Register rental contracts online to ease disputes

Dubai: The Land Department is encouraging tenants and landlords to register all rental contracts in the emirate, as it admits that increasing rents and tenant-landlord disputes have not been curbed.

The Dubai government has created a new website called ejari, meaning 'my rent' in Arabic, so contracts can be registered easily online.

Most tenants are in the process of renewing their contracts going into the new year and will welcome regulations that ensure their contracts are respected.

The ejari website states a number of benefits for the tenant.

Protecting rights

Tenants will have full access to official and updated rental properties in Dubai and will be issued legal tenancy contracts complete with standard rent receipts.

In order to prevent further disputes, the registration also maintains the tenancy contract, thus protecting the legal rights of both tenant and landlord.

There will also be a full audit of transactions kept for review in case of dispute.

Marwan Bin Galita, chief executive of Rera, told Gulf News yesterday that so far, the amount is Dh100 per contract, however this has not been finalised yet.

Rera is trying to gather all rental information so they may later reveal a rental index for Dubai.

Rera said earlier this year that they wanted to have zones within Dubai where an average rental rate would be given for each zone.

This appears to be the first step on that road.

However, this may also mean that Rera could ask for rental tax and other fees in the future.

"If tax is levied, then we need to see the reason why it's levied. And would it be against the landlord or the tenant and how much," Vincent Easton, sales director at Sherwoods property consultants, said.

Ejari will start accepting tenancy registrations from January 1, 2009.

Under the current rent laws in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, landlords cannot increase the annual rent by more than 5 per cent.

In Dubai, the annual rent cannot be increased at all in the first two years of the contract.

It seems unlikely that the rent cap in Dubai will be increased next year, as most agents say they believe it is staying at 5 per cent.

Tenants in Sharjah, however, must renew their contracts through Sharjah municipality and pay two per cent of the tenancy contract to the municipality upon renewal.

There is still a shortage of leased properties in Dubai and this problem will be worsened if tenants in shared villas, especially in the Jumeirah area, are forced to vacate, according to market experts.

"While the demand is strong for one- and two-bedroom apartments, the villa market is still fairly sought-after. We have yet to see the impact on shared villas," Easton said.