Q: I have the following legal situation with which I would like to seek an advice and potential representation. The facts are as following: myself, my sister and our mother own 75% of shares in an apartment in Dubai. The remaining 25% owns our father, ex-­husband of our mother. They recently got divorced in Russia. We are all citizens of Russian Federation. Now we want to sell the apartment, but our father refuses to sell his share of ownership so that to make it impossible for us to receive any income from this apartment. Russian court decided that after divorce each party (mother and father) keeps his/her 25% of ownership. What possible legal options we have in order to be able to sell this apartment? Or what can we do in order to sell our 75% ownership in this apartment?

Q: Hello, I am 19 years old. I have tried to sell my apartment in Dubai. I and my mother have signed MOU. But no one had the right to sell the apartment. Only my grandfather can sell it because he is a guardian. In Trakhees office, they didn't allow me to sell. Now the buyer wants 116.5k AED from me because I didn't finish in time. I can't pay. Is the MOU invalid because my grandfather didn't sign it?

Q: Dear Dr Amira, I entered into an agreement with mortgage brokerage to help me procure a loan for a property in Dubai, further to which the firm asked me to pay upfront an amount of AED 470K. This included down payment and other misc. charges. The brokerage company has managed to procure the loan but now have used my down payment and does not have the funds to conclude the transfer. What are my legal options? Please advise

Q: Hi, I have a property in Dubai for which we entered into a contract and signed Form F at the decided rate. The agreement was subject to getting pre-approval. We have waited for two months now, the buyer is unable to obtain the loan from the bank. The last date of the contract is also over. We want to cancel the contract, but the buyer is not canceling and says that he will wait for some more time to see if he can get the loan. What should we do? Please help!

Q: Dear Sir/Madam, In our real estate case, we've requested contract performance followed by compensation. 4-5 months later, an expert was appointed, and during a hearing, the defendant stated on record that he isn't willing to sell to us. We urgently need to buy a house, but the case is dragging. Is it too late to change our request from contract performance to compensation only, considering he isn't willing to sell anyway? Or can the court still force him to sell to us?

This Law sets the rules and procedures for registration of real property in Dubai. The right to own real property in Dubai is restricted to UAE and GCC nationals, to companies fully owned by these and to public joint stock companies. Freehold ownership by non-UAE nationals may be approved by the Ruler in certain areas.

The provisions of this Law supersede articles (2) and (11) of Law No. (13) of 2008 Regulating the Interim Property Register in the Emirate of Dubai.

This Law establishes interim property register in which sale contracts, off-plan sales, and other off-plan legal dispositions of real property are registered prior to inclusion in the property register maintained by Dubai Land Department.

This Resolution approves the Implementing Bylaw of Law No. (13) of 2008 Regulating the Interim Property Register in the Emirate of Dubai.