Questions & Answers
Early termination of Tawtheeq office lease contract
I own a business in Abu Dhabi and my office is located in a business centre. The business centre issued a Tawtheeq and I renewed my trade licence.
Four months later, I gave a notice to the business centre to leave the office. They said I need to provide them with the new trade licence that has the new office address so they can give me back the 2 security checks and the one-month cash deposit they have.
I didn't rent a new office yet and I understood the business centre managed to cancel the Tawtheeq. However, they still insist on getting the updated trade licence with the new office address so they can rent again the office I was occupying, they said it was what the "Tawtheeq" department asks for.
Is this all legal? What are my options? Do I necessarily need to have a new office to claim my 2 cheques and deposit back?
Thanks
Dear Questioner,
Please note that what you are trying to do is illegal. Having a valid license issued by the Department of Economic Development that has the company's official office address and cancelling the contract before renting another office and before changing the address on the license is Illegal. All companies operating in the UAE must keep an official formal address at all time.
Based on the above, Yes. What the management is informing you is 100% correct and legal and you MUST rent a new office and apply to change the address and issue a new license with the new office address before you can cancel Tawtheeq which is "the registration of the office lease".
On the other hand, the Management is not allowed to re-rent the office again before having the Tawtheq cancelled because this is a government requirement to control fraud such as companies remaining active with no offices or offices being rented for several unrelated tenants.
I would highly recommend you to consult a legal adviser before attempting any further steps that may lead you to a non-compliant status.
Let me know if I can be of any help or assistance.
Best regards,
Ahmed Elnaggar
aelnaggar@LKMBgroup.com
