Q: I signed a Sales Purchase Agreement with a buyer on a cash-buy basis and deposit 10% of the cost of the property. We agreed to meet at RERA in 30 days of to effect the transfer of the title deed. 60 days have passed and the buyer has informed me that he does not have the full amount for the transfer of the title deed. What should I do with the 10% deposit?

Q: Recently I found an agent who managed to sell my property in Dubai and is now demanding a 2% seller’s agent fee. Am I obliged to pay such amount? 

Q: Hi, I had signed an MOU to buy an apartment. I had the following clause in the MOU: "This sale purchase contract is subject to the final approval from the Buyers Banks" My mortgage has been rejected by one bank. While I was processing my mortgage with another bank the MOU expired and the seller is not willing to extend the MOU. Can I claim my deposit check back from the agent? Thanks, Dinesh

Q: Hi, I am going to buy an apartment in Dubai. If I am going directly from the seller's broker, shall we both (seller and buyer) pay 2% each to this broker? And also it asks for a convenience fee of 5000 Dhs, what is it? Thanks

Q: I've signed a unit reservation form back in September 2016 for an off-plan project. At that time, it was 40% completed. I paid until mid of 2017 10% of the value of the property, as the 90% was set to be after the handover. Now, the handover started and I can't continue to pay any further amount. I didn't sign the Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA). What is the legal advice here? Thanks

Q: Is the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the parties before the deal is enforceable/ recognised by the court if either party does not fulfil his/her obligation as agreed in the MoU?

Q: Hi I have a question. My landlord, from who I’m renting, asked me if I was interested in buying his house in April this year. I got into a conversation with him and few months later we agreed on a price. This price of the sale was including the remaining rent ( until November 2018 ), we agreed on not paying the rent until we signed the agreement as the rent was included. I gave him a security deposit ( not to cash ) cheque. Now, my situation totally changed and I nodded the money also. I recently had a health issue that was preventing me from buying the house. So the landlord called off the deal and said I defaulted on the deal. Anyway, he now cashed both the rent cheques and the security deposit and said he went to the police and I will go to jail within the next 24 hours. Please advise. I’m willing to pay the remaining rent but need time to get the funds ( at least a week ) and also I’m worried about the security deposit of the sale as he deposited this cheque as well, 3 bounced cheques!

Q: My husband is an investor and I am a housewife in the UAE. My situation is that my husband had attempted to buy several properties in Dubai on my name. However, over the past months, he has been seriously ill and hospitalized multiple times. Eventually, the MOUs of these properties expired before we were able to take ownership transfer, and the sellers placed the 10% deposit cheques in their accounts. These cheques bounced because my husband was unable to arrange the 10% deposit amounts in time due to his illness. Now, these sellers are making a police complaint against my husband and are threatening to put him jail. They have been unwilling to show any mercy despite his medical records, and the doctor’s official recommendation that my husband should rest for a month. Please note that our MOU was a basic one, and had no clause that excuses ill health.

Q: A property was bought in Dubai on an installment plan. Due to some problems, the purchaser has failed to pay the last 2 installments but intends to clear the payments. He has paid around 40% to 50% of the total amount, but now, the seller has sent him a notice that he is going to change the deed. Should the buyer step back considering that the seller is unreliable or should he move forward? What should be the step to address the notice they have sent?

Q: Hello, I had recently signed a sale contract of my property through a broker in Dubai. The broker was supposed to have the deposit 10% cheques. When I had asked for a copy of the deposit cheques, I realized it was from a third party. Doing a background check of the third party company, I discovered that the third-party company had an expired trade license (they provided valid dates on trade license, meaning government trade license document was forged) and now the sales agreement dates are coming to an end; I don't have managers cheques nor valid deposit cheques. The only documents I have are deposit cheques from a third party, letter of assurance from the third party company (with forged copy-pasted signature and no stamp, forged trade license of the third-party company). What can I do?

Q: Hi. I would like to ask a question regarding the real estate property sale agreement. We are brokers and we had a client who wanted to buy a property in the UAE. The seller was selling it for 2.1M and the buyer agreed to that price and they both signed the MOU. In the MOU there's an article mentioned that the buyer and seller must each submit a security deposit cheque amounting to AED 100,000 that we the broker will keep and be returned to both after a successful transaction. And there is another article stating that if ever any of the parties cancel or withdraw from the agreement period which is 15 working days, then the security deposit will serve as a penalty and then be disbursed to the broker and the damaged party. In this case, the BUYER didn't give us a security deposit cheque and then he canceled after a few days. Now the SELLER is pursuing a legal case against the broker and the BUYER and the buyer is not responding to calls or emails. What are the legal cases for this?

Q: I am a broker. The seller is threatening me. The buyer put an offer for a property. The buyer sent a cheque copy with the name of the seller, the seller asked to change it to his name since there were joint buyers, which I have sent to the seller, we didn’t sign any MOU. I never received any personal cheque copy from the buyer to date and when I informed the seller that they were not responding back to me, the seller threatened me and harassed me with  pre-suing legally against me. He is demanding 285k AED (which was 10% of the villa price) he wants the buyer / my company / me to pay that ASAP. What should I do? Can you suggest, please?

Did you know that 225 establishments were fined approximately AED 77 million for flouting AML regulations? About, 50 entities’ operations and licenses were put on suspension in 2023-Q3 for failing to register in the goAML system. That’s alarming! Out of the said numbers, many were real estate brokerage firms.

This Decree establishes a special tribunal with exclusive jurisdiction to settle complaints related to dishonoured cheques which are issued by a purchaser and made payable to a real estate developer, or those cheques issued by those with usufruct rights or with long-term leasehold rights.

This Bylaw regulates the Real Estate Brokers Register in the Emirate of Dubai. No person may engage in real estate brokerage activities in Dubai unless he is licensed by the competent entities and entered in the register, which is maintained by Dubai Land Department.

This Law applies to merchants, as well as to all acts of commerce carried out in the UAE by any person even though he be not a trader. Commercial matters regarding which specific Federal laws are issued shall be subject to the provisions of such laws, and to the provisions hereof which do not contradict with said laws.