Questions & Answers - Legal Advice Middle East

How to renew your tenancy if you can't reach the landlord

Q: I rent an apartment in Dubai Marina and its time for tenancy renewal, but I can’t reach my landlord for three months already. What can I do in this situation?

Crowd funding in the UAE

Q: I am a college student in the UAE. I have been thinking about developing a free-to-play video game that will be freely distributed on the internet, anonymously. I have also thought about following many such creators` paths in opening an account at Patreon.com to accept crowdfunding and donations.What legal ramifications could such actions have?

Employment termination & Cancellation of residence visas

Q: I was recently terminated from work. My employment contract with the company, signed in March 2012, states clearly: on the resignation date of your employment, the employee shall remain under the work and residency visa of the company for a period of 3 months effective from the date of resignation or termination. However, the company informed me that the recent changes to the law in the UAE since my contract was signed states that cancellation of employment visa and residency should be done within one month and that those changes supersede the wording in my contract. Is this true? Or the wording in my contract is still valid? Please advise.

Liquidation of a company in Ajman Free Zone

Q: Dear Sir/ Madam, I am a 50% shareholder in an Ajman Free Zone Company. I would like to cancel the licence and close the company as it`s contracts have expired. The company has no outstanding debts and owes no money to any third parties. However, it does have some small internal loans taken by directors. In this instance, can the company be closed if an arrangement between directors is agreed to and formally documented?

Residential tenancy disputes

Q: My landlord is requesting me to leave the apartment at the end of tenancy period which is in 3 months. He hasn`t requested this formally, I mean he only sent an email. Can this be counted? I do not want to leave as I know the reason he wants me to evict is that he wants to increase the rent on the new tenant since I have been for quite some time.

Breach of tenant's privacy

Q: (If) I took a picture of my tenant`s living room and posted it on a property website to rent the property, as we`ve agreed with the tenant that he vacates the property at the end of the year. Then he found out about the advertisement on the property website in the remaining 3 months before the end of the contract (we have posted the advertisement with the picture of the living room) and informed me to remove it from the website. I removed it immediately, but he has printed out the advertisement with his living room pictures.Now he is saying that if I made any issues to him as a tenant or deny his demands or do not renew his contract or increase the rent he will file a case in the police for the privacy breach. Please note that this was not intentional and it was a mistake without knowing the laws about these things.Q: How long does a person have the time to file for a privacy breach until it`s considered invalid or it`s long overdue or something similar? Kindly advice. Thank you.

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Employment termination notice

Q: In a meeting with my boss, I was informed that my employment with the company will end on the 4th of December, one week later I received the termination letter together with my end of service benefits statement.My question is which date will be legally considered for my end of employment? The date of the verbal notification or the date of receiving the written notification?

Arbitrary termination of a labor contract

Q: My 2-year limited term contract in Dubai was terminated after 4 months due to my company downsizing; am I entitled to "without cause" termination compensation as per Federal Labour Law article 115? My former employer says "no" as they had not managed to finalise my work visa, however, I cannot see that this is relevant as there was a UAE employment contract in place.

Bounced cheque

Q: I wrote a check for AED 400, the check bounced. They sent a letter saying if it was not paid in 10 days they would follow through with legal proceedings. It has been 21 days, I am paying it today. They turned it over to the police to serve me but they have not served me yet.I did not realize the letter they sent cause I was out of town. Came home to this. What will happen?

Responsibilities of a landlord

Q: Earlier on this year one of the 25 foot Palm Trees in my garden was blown down in the high winds, luckily this Palm Tree did not hit the house or do any major damage. The reason for the tree blowing down was that the inside trunk had been eaten away by some kind of insects.At the time I raised my concern to the landlord that the other palm trees could be infected as well. A few weeks ago, I got the Palm Trees cleaned and one of the other trees has had half the trunk eaten away by insects. Now this tree could also potentially fall down in high winds.I have asked the Landlord if he could arrange for taking this tree down and remove it, but he says this is covered under garden maintenance and it is my responsibility.I must admit I was quite surprised that the Landlord took this attitude, as the tree could potentially fall on his property or the neighbours!Please let me know in cases for removals of trees from the garden, who is responsible for this, the Landlord or the tenant?

Rights of a wife in a divorce

Q: Dear Sir/Madam,I would like to ask if a Lebanese man and Uzbek lady got married legally in Dubai, they have a baby 5 years now, mother study doctorate in university still not finish, the husband every day is drunk and beat her and alike, and he sleeps with other street ladies and not give money for wife and son, also he stated he want to divorce her and marry another lady.The question is what are her rights if he divorces her, and the baby will be with him or her?

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Traffic accident issue

Q: I was looking to seek some legal advice regarding my case. I had a traffic accident that has been referred to the traffic court. No one else was involved or injured just me. My car crashed into a post. I am also fine, my car is not. I was taken to hospital but left of my own accord and went to the police station the next day. There are some other mitigating circumstances but I would rather discuss these privately. Please contact me if you can help. Many thanks.

Eviction notice to the tenant

Q: Hi, I have a flat in Dubai freehold and it`s tenanted till Jan 2017. Just want to know the law incase I want to sell it and the buyer wants it vacant, what will be the notice to the tenant?And if I want to renew the tenancy contract what will be the maximum notice period shall I put for the tenant to give me before they leave?

Negotiations with the bank

Q: Is a bank obligated by law or financial regulation to provide a payment plan for a credit card loan if the monthly instalments are too high?If the answer is no, what can I do to avoid legal action and only pay half the instalment which is what I can afford?

How to check if a person is blacklisted in the UAE

Q: Hi, I live in Australia and was wondering how I can find out if my cousin who is originally from Lebanon, has been blacklisted in the UAE for absconding from his employment? Also, I was wondering if his power of attorney who is not in the UAE can find out if there are any court cases against my cousin without having to travel to the UAE?

Real estate matter in the UAE

Q: We are from the UK and our broker found a buyer for a property. The MOU was agreed and had an expected transfer date and expiry date. The MOU stated that the buyer will prepare for NOC and the take transfer of the property during the period we are in Dubai.We arrived in Dubai during the agreed dates. The buyer did not prepare the NOC in advance but only after we arrived leaving insufficient time for the NOC to be completed. The buyer did give us a small cash advance on the sale which we still hold. On the day of the transfer, the buyer claimed they had an emergency and were not available to complete the process. We had to return to the UK.However, the buyer and broker are now expecting us to return to Dubai to complete the process. However, due to health restrictions we can not do this easily.Are we as sellers obliged to return and complete the transfer? Has the MOU effectively expired? Are we entitled to the buyer`s deposit? Can the MOU be terminated?Thank You.