Q: I moved out of an apartment in Abu Dhabi on 5th of June 2017. The property management company issued me with a clearance certificate for the air conditioning with the intent of deducting the final amount owed from the security deposit. It is almost two months later and they still have not refunded the balance of the security deposit. I have made repeated requests to get the money back but they are just wasting my time. How can I proceed to get this money back? In my home country, we can go to a small claims court in which the defendant would be ordered to pay, plus pay the court fees. I tried to find similar on the ADJD website but could not and as the amount is for 1300Dhs, I don't want to have to spend this filing a court case, if I am liable for the fees also.

Q: Dear Sir or Madam, Good Afternoon. Two months ago, we have moved from an apartment, settled all the bills, and collected our security deposit back from the agency. However, the agency is sending us an email saying that the cooker is not working at all at the moment, and that was caused by us. During our stay, we did have an issue with the cooker, smoked started coming out, and at that time we informed the building management as they had to shutdown the power. The oven was fixed afterwards by the building management and was working properly. We didn't pay for anything. Please advise, can agency press charges against us, or do we need to pay for the new cooker, as that is what they are asking from us now? Appreciate your assistance with the matter, Thank you, Andrea

Q: How can I force the landlord to give me back my security deposit? My lease ended two weeks ago and I still have AED 10,000 deposit that the landlord did not give back yet. He doesn’t respond to calls/texts. He sent quotations to me today asking me to cover for fixes that were there before I moved in. How can I deal with him in the fastest possible way?

Q: I have vacated my flat in the first week of February. The old tenant made so many changes in the flat and the landlord knows about this one. They told me that they will not charge me. It was in 2016. Now, they refused to pay my security deposit back because they don't have any proof whether they deducted from the old tenant or not. What can I do? Please help.

Q: Hello Madam, I hope you're doing fine. I am unable to get a security deposit of AED 2000 from the landlord. The current real estate agent claims that the landlord has some legal dispute with the former real estate company and I can't get my refund. Can you kindly guide me on the above?

Q: Hi, I work with a company called [-----]. Recently we moved offices and unfortunately, our previous landlord is not refunding the security deposit due to us and is not giving any explanation as to why. We have tried to contact him several times via calls and messages but to no avail. It appears his only intention is to harass us. The tricky part is that we have only one employee in our Dubai branch and he is on a long vacation. Can someone file a complaint on behalf of our organization? I'd appreciate any info on how I can take this forward via the right procedure.

Q: The landlord has not returned my security deposit worth AED 5000. I filed a case and have judicial announcements that the landlord should return deposit+expenses. But still no response. The landlord is out of the UAE and his property is handled by the agent. Not sure how to get my money back while I followed all procedures, even filed an execution case but no response. While I keep paying to follow up on the case, the property is rented out to the next tenant and earning money. I feel like this system is created like this on purpose.

Q: Dear sir, I have moved out of a flat after giving a notice. I handed over the keys in advance (1 day) of the lease period. My landlord is not giving me my 5,000AED security deposit after many reminders. The owner is a local. There is one PRO who keeps on changing words What action can I take to get my money back? Kindly help!

Q: I was staying in a rented apartment in Sharjah. Even after 1 month, I am not able to get my refundable deposit, though I got clearance from SEWA. Please suggest if there is a way to file a case or a complaint.