Q: Dear Lawyers, I hired a contractor for my apartment renovation, and we agreed on the scope of work based on the quotation they provided. I have paid them almost 90% of the total value, but they have not completed the work on time and have not used the materials specified in the quote. They have also significantly delayed the project, and despite multiple follow-ups, they never provided the milestone details for the payment schedule, nor did they adhere to the timelines they committed to. I have payment details, the agreed-upon quotation signed by them, as well as email exchanges and WhatsApp group discussions. However, I don’t have a formal contract or agreement. I made payments whenever they requested, but they have cheated me, resulting in a significant loss of time and money due to delays. I am seeking legal help to obtain a refund from this company and take necessary action against them.

Q: Hi, I got an approved contractor in my villa for bathroom and kitchen work but he really failed to bring what he promised. The finishing is really really bad. Parts of the ceiling are falling down every few days. The kitchen is in a very bad shape, they used silicon to attach tiles instead of glue. Some doors fell off after a few times using, and some doors can’t even be opened because another door is blocking their way. The toilets are a total mess, some tiles are broken, the door frame got destroyed with the work so they took some glue and painted above, the bathroom tub is not fixed and can be moved. They closed one part of the walls with a tile without removing the window, they installed a fake wall in front but forgot to close the window, so the window is open from the outside but can’t be closed because of the new wall. These, are just a few, really few things. In the contract we agreed that he would finish the work by the 19th of December, any delay causes an AED 1000 fine a day.

Q: A contracting company in the UAE sent us an email with a DDA Permit to build a room in our house. Then subsequently they got approval from DDA (Dubai Development Authority). We have the original email from the Authority that the documents were issued with a permit, dated 04.07.21. But the contract changed the DDA document date to 04.08.21. We seek legal advice if this can be termed as a crime in the UAE for manipulating a document and if any lawyer can confirm to us if this is a genuine case that can be filed in Dubai Courts and which law applies to forging a document by email. The reason why the contractor forged the document is that they took the payment from us and wanted to delay the project and kept on telling us that DDA has not given any approval. Only after contacting DDA directly, we got the original document which shows a different date.

An interview-format article covering the topic of contracts in the UAE. This is from the legal podcast of lawyer Ludmila Yamalova, the founder of Lawgical with LYLAW.

The provisions of this law, promulgating UAE Civil Code, govern the civil transactions in the United Arab Emirates. The commercial transactions remain subject to the laws and regulations applicable in their regard.