Dubai’s Real Estate Surge: Are Landlords Issuing Eviction Notices for Higher Rents? Experts Weigh In

There is a surge in the market of houses for sale/rent in Dubai and officials revealed that landlords were forcing tenants who pay rents lower than the RERA rental index rate to vacate their premises. Nevertheless, eviction notices cannot be pre-written, and must be properly formatted, containing proper reasons few are, for instance, to rebuild the property or to use it for the family business.

Rupert Simmonds, The Director of Leasing at Betterhomes stresses that landlords cannot have means for eviction other than low rental payments. The tenancy laws especially Article 25 of the Law No (26) of 2007 has provisions on some circumstances when the landlord is legally allowed to evict the tenant. Among them, they are non-payment of rent, unlawful subleasing of the premises, misuse of the premises, and violation of terms specified in the lease agreement.

Rachael Kennerley, Head of Property Management at Savills UAE observes an upsurge in legal procedures for the eviction of tenants admitted, landlords have no tolerance for lease breaches. The present landlord market has less options/offer compared to the previous time and it has less choices and flexible payment solutions for tenancy agreements and legal actions are also quicker now.

A landlord cannot eject a tenant without a proper eviction complaint, or notice the tenant of the intention without giving the tenant 12 months’ notice if the tenant has not violated any lease agreement. TENANTS Lease violation can warrant the landlord to issue the tenant a 30-90 days’ notice to terminate the lease. The law of tenants shields them by putting down definite laissez-pas rules, enabling tenants to file grievances to the Dubai Land Department’s Rent Disputes Settlement Centre.

After the expiration of a lease contract, landlords can result in eviction taking into account the situation when government agencies become necessary to demolish a house for development or when the house requires major repairs or significant renovations. It must be noted that a 90-day notice prior to the expiration date of the lease is always required in such circumstances.

The rental charges in Dubai depend on the age of the house or building, its condition, the services offered, area of property, and supply and demand of homes or apartments. Other cheaper locations are Deira, Bur Dubai, Karama, International City Al Warsan, Production City JVC. With an increase in people who are owning homes, there might be a reduction in the number of people offering a house for rent hence affecting the prices and total units available in the market.

Tenants are protected from Lockouts where landlords cannot expel them from their homes with an intention of increasing the rental price with a new tenant without following the rental increase calculator. Such regulation helps reign in the market and shield the tenants from unfair evictions during the market highs.