Ask the Law: Do I have the right to buy a property in Dubai, jointly with my wife and son?
Joint property can’t be rented without the consent of other owners, legal expert explains
Joint registration of property
Question: Do I have the right to buy a property from one of the developers and register this property in my name and the name of my wife and my 13-year-old son? Does the law require that my wife pay from her own money the value of her share of the property? Is it required for my wife to come to Dubai in order to register the property? How is the registration of the property guaranteed after paying the price? Do I have the right to rent the property without the consent of my wife and to sign the lease contract individually? Please advise.
Answer: Firstly, you are entitled to buy a joint property with your wife and child and to extract the joint title deed from Real Property Registration. The owner is: ‘A Person registered in the Real Property Register as an Owner of a Unit, or a Developer in respect of unsold Units)’.
UAE civil transaction law, in its article 1152, defines joint property as follows:
Without prejudice to the provisions concerning inheritance shares of each heir, when two or more persons are owners of the same thing, through any of the reasons of acquisition of property, but their respective shares in it are not allotted distinctively, they are joint owners and, in the absence of a proof to the contrary, they shall have equal shares in the joint property.
Secondly, the law doesn’t require your wife to pay from her own money the value of her share in the property. The registration of the property will be done through the Land Department, where you can make the payment and receive the title deed at the same time. The registration shall be done in the presence of both parties — the seller and the purchaser. Your wife should attend by herself to sign or through her representative upon a power of attorney granted to him.
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Thirdly, you have no right to rent the property without the consent of your wife. She should also sign the lease contract by herself or through her representative upon a power of attorney granted to him or her.
You may sign individually on the lease contract if your wife granted you a power of attorney to lease the property and sign on her behalf.