Eeyore

I read somewhere that there's a formal process for this. Something along the lines of - if you get evicted due to the "family moving in" clause, you should inform the RC of this and they'll ensure that the property can't be subject to an Ejari certificate for the next two years (i.e. can't have a tenancy contract registered against it).

I don't know how accurate this is, though.

scrubbedexpat141

Interesting. Thanks.

I'm definitely interested in finding out more as/when we need to. Someone has to fight the valiant fight

mikewot

Renting in Dubai FAQ, give it a peruse.

scrubbedexpat141

Yeah yeah...I know.

mikewot

Rents are either falling or holding steady in Dubai’s freehold communities, reveals the latest update of Real Estate Regulatory Agency’s (Rera) rental index, as compared to the update released in May.

Downtown Dubai, an upscale community, is witnessing rental declines across all categories of apartments – studios, one- and two-bed units.
Studio rates are down 6.25 per cent to 7.14 per cent, as per the final index update with rents ranging between Dh65,000 and Dh75,000 per annum (pa).

One-bed units, available for Dh90,000 to Dh110,000 pa, have witnessed a decline of 8.33 per cent to 10 per cent, while two-bed units, renting for Dh160,000 to Dh190,000 pa, are seeing rents fall by 5.88 per cent.

Though rents for one- and two-bed apartments in Dubai Marina remained stable at Dh90,000 to Dh120,000 pa and Dh140,000 to Dh170,000 pa, studio rents have come down by between 6.67 and 8.33 per cent.

Leases for studios now range between Dh55,000 and Dh70,000 pa.

Dubai’s ‘affordable communities’ are also witnessing a decline in rents.

Rents for studio apartments in International City dropped by 12.5 per cent to Dh20,000 to Dh35,000 pa, while two-bed units saw a fall of 8.33 per cent with lease rates between Dh45,000 and Dh55,000 pa.

There was, however, no change in rates of one-bed units (rentals were between Dh35,000 and Dh45,000 pa).

In Discovery Gardens, studio rents dropped by 10 per cent to Dh40,000 - Dh45,000 pa, while lease rates for one-beds declined between 7 - 8.5 per cent.
Rents range between Dh55,000 and Dh65,000 pa. Two beds, however, remained steady at Dh70,000-85,000 pa.

In Remraam, studio lease rates fell between 11 and 12.5 per cent to Dh35,000 to Dh40,000 pa.

One-beds saw no changes and rates remained at Dh45,000 to Dh55,000 pa.

Rents for two-bed apartments declined 6.27 per cent to 14.28 per cent, with leases now available between Dh60,000 and Dh75,000 pa. There was no change in rents across Business Bay, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, and Dubai Silicon Oasis.

In Business Bay, lease rates for studios, one- and two-bed apartments remained between Dh60,000-Dh70,000 pa, Dh80,000-Dh100,000 pa and Dh120,000-Dh140,000 pa, respectively.

In JLT, rents for studio, one- and two-bed units continued to be around Dh55,000-75000 pa, Dh80,000-Dh100,000 pa and Dh120,000-Dh150,000 pa, respectively.

Studios, one- and two-bed units in Dubai Silicon Oasis remained at Dh35,000-Dh40,000 pa, Dh50,000-Dh60,000 pa and Dh60,000-Dh75,000 pa, respectively.


Rents falling in Dubai freehold communities; Click for where - Emirates 24/7

MAV_DXB

My landlord (a company) wants some more Loot, ah for the apartment I'm renting from them.

They failed to inform me before the 90 day deadline, the RERA index is showing as no increase is due, yet when I chased them and was invited to their office (armed with Mikewot's document), the pawn 'in charge' looked sheepish and said that Mr X (let's call him Mr Loot) wants to increase by 15%, I said no, he then flicked a couple of pieces of paper and said 10%, he got the same answer, and I stated that he's not allowed to increase it.

So now when I land back in Dubai this weekend I've been invited so see Mr Loot on Saturday morning - hopefully I can persuade him that it's a fruitless exercise trying to increase my rent and a waste of everyones time - if I can't, I'll be off to RERA on Sunday morning.

scrubbedexpat141

Tell them you've spoken to RERA already and quote a bit of the rules at them and it should be enough to convince someone you know you're right.

Then if he chooses to be a bellend, tell him what the end result will be:

Open a case at RERA
Case will get heard
You will be proved right
You will pay the same amount of money
You will have wasted your own time and his, but don't mind wasting your time because you know you'll be correct.


I did this argument via my mrs (contract in her name). Eventually I offered 100 instead of 95 to keep him happy. Seems (touch wood) to have paid off...ie; no notice.

busybee2

yep the same for auh but its proving it thats difficult in the past, but of course will be easier now we have the ejari in dxb and tawtheeq in auh.

busybee2

be careful as a big bank in auh puts the automatic we will charge the law rental increase on renewal each year, and thats in the contract and so when you sign it they have informed you already so thats how they get around it. whether others do it i dont know?

Mogs

...and he will need to pay the court fees for the case - so he will have even less money than if he just leaves the rent as it is.

scrubbedexpat141

Thanks, what an oversight.

Always worth pointing out when someone is going to get hit in the pocket for being greedy. Must be awful.

MAV_DXB

Landed back in Dubai Friday morning, on Saturday they made one last offer of a 5% increase, not a massive amount by any means - I counter offered an increase of 1000AED, just to save me hassle, they said "no" - went to RERA Sunday morning, case raised, flew out (to the UK) Sunday afternoon.

Now a waiting game.

Mikewot - thank you for putting the notes together.

mikewot

Afwhan. There is another member of the bored who contacted me privately. His LL has 'put the matter into the hands of his lawyer'. I'm hoping that it is a proper lawyer and not one of his dodgy mates because the case against the LL is absolutely solid. Any real lawyer would tell the LL that he has no chance and not to waste his money taking it to the RDSC. I'm almost willing to bet that it will go down that route though.

norsk

A lot of LL's believe they can do whatever they want and of course most tenants are completely oblivious to the law. Read the comments on any article relating to rent increases in Gulf News, Emirates247, 7Days and it becomes very obvious how little people actually know.

So if the LL finds that he can bully a few of his tenants he will try the same tactic on everyone and if someone enlightened actually calls his bluff he will huff and puff and threaten with his lawyer. All smoke and mirrors in most cases trying to wait the tenant out until he gets nervous and goes along with some small token increase.

mikewot

Which was the driver behind my writing the FAQ and distributing it as far and wide as possible. I know dozens of people who have used it successfully, it is a shock to the LLs that people are using the law. Some LL appear oblivious to the fact that Dubai has such great laws for renters. However if I was running a business I would be certain to know the law related to it, unless I was very dumb.