Can a tenant refuse to leave my house although he has agreed to leave if a buyer is found?

The rulings of the Rent Committee state that although the original principle in lease agreements is that they terminate at the end of the contract period, the legislator, considering the protection of the tenant as the weaker party at the beginning of the tenancy relationship, as well as social and economic considerations related to the stability of society and its individuals, has allowed the tenant to continue enjoying the leased property after the expiration of the lease period, as long as the landlord does not object to this continuation for specific eviction reasons specified exclusively in Article 25 of Law No. 26 of 2007, as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, regarding the regulation of the relationship between landlords and tenants of properties in the Emirate of Dubai.

Therefore, it is not permissible for both parties to the tenancy relationship to agree, at the inception of the contract, to anything contrary to this rule established by the legislator in Article 6 of the same law, considering that such an agreement contradicts the public order established by the legislator.

Since this rule is established for the benefit of the tenant, only the tenant, after the stability of the tenancy relationship and the execution of the contract, has the right to waive this protection granted by the legislator.

In this case, he may, for his own specific reasons and considerations, agree with the landlord not to continue enjoying the property and to vacate it during the term of the contract, or to agree on vacating it at the end of its term.

Therefore, the most important question here is whether this contract and this lease period are the first between you and the tenant.

If the answer is yes, then you do not have the right to evict the tenant due to the invalidity of agreeing in the lease contract on the termination of the lease upon its expiration or on eviction at a specific time in violation of the exclusively specified eviction reasons.

If the answer is no, meaning that there is a previous lease contract or several previous lease contracts, and it was subsequently agreed in the current contract that you, as the owner, intend to sell the property and as soon as a buyer is found, the tenant will vacate the property, then the condition, if true and binding on the tenant, is valid because the condition was added to the contract after the stability of the tenancy relationship between you.