Ask the expert: help! my rent cheque might bounce

I’ve been in Dubai for nearly four years and have rented the same property that entire time. I pay my rent in three post-dated cheques and there has never been a problem. However, I recently had to switch jobs but between leaving the first and getting a new one I was without an income and ended up nearly exhausting my funds. The next rent payment is due in a couple of weeks’ time and I will have insufficient funds to honour the cheque. I am sure I will be able to pay the next rent instalment from my first pay cheque in my new job, but that will not be until after the date on my post-dated rental cheque. What should I do, and what will happen if the landlord presents the cheque and it bounces?

A bounced cheque in Dubai issued with bad faith, or knowingly with insufficient funds is considered a ‘misdemeanour’, and is dealt with under article 69 of the UAE Penal Code by a sentence of confinement for up to three years, but no less than one month. However, you do not appear to have acted in bad faith, and at the time you wrote the cheque it does not seem that you knew that your circumstances would change so drastically.

Ultimately, you are liable for the outstanding sum as it appears on the post-dated cheque. However, your circumstances, which, on the face of it do not appear to be of your own making, do allow you some room to manoeuvre. In the first instance, you should contact your landlord and request that he delay presenting the cheque until your first pay cheque in your new job has cleared in your account. If he refuses and makes a complaint to the police, you will be subject to a police protocol, which provides that when the police receive a complaint of a bounced cheque, they first contact the person who issued the cheque. The Police give them one month grace period to pay their dues. Only if they refuse or they cannot pay the amount will the case go to the court.