Questions & Answers - Legal Advice Middle East

A developer forged the signature of a client and signed the SPA. What to do?

Q: Hello everyone, I bought an off-plan unit from a developer around Feb. 2018. They promised to deliver by March 2019, but they kept on postponing. Along the way, they asked me to sign the SPA. I said I won`t and requested them to refund me my payments. At one point they agreed and later they said no. I have all these correspondences on email. Finally, the developer forged my signature and signed the SPA by themselves and registered it with DLD, and processed the cancellation. When I visited DLD, I have been shown an SPA signed under my name on May 13, 2021. The signature was done fraudulently because I did not sign it. I made a payment of more than AED 130K. I would appreciate your guidance.

Transferring money to a personal account in the UAE

Q: Hello, We have moved to the UAE and opened a Free Zone Company. We have managed to open our personal UAE bank accounts and these accounts have a GBP foreign currency account in them as well (personal). Now, the issue is we are facing tremendous issues with two business banks that we opted to apply for our business accounts. Our questions: We have two clients in the United Kingdom that will be paying us in GBP £, can we get them to pay us directly into our personal GBP accounts whilst we wait for the banks to get their act together? Would this be allowed by UAE law?

The employer took my signature on a loan I never took to pay visa expenses upon resignation

Q: Can an employer get a signature on a loan paper for giving them a job & after resigning asks them for visa money or else they will file a case against the loan amount? Please guide me, in such a case, what should that employee do because they hold the passport? They cancel the visa & do not give the canceled paper so the employee should change the status to avoid a fine. They just keep on blackmailing me to get the visa money in terms of the loan paper. Is there any possibility to show the bank statement that we never received such an amount? Or the employer never has the cheque receiving, but just the loan request paper? Can you please guide me?

My husband left me and our son. Can he come back and take our son without my permission?

Q: My husband left me and his son a year and a half ago and traveled back to Russia without even canceling his work visa. He contacted me recently claiming he divorced me under an exceptional condition in Russia so that he doesn`t take any financial responsibility towards his son. I am the sponsor of my son and I pay everything for him for the last 4 years. He is 7 years old and goes to a good school in Dubai. My question is if his father decided to come back again as a tourist, will he be able to issue my son any exit pass or even be able to take him out of the airport without my permission? My son`s passport is with me.

How can clear a case by the bank to cancel my visa and join a new job?

Q: Dear Madam, I am about to join another company but my visa cancellation was on hold because of the travel ban issued by a bank due to a bounced cheque. CID had advised me to take court clearance to remove the travel ban. When I went to Al Adheed, they advised me to file an appeal to get court clearance which I applied for & paid the fee the same day. After 5 days, someone advised me to just ask the bank to withdraw the case since I already cleared all my loans a month ago. Please advise which process will take less time. When I went to the bank they told me that I need to pay the lawyer`s fee and other fees for them to withdraw my case and it will take them 2 weeks to withdraw. How long will my appeal take? (It`s already 1 week since I applied) Can I withdraw my appeal and ask the bank to withdraw the case? How long will it take in withdrawing my appeal? The other company is not letting me join until they had process my visa and I`m afraid I might loose this job due to this issue.

Can legal notice for non-payment of rent in Dubai be sent by DHL or does it have to be Aramex?

Q: Can legal notice for non-payment of rent in Dubai be sent by DHL or does it have to be Aramex?

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Paying the court registration fees upon losing an eviction case

Q: Dear sir/madam, We lost an eviction case in Dubai and our landlord is asking for his court fees. These costs exceed the court registration fees by 3000AED (Typing fees, translation fees, etc.). He is asking to pay him directly. We have already paid the rent and scheduled the move-out. Do I need to pay for these fees? Does he have to open an execution file to claim them? Thank you very much!

Can the company force me to leave the country upon termination?

Q: Hello Sir. The company terminated me and canceled my residence visa and told me to take the ticket by myself. But I want to know whether exiting the country as the company wants is compulsory or not. I don`t want to exit the country. I got a new job in a new company with a residence visa. So what is the solution? Please let me know.

What happens once the family counselor passes the case to the judge?

Q: Hello, What happens once the family counselor passes the case to the judge? Does the judge make the decision on the same day or does he give time? And how much time does it take? Kindly advise!

How to check a possible case and travel ban for unpaid loan before returning to the UAE?

Q: Sir, I took a loan of AED 67000 before the Corona crisis. I left the UAE during the pandemic and can`t go back. Now I want to come back to the UAE. How can I check my status? Kindly guide me, Sir.

What are my labor rights in case of termination after 10 months in a limited contract?

Q: Good morning. I’m under a 2-year limited contract. My company has terminated me. I have worked 10 months with the company now. Please do I stand to get compensation from the company?

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What happens if the respondent does not appear in a cassation appeal hearing?

Q: What will happen if a cassation appeal is not defended or the respondent does not appear for the same personally or through his lawyer?

I was offered and interviewed for a store keeper job and now asked to work as a cleaner

Q: I was offered and interviewed for a job in online marketing in a mainland company on a limited contract basis on a Store Keeper visa. After a couple of months, they want me to do helper and cleaner work as there are no ongoing online sales and I never got paid a salary on time. Every time I need to beg for my salary in the middle of the month! I now would like to know what are the legal consequences I will face if I break the limited contract (in my contract it was mentioned in Article 7) as it is taking a toll on my mental health. Could you elaborate on this, please?

Is the commision paid to employees included in the VAT system?

Q: I work for a UAE-based broker, and we earn commission from our agents (employees) introducing and recommending clients to a provider. Once the client transacts with the provider, we (the company) get paid a commission. I understand that commission received by the company is subject to VAT due to the service provided. Our employees are paid both a salary and commission, and commission payments are directly related to the clients they (the employees) have introduced to the provider. Should we be applying input VAT to the commission paid to agents? It is considered a sales expenses and considered an operating expense on the income statement. I appreciate any help you can provide.

What is the start of the contract date that MOHRE take into consideration?

Q: Good morning, The company made me redundant one day before completing the 6 months probation period. As per the contract of MOHRE, the start date is 18 Oct but they asked me to sign a letter late that the start date changed to the 27th of Oct and I had to sign the letter. The letter is not even signed by some IT guy in the office. I feel they knew what they are doing hence the new letter to change the new start date. Can I complain about that? Is the letter recognized by MoHRE or the date on the contract is the one? Thank you

إضافة بند تنازل عن الشقة لأحد الورثة في حالة الوفاة عند تحرير العقد

س: السلام عليكم، هل يجوز إضافة بند تنازُل لابنتي القاصر في عقد شقة اشتريتها حديثا أو أنها تؤول إليها في حالة موتي بدون تدخل من والدها في الميراث؟