Ask the Law: Does landlord have the right to cut off water and power supply if rent cheque bounces?

Bounced rent cheque

Question: Four months ago, I had rented my apartment and according to the lease contract, the rent was to be paid in two instalments. I received the first payment when the contract was signed. However, for the second payment, the cheque bounced. It is clearly mentioned in the rent contract that if a rent cheque bounces due to insufficient funds, then I, as the lessor, have the right to cut off the electricity and water supply to the apartment and seek immediate eviction of the tenant. My question is, am I legally entitled to cut off electricity and water supply and seek immediate eviction of the tenant? This is all the more important because I know that the tenant is preparing to leave the country and I am afraid that once he leaves the country, the apartment will remain locked and I won’t have access to it. Please advise.

Answer: You are not legally entitled to cut off electricity and water supply. However, you are entitled to evict the tenant by filing a case for eviction in court after 30 days of notifying the tenant. Nonpayment of rent is sufficient cause for seeking eviction, as stated in the law ‘Regulating Relationship Between Landlords and Tenants of Real Properties in the Emirate of Dubai’, which states: “Lessor may request eviction of the tenant from the property before expiry of the lease term, exclusively if the tenant fails to pay the rental value or any part thereof within 30 days as from the date of being so notified by the Lessor, unless otherwise agreed between the parties.”

Some of the fastest redressal measures that can be undertaken are:

You may file a petition with the Dispute Rental Center, requesting the Provisional and Summary Actions Judge to issue an order of payment. In order to do this, you should notify the lessor of the payment of debt — Payment Obligation by any approved means of notification, and five days after the notification if the debtor still does not pay, then you can file for an order of Payment Motion. For this purpose, you should provide the court with proof of the notice asking the debtor to pay the due (amount of debt), proof of debtor acknowledging the receipt of Payment Obligation (the amount of debt) and the memo issued by the bank concerned against the returned cheque.

Secondly, you may also file a petition with the Dispute Rental Center, requesting Provisional and Urgent Affairs Judge to issue temporary action, preventing the debtor from travelling. The court may issue the travel ban order upon satisfaction of the following conditions:

• The creditor should prove the existence of a reasonable fear that the debtor may run away without paying the debt.

• The debt amount should be Dh10,000 (ten thousand UAE dirhams) or more.

• The debt should be definite and due, i.e. unconditionally payable.

Issuing termination letter during leave

Question: I have been working in a private company for two years. Last December, the company issued me a warning regarding my performance and some behavioural issues. Last January, I went on annual leave and during the leave period, I received an email from the company, stating that I had been dismissed from work. My question: Is the employer legally entitled to dismiss me from service in this manner? Do I legally have the right to claim a commission that I had earned during the previous year? Please advise.

Answer: Cases of termination of the employment contract as per Article (42) of Federal Law No 33 of 2021 (the New Labour Law), which took effect on February 2, 2022, states: At the request of one of the parties, provided that the provisions of this Decree-Law regarding the termination of the employment contract and the period of time to warning agreed in the contract are adhered. The period of warning agreed upon will take effect from the day following the scheduled return of the worker from leave as per Article 35 of the mentioned law, regarding validity of the warning period in the event of termination of the contract during the vacation period, which states that in the event that either party to the work contract desires to terminate the contract in accordance with the provisions of this Decree-Law and its Executive Regulations during the worker’s period on leave, the period of warning agreed upon in the work contract shall not begin to take effect except from the beginning of the day following the scheduled return of the worker from leave, unless the two parties agree otherwise.

Therefore, you have the right to request the commission allowances within a year from the date of entitlement of the right in question as per Article 54 of the above mentioned law (The lawsuit shall not be heard about any of the rights arising under the provisions of this Decree-Law after the lapse of one year from the date of entitlement of the right in question.).

Regarding the commission payment, if it had not been agreed upon and mentioned in the job contract then you would have to prove it with all means of proof.