Q: Back in April, I had signed for an office space in order to start registering my business. However, due to my investor backing out immediately afterwards, I had to halt my plans and cancel the office space. However, the office space management refused to cancel the lease as the contract has a clause stating that in the event of cancellation of the contract, I am still liable to pay the entire amount of the rent, regardless of not having used the office space at all. They continued to make invoices and are threatening with legal action if I do not pay. I would like some advice on how to handle this situation as I do not have the funds necessary to pay off an office space for one year. I feel it is unfair that they should force me to pay for an office I have not used nor planned on using, having informed them of this within a month of the contract being signed.

Q: In case of a long-term lease with a commercial tenant for eg 5 years and the tenant wants to break the contract say after 3 years. The termination clause in the agreement states that the tenant has to pay a minimum rent for 3 years + termination penalty equal to 6 months + 3 months notice period. The query is, at the time of termination, lease agreement ceases and the tenant is liable to pay the termination penalty + notice period immediately or as per the terms of the lease agreement? Assume the tenant wants a payment plan, can he lock up the premise and not hand over the keys till the minimum rent period (i.e 3 years) and whether late payment fees is applicable? (assume the lease agreement states late payment fees for non-payment), if applicable whether the calculation should be from termination date or the lease due dates? I believe the late payment fees should be from the termination date and not on lease due dates since the lease agreement is terminated by way of the notice.

Q: Greetings, Dear Sir, I have rented one warehouse in Feb 2018 and want to terminate my contract because of financial issues, but the landlord is demanding 4 months rent as a penalty. Please be noted that in the contract, the termination clause is mentioned as "Termination of the tenancy contract is possible only after fully agreed terms by both parties". Kindly advise, and also give any reference form law section.

Q: Dear Sir/Madam, We are in the process of setting up our company in the UAE. We have found a warehouse that fits our requirements and we have paid the security deposit and the agency fees. We would like to confirm some points before signing the contract: - Notice period: The owner said that we should inform him one month in advance if we want to leave and exit the contract. Is there a clause in the DREC contract that states this? Are there any penalty fees? How can we avoid any problems with this? - No Objection Certificate (NOC): The owner promised to give us an NOC after the contract is signed to allow us to upgrade the power and install air conditioning. How can we make sure that this happens? Should we have him include this in the contract terms? In general, can we trust their promises or should we get a letter before signing the contract? Note that they are refusing to give us an NOC and we have been told that we took too long to finalize the contract. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

An interview-format article covering the topic of defaulting on commercial lease in the UAE and related procedures. This is from the legal podcast of lawyer Ludmila Yamalova, the founder of Lawgical with LYLAW. In this article, Ludmila discusses what one should do if the tenant becomes unresponsive.

In the UAE, the relationship between landlords and tenants in terms of their responsibilities is primarily governed by Federal Law No. 5/1985. This law covers commercial properties without addressing the part related to maintenance and duties. However, it is common for commercial tenants to assume responsibility for repairs and upkeep.

The provisions of this Law apply to real property leased out in the Emirate of Dubai, including vacant and agricultural lands, but excluding hotel establishments and real property provided by natural or legal persons as accommodation to their employees at no charge.

Provisions of this Law supersede articles (2), (3), (4), (9), (13), (14), (15), (25), (26), (29), and (36) of Law No. (26) of 2007 Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai.