Questions & Answers
Notice for non-renewal of the lease contract by the tenant
Dear lawyer,
I have a tenancy contract for one year in Dubai, ending on 25 November 2018.
On the 8th of October, the landlord sent me a lease renewal, with some parts of the contract modified and contains different terms from the previous one.
I decided I don't want to renew the contract; neither with the new nor old conditions. On the 1st of November, I notified the landlord that I will vacate on the current contract end date 25 Nov.
He replied that I needed to notify him 90 days prior to the expiry date and I didn't, and now he is entitled to reimbursement and asks for 2 months' rent as a compensation.
Our contract says only "Tenant agrees to notify the Landlord in writing 3 months (90 days) prior to the expiry of this Agreement of his intention to renew or not renew the Agreement".
However, no financial penalties for breaking the clause of 90 days' notice of non-renewal are mentioned there.
Please tell, can he claim from me this 2 months' amount?
I will highly appreciate your opinion.
Best regards
Dear Sir,
Trust you are fine.
Pursuant to your above enquiry and the limited information provided, we assume that the rented apartment where you are staying is situated in the Emirate of Dubai.
To this end, kindly be informed that you are not bound to give a 90 days' notice for the non-renewal of the lease contract. That being said, in our opinion you are not supposed to provide any compensation to the landlord.
Furthermore, please be informed that you have to evacuate the premises on 25th November. During such evacuation, do not forget to hand over the key to the landlord and to obtain a written and signed letter from the landlord's end confirming the receipt of the same.
If he refuses to accept the key, you have to proceed to Rental Dispute Centre (RDC) on or before the expiry date, i.e., 25 Nov.
If you fail to approach RDC within such time-frame, it may be seen as you failed in evacuating the apartment within the contract period.
Kindly provide us with the Lease contract in order to provide you with a proper legal opinion of the above. To this end, you can forward us the contract copy at info@awsuwaidi-advocates.com.
Best regards,
Aws M. Younis
