Q: I was persuaded by my friend to put money in an online trading, and he will trade on my behalf and will share the profits. He guaranteed me that he will trade very carefully and the principal amount will not decrease, but he lost all the money in one night which is AED 35000. Then he gave me 6 cheques of 5000 each payable after every third month. Kindly advise how to proceed as he is not ready to pay now.

Q: I have a bounced cheque of AED 75,000. It is under the name of a saloon and the owner is asking me to give her time to pay. She is telling me that she will pay me monthly starting this end of January, and she will pay AED 100,000 instead. Is it possible to do an agreement with this? If ever, is this valid in court?

Q: Dear Sir/Madam, Greetings for the day. I have given AED 150,000 to a known person (who is dealing with flat lease), on his emergency situation. He said he will pay the amount in 3 months. As a security, I took the whole amount in cheque. Apart from that, he had given 3 cheques total for AED 36000 for 3 months. After a month he left the country and didn't come back for 6 months. Now, its been 8 months without giving me any amount and now he is here in Dubai. So, I contacted him for the money, and he told me "I don't have money, do whatever you want". So, I thought of going in a legal way, where I deposited all the cheques of AED 186,000 and it got bounced today. Please guide me through the legal process, and what is the chance of getting my money back? Now, I am seriously in a very bad situation. I am about to lose my future in the UAE because of this issue. Please help me out. Warm Regards, Dinesh

Q: I purchased a commercial shop and seller left Dubai immediately after that. There's loan with the bank in name of shop. 1. Fed Law No.18 of 1993 CL 47(1) says that the person upon whom the title to the business premises has devolved shall remain liable for the debts, if the creditors of such debts submit a statement thereof within the said prescribed period and........ 2. Clause 47 (3) says: Furthermore, the disposing party shall remain liable for the debts related to the business premises and which have arisen prior to the notification of the disposal unless he is discharged therefrom by the creditors. What is the difference between the two? Our sale agreement CL 8 says First Party (seller) bears all obligation owed by the Sold shop in favour of others including rents, wages, salaries, fees, taxes, fines .... and all other expenses related to the Shop until the date of registration of sale with the competent authority. What takes priority, sale agreement or Fed Law and who has liability for the loan?

Q: Hello! My name is Denis. Can you help with debt issue? There is a company in India. I have bonds $200K stake and $59K unpaid interest. In 2016 may, the company had defaulted on coupon payment. I was reaching the Trustee for this issue, and they told me that I need to have a minimum of 25% of this issue to make any legal action. So, they suggested me to join the group of bondholders, and now, I joined the group to negotiate the debt restructuring. The company hired an advisor. In February 2018, the company and group of bondholders signed RSA agreement and approved restructuring plan. But in April 2018, this RSA was terminated because the company fouled this agreement and did not transfer money (approx. $20 mill) to escrow account till 20 April. Today is total silence. In prospectus the company have a branch in the UAE, is it may be possible to somehow collect the debt? Thank you for your help.

Q: I have been given some investments in a few companies with a contract on a fixed agreed profit. Now, they default on the agreed profit and even delayed paying back of capital. What procedure do we have to follow to recover our investments?

Q: I have invested in a company, which they promise to pay me 20% return in March 2015. They paid my returns for about 2 years, though most of the times it was delayed. They stopped paying me almost a year ago and have not paid a single Dirham since then. The company seems to be a fraud because the other investors with whom I am in contact with faced the same issue and their payments are stopped for one year. I am seeking legal advice on how I can recover my money from them.

Q: Hi! I'm planning to acquire a running business but the existing owner has some bank loan on the company name (which he says he will clear over the period of time). What should I do in the above situation? Please advise.

Q: Hi, I invested in a hotel business in Dubai with 7 investors including me. the cost invested by all of us was 1.05 million. One of the investors ran the restaurant full time every day, for 20 months. The guy who ran it full time cheated all of us by not paying us even a single penny in 20 months & made sure the debt goes up above AED 750K. The other 6 investors don't have any legal proof as we only invested funds. The document owner is the guy who ran the restaurant 51% & the other 49% is on friend's wife name. He hasn't paid salaries to staff, rent, vendors, vat nothing. We investors even invested additional 300k to pay rent initially, and even that he did not return us. He cheated us. Now all investors have decided to kick him out & invest more funds to clear the negative 750K. I don't want to continue with these guys anymore, so I want to quit. But they are asking me to quit with zero! I have invested AED 156500 & they are not ready to pay even one dirham. Please advise how to get at least some of my investment. Please help.

In the UAE, cheque bounce is a very frequent problem faced by people during their span in the country. It is covered under the purview of Commercial Transactions Law, and legal implications/penalties can be financially severe and daunting for more “serious” offenses. Bounced cheque issues may arise in a variety of commercial transactions, including but not limited to, companies’ exchanges, bank loans, property rents or purchases, and individual transactions.

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.

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.

The provisions of this Decree by Law amend the Federal Law No. (18) of 1993 by replacing Clause (4) of Article (379) as well as Articles (600), (617), (641), (642), (643), (644), and adding new articles numbered (635) Bis, (641) Bis (1), (641) Bis (2), (641) Bis (3), (641) Bis (4), (643) Bis (1), (643) Bis (2), (644) Bis (1) and (644) Bis (2). The Decree-Law also repeals Articles (401), (402) and (403) of the Federal Law No. (3) of 1987.