Q: Dear Sir/Madam, I sent a renewal notice to my Dubai tenant with more than 3 months advance. In the renewal, I adjusted the rental increase as per RERA of 5% and requested a change in payment conditions from 4 to 2 cheques. The tenant agreed to the new amount but did not agree to the new payment conditions because, according to him, the provisions to change the terms in the contract allowed by RERA were only suggestions and not enforceable. Therefore, the contract renewal has not yet gone forward because we do not agree with his interpretation. While consulting our options, RERA updated the rental increase for the area from 5% to 15% since the tenant is paying well below market price. We sent the tenant a new proposal with the updated RERA-allowed increase of 15%, offering back payments of 4 cheques. The tenant refused again, arguing that the new proposal is not applicable since we are now out of the 90-day previous notification window required. Please advise our options!

Q: My landlord is trying to increase my rent outside of the RERA Index, using a DLD valuation as the basis. The sequence of events: 1. 90 days before my renewal, the landlord offered me a new lease with a 10% increase on my current rental 2. I challenged this by sharing the RERA rental index result, which stated there is no increase in the rental value 3. landlord decided at this point to do a DLD rental valuation 4. Last Friday, 49 days before my current lease expires, the landlord shared the valuation, which showed an increase of 21% on the rent (or looking at it another way, my current rent is 17.5% less than this current valuation) Can the landlord do that, and what is he legally allowed to increase my rent by in this scenario?

Q: Here's my situation: 1. I have a tenancy for a villa that is coming up for renewal on the 1st of September 2. On the 28th of May, the landlord sent me an email stating that they want to increase the rent but did not state by how much. 3. On the 1st of June, the landlord's representative sent me an email with a "rental valuation certificate" stating that the valued rent of the property is AED 225,000 4. On the 1st of June, we checked the rental index and have found that it states that the rent for an individual five-bedroom villa is in the range of AED 231,000 to AED 260,000, whilst the rent for a complex in Jumeirah is in the range of AED 202,000 to AED 246,000 5. My tenancy for last year was AED 189,000 6. The landlord wants to increase the rent by 19% based on the valuation certificate 7. I've said to the landlord that “Decree No. 43 of 2013 Rent Increase for Real Property in the Emirates of Dubai” states that the maximum increase should be 5%. Is my understanding correct?

Q: Dear Sir/Madam, I have a question about rent renewal for an apartment in Dubai. My contract is up for renewal in 3 months, and I received notification of a 20% rent increase. When attempting to use the Dubai Land rent calculator, I encountered the message: "Rental index data is not available for this period and will be updated later." Data is only available until the end of March. If my contract were up for renewal now and I could use the rent calculator, there would be no increase in rent according to the calculator. The owner is using current market rates as a basis, not the rent index. What rates should be used to calculate any increase in rent?

An interview-format article covering the topic of residential retail properties pertaining to the liability for property maintenance and the repercussions of defaulting on rent payments in the UAE. This is from the legal podcast of lawyer Ludmila Yamalova, the founder of Lawgical with LYLAW.

This Decree determines the maximum percentage of rent increase for real property in the Emirate of Dubai when renewing lease contracts.

The provisions of this Law apply to real property leased out in the Emirate of Dubai, including vacant and agricultural lands, but excluding hotel establishments and real property provided by natural or legal persons as accommodation to their employees at no charge.

Provisions of this Law supersede articles (2), (3), (4), (9), (13), (14), (15), (25), (26), (29), and (36) of Law No. (26) of 2007 Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai.