Questions & Answers - Legal Advice Middle East

Is it possible to change lawyers when appealing a judgment?

Q: Good evening, I have received the judgment for my civil financial case. I intend to appeal this judgment, but I`m considering changing my lawyer as I am not entirely satisfied with their work. I would like to know if this is possible and what steps need to be taken. Thank You!

Can the landlord give his property to a holiday home after evicting the tenant to sell the property?

Q: Hi. If a landlord has given eviction notice to the tenant to sell the property, can give the property to holiday home short term within a couple of months after evicting the tenant? Or even get a holiday home license and rent it short term himself? Or maybe even get on his name holiday home license and rent it out himself as short-term? Thank you

ملاحقة الإنتربول لشخص متعثر بالرغم من عدم وجود شيك ضمان لدى البنك

س: السلام عليكم، هل يمكن ملاحقة الإنتربول لشخص متعثر في سداد قرض بالرغم من عدم وجود شيك ضمان لدى البنك؟ القرض كان بدون إعطاء شيك من طرف العميل.

Can I file a complaint against my company for delaying my salary 5 months?

Q: Hello, I have been working in the UAE as an expatriate for the past 7 months in a company but they are delaying my salary for multiple months. I have pending salaries of 4-5 months, and no proper response while asking. They didn`t provide medical insurance also to the employees as per the UAE labor law. All the employees have had these salary delay issues for the past 3-4 years. They are not fulfilling the salary increments or whatever benefits they accepted during the interview. How to handle this situation. - Anonymous member

Binance crypto trade scam: Can I recover my money?

Q: Dear Sir/Madam, I made a mistake and paid someone in Binance to trade crypto for me and give me daily profits, but It turned out to be a scam. He was asking me to pay more to get the profits, but I stopped and I asked him to return my money, but no positive answer. Is there any chance I can get my money back through Binance or the bank? All our communication was through Telegram.

Can the employer ask to access the personal data of his employees?

Q: Can the employer ask the employee to submit or give access to the employee`s personal accounts like LinkedIn, Facebook, and his personal laptop, personal phone, etc. upon the termination of his employment? Which law applies to this in the UAE?

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Can wife's abusive messages compromise case against scammer?

Q: Dear Sir/Madam, There`s a guy who scammed me out of 150k AED with false documents. There`s already a criminal case ongoing against him; however, I wasn`t aware of it at the time of the dealing. Every time I tried to sort things out with him, he made me wait for hours and didn`t show up. In short, he gave me false hopes, and now he`s been completely out of touch for 4 months. When we were finally able to contact him, my wife sent him abusive messages out of frustration because he was spreading lies about us. Now, with all the evidence I have, I want to file a civil case against him. Could the abusive messages my wife sent backfire in any way? I have all the documents he gave, along with some voice notes where he clearly states that he scammed us with false documents. But this guy is very shrewd. He verbally abused me and my wife in person but I don`t have proof of it.

How to speed up a complaint I made against my employer for not paying full notice period and salary?

Q: Hi I made а complaint against my employer for not paying full notice period salary and for due salary (38 days salary) on 02-02-24 and I received a call from the Labor Advisor to research the complaint. Тhereafter, I received one SMS stating that they would contact me again on 05-02-24 at 04:30 pm. But until now, I haven’t received any call or update from the Labor Advisor. In MOHRE, it’s showing that recommendations are not yet approved by the Ministry. Please advise me on what to do.

A friend took cash and cheque from me for cryptocurrency he never sent and bounced the cheque

Q: It`s a blackmail case. So a few days ago, I needed to buy cryptocurrency in Dubai, and a friend offered he could help me. But I was a little short of money, I mean I wanted to get 20,000 dirhams worth of crypto but had only 15k. So my friend told me it was okay, and he would arrange the 5k for me. So I transferred him 15k in his bank account and for the rest 5k, I gave him a cheque. He was supposed to transfer me crypto by that evening. But 2-3 days passed and he did not send me crypto and he seemed to become very busy, not responding to calls and messages. After a week, I finally got hold of him and then he backfired saying crypto is illegal in Dubai, he can`t help me with this and that, and he started saying I owe him 5k, so I need to clear him for that. He submitted that cheque to the bank and it bounced. He filed a case in court and today he sent me a message he`s publishing news in the newspaper for the court notice and will put a travel ban on me.

Landlord proposes 20% rent increase, but no RERA data available. What now?

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?

Can an employee's contract be changed if their pay is lowered?

Q: Good day, Atty. Shamsa! Is it possible to amend the contract of an employee if his compensation was reduced from his previous salary? Thank you so much for your immediate response!

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Is it possible to amend the contract of an employee if his compensation was reduced from his previous salary?

Q: Hello Atty. Khaled, Could you please help me? I need legal advice. Is it possible to amend the contract of an employee if his compensation was reduced from his previous salary?

Terminated in a freezone company. Is unused leave included in final settlement?

Q: Dear Sir/Madam, My employment in a UAE Freezone company is being terminated on Feb 29. I have 16 days of unused annual leave from 2023, 5 of which were carried over to 2024 according to company policy. Since my termination is due to cost-cutting by the company, they are compensating me for the 5 days carried over and this year`s leaves. My question is: Am I entitled to the 11 days that I worked in 2023, and should those leaves be cashed and included in my final settlement?

What does deferred to pleading mean after the case was set for judgement?

Q: What does it mean if the day after judgment is supposed to be set, the status of the case goes back to “deferred to pleading” despite no new memo or evidence being submitted by either party? A new session has been set for next week. Why was the judgment not made?

Is it legal if i work for different companies in different emirates for the same owner?

Q: My employment visa is from a Dubai company and I am sitting in the same owner`s other company in Sharjah and doing both companies` work. Is this illegal? If yes, what are the procedures to make it legal? Both companies have the same single owner.

Unpaid service charges in shared ownership: Who bears responsibility?

Q: Dear Sir/Madam, I am a 50% owner of a leasehold property. The lease agreement does not specify joint or several liability. It only mentions "xxxx and yyyy" as the lessees. We have not paid service charges for the last 3 years. The other co-owner left the house 3 years ago and ceased all communications with me. The co-owner is uncontactable. The management company initiated an RDC execution case against me and my co-owner. Am I liable only for 50% of the total due amount? Or am I liable for 100% of the due amount? Can you please inform the correct article of law that covers this issue?