volpi said that ensuring there was an Abu Dhabi Municipality-issued Tawtheeq document would ensure “that proper documentation is in place with the right people”.

Ms Brual said she was told a Tawtheeq document would be provided upon signing the lease, but it was not given.

She and her housemates are hoping to recoup their losses at the Rent Dispute Settlement Committee.

Mr Volpi said Ms Brual and other tenants should pursue legal channels to get their money back, while the property’s owner has a right to regain control of the villa.

The tenants could pursue a criminal case against the “pseudo landlord”, if it can be proved they were “criminally defrauded”, Mr Volpi said.

He said the tenants could also seek recourse from a real estate agency that collected commission on the rental contracts.

“If the agents have been negligent in that they have not properly checked ownership documentation from this guy, then I would suggest the tenants not only try to file a police case against the individual who’s got their money but they can also, through the police, file a case for negligence that has led to them losing that money.”