Questions & Answers
Renting a villa after failing to sell it, even after offering it to the previous tenant?
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am a landlord and gave notice (through a Notary Public) to the tenant to vacate the villa for personal use or to sell it one year ago.
The tenant vacated the villa after one year as per the notice. I failed to sell the villa after trying to sell it through multiple agents for the past two months.
I re-offered my previous tenant the villa for rent for one more year as I failed to sell it, through email (7 days ago). However, I have not received any response to this email.
Please advise whether I can proceed with renting the villa to another tenant as I am incurring losses by paying EMI, maintenance, etc.
Please also advise if the previous tenant can still ask for compensation.
Thank you in advance!
Dear Questioner,
Based on your inquiry, I understand that you have issued a warning to the tenant regarding personal use or sale, and the tenant has already vacated.
However, you are concerned about the tenant's potential claim for compensation. Therefore, you sent an email inviting the tenant to rent the villa seven days ago.
We would like to inform you that according to the provisions of Law No. 26 of 2007 concerning the regulation of the relationship between landlords and tenants of properties in Dubai, there is no specific penalty for the landlord if they re-rent the property after vacating it due to the desire to sell.
However, this action may fall under the category of abuse of rights if the conditions of unlawful use of this right are met, as stated in Article 106 of the Civil Transactions Law.
It should be considered that the interest sought to be achieved does not correspond to the extent of the harm suffered by the tenant.
Therefore, the Rental Disputes Settlement Center has decided to apply the penalty stipulated in Article 26 of Law No. 26 of 2007 concerning the regulation of the relationship between landlords and tenants of properties in Dubai in cases of re-renting after vacation for personal use, as well as in cases of re-renting after vacation for sale, due to their common ground.
The committees of the Rental Disputes Settlement Center in Dubai have ruled in favor of compensation, the amount of which is determined by each case, based on the fact that it is not reasonable or logical for the stability of families in their homes to be subject to the whims and changing opinions of the landlord.
Sometimes the landlord requests vacation, and then another time changes their request after the tenant has complied, causing the tenant the inconvenience of moving, only to ask them to return for use again.
This is an injustice and the tenant is not obligated to comply. The tenant's refusal does not prevent them from seeking the compensation they are entitled to for this mistake.
However, if you have strong evidence of the failure of the sale and your definite attempt to have the tenant return to the property, the committee will take that into consideration if the former tenant resorts to the judiciary.
Good day,
Hope all is well!
As long as you notified the old tenant that you are leaving the villa, you should be legally in the clear if he comes after you.
You can simply respond to the court that you notified him of your intent to lease the villa again. Therefore, you may rent the property.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Dear Questioner,
You can rent the villa, and the previous tenant (especially since he knew that the villa has not been sold) can file a compensation case.
If he files a case, you will have to prove that the sale did not take place for a reason beyond your control and that the eviction was not a ploy to evict the previous tenant and rent the villa at a higher price.
