DUBAI: All eyes will be on the Dubai Land Department (DLD) on Thursday as it is expected to announce implementation details of a new law aimed to speed up resolution of landlord-tenant disputes.
A mid-day press conference called by Sultan Butti Bin Mejren, Director General of the Land Department, is expected to address questions on how the new Rent Dispute Settlement Centre (RDSC) will work.
The 20-year-old Dubai Municipality Rent Committee, which will soon be replaced by RDSC (under DLD), has already heard over 4,200 cases or about 25 cases per day from January to September this year, XPRESS has learnt.
QUESTIONS
With RDSC’s creation, foremost on every resident’s mind are:
What are the new procedures? How much are the fees to be paid in lodging a rent-related case with the new centre?
What will happen to cases still pending with the existing Rent Committee once it is dissolved?
What will happen to the Rent Index (the benchmark followed in the resolution of any rent disputes)?
What will it do to safeguard the real estate market from any excessive price rise?
This week, Mejren told the Arabic press that three key legislations will be introduced in the first quarter of 2014, and a law that defines a unified rent contract will be issued before the end of next year.
Industry officials have welcomed the creation of RDSC.
“One encouraging development,” said a Dubai property lawyer, “is that the head of the dispute resolution centre will be a judge and there will be an appeal process.”
Mohanad Al Wadiya of Harbor Real Estate said resolving rental disputes under DLD’s watch makes more sense. “I’ve always felt very strongly that the way rent disputes are resolved by the Rent Committee must go through a much-needed review. Some cases had taken from six months to one year to be resolved.”
SPF Realty’s Kalpesh Sampat also said rent disputes should not drag on.
A landlord told XPRESS that he had been trying to evict a tenant for three years. “In the present set-up, it’s not possible to finish a case in a month. And one reason is the notification process through a newspaper.”
So another question would be: “Will the notification process be done away with, where one party involved in a rental dispute does not or never shows up, sometimes on purpose?”
DLD is one of the state agencies that had proven its ability to innovate. It embraced e-government as early as 2003, making communication between buyers and sellers quicker and more transparent.
It had also introduced an online tenancy contract registration system (Ejari), now the key to resolving any rental disputes.
DLD introduced the online Oqood system to regulate sales of off-plan property and introduced a web-based rent index, followed by the rent increase calculator. Last year, DLD signed a deal with Emirates Post allowing the registration of tenancy contracts through its post office counters.
Existing process
1 The rental contract must be registered in Ejari
2 The plaintiff must send a Dubai Court notice to the landlord or tenant he is filing a dispute.
3 If this person does not respond to the notice, the plaintiff has to place an advertisement in local newspapers asking the defaulting landlord or tenant to contact him.
4 Whether the party responds or not, the plaintiff can still register the dispute with the rent committee.
5 The plaintiff must submit all necessary documents.
6 After a complaint is filed, plaintiff is given a hearing date. A dispute can be settled in the first hearing or it can drag on if the other party does not show up.
7 Plaintiff must pay a filing fee equivalent to 3.5 per cent of the claimed amount (minimum Dh500, maximum Dh15,000)
8 For renewal/termination of contract/vacating the leased property suit -- 3.5 per cent of the claimed amount, not less than Dh500 and not more than Dh20,000.
For more details, visit http://www.dm.gov.ae
