Q: 5 years back, I paid a real estate broker an amount of AED 797,420 in cash towards booking amount for 3 units in an under construction building in Dubai Marina. He has cheated me by giving me bogus stamped registration forms from the developer and has never paid the money to them. The developer has no record of me in their system. I have tried to speak numerous times with the broker but he insists that the documents are all true and the money has been paid to the escrow account, but the developer has verbally confirmed otherwise. Since the forms are all bogus, the developer is refusing to communicate with me officially. I need legal assistance to get information from the developer as they are the only ones who can prove that these forms are bogus. Do let me know future course of action and fees applicable as well. Best Regards,

Q: I have paid an advance payment of AED 11,000 in Cash and AED 32,000 in Cheque to Real Estate Agent (Broker) in Sharjah for booking of my rental flat in Sharjah. Now it's already passed 11 days but no reply from the agent and the agent told me that there is no owner available and the owner's signature is required in the agreement. The agent also doesn't know when the owner will come & will sign. So, I asked the agent to give my money back but he refused to give money. What should I do now?

Q: I have rented a hotel apartment from an agency who has a contract with a hotel apartment in the UAE. I hold an annual contract with the agency and I have paid the annual rent in advance. The hotel apartment has issued a check-in form by confirming my stay with this particular hotel apartment for 1 year. The hotel apartment also gave me a letter (family visa purpose) stating that I am one of their guests who is going to stay for 1 year. Now, there is some dispute with the agency and the hotel apartment and the agency are not reachable at all, and the hotel apartment tries to evacuate me. 1) Will the hotel apartment be able to evacuate me by law? 2) The agency still holds one cheque from me, can I stop it?

Q: On 20th April, we paid 5% agency fee and 5% landlord deposit for a new property rental contract, ready to move in on the 1st May. A week after the 20th April, we contacted the agent and landlord to request to urgently pull out of the agreement due to husband losing his job. We lost the 5% deposit to the landlord as he insisted on cashing our cheque. However, are we entitled to ask for the 5% agency fee back as we didn't even move into the new property? We have tried to contact the agent but he is not communicating with us.

Q: Hi, I am a tenant who is renting a studio in IMPZ through a broker company who has shown me the title deed done my Ejari, signed a contract and have a receipt. The owner came this morning asking how I rented the house and that he did not give them permission to rent it on his behalf. What are the steps I am required to take? Am I a legal tenant since they provided me with a title deed and contract and I have done Ejari?

Q: Hi Sir, I am R.K.B. I got in contact with a real estate agent and he showed me a room in a building and asked for 1000 Dhs as a booking amount. He never informed me that the amount is non-refundable. We deposited the amount and once the room was fine, he increased the yearly contract amount since it was not a good deal we informed him. He said it cannot be refunded and the cash will be gone. I tried to contact them but now they're not answering. The agent told me that he is from [------ Real Estate].

Q: Hi! An agent provided us with misleading information regarding a warehouse like fake pictures and misrepresented the size. He said it's 3660 but in reality, it's 3076. While we had reached a verbal agreement with him with coordination between him and the owner, and through WhatsApp and Email, they refused the terms we agreed upon during the contract signing. They claimed that the terms needed to be agreed upon solely by the owner. Due to the owner's unwillingness to find a mutually acceptable resolution, we decided not to proceed with renting the warehouse. We have transferred the amount for the broker fees and the amount for the security deposit to the agent as requested. We received a receipt from the agent. We requested to return the transferred funds. We have all the necessary documentation. We asked the agent for refunding the transferred amount and we didn't get a reply from him yet. In case he refused to transfer the funds, we kindly request your legal assistance in this matter.

An interview-format article covering the topic of residential retail properties pertaining to the liability for property maintenance and the repercussions of defaulting on rent payments in the UAE. This is from the legal podcast of lawyer Ludmila Yamalova, the founder of Lawgical with LYLAW.

The provisions of this law, promulgating UAE Civil Code, govern the civil transactions in the United Arab Emirates. The commercial transactions remain subject to the laws and regulations applicable in their regard.

The law promulgates UAE Civil Procedures Code (Civil Procedure Law) which governs civil procedures in the United Arab Emirates, including the prosecution before the courts, litigation and execution.