Property dispute: Dubai Court forces seller to vacate residential villa

Dubai: A property seller has been ordered to hand over a residential villa to two buyers after failing to vacate the property despite receiving full payment and formally transferring ownership.

The Dubai Real Estate Court ruled that the seller must deliver the villa free of occupants and encumbrances, with immediate enforcement of the judgment.

He was also ordered to pay court fees, legal costs and the buyers’ legal expenses after the court found that he had breached his contractual obligations.

The dispute arose after the two buyers filed a case in January seeking to compel the seller to vacate and hand over the villa, located in a residential community in Dubai. 

They said they had purchased the property under a sale agreement signed in June last year and that ownership had been officially transferred to their names through the Dubai Land Department.

According to Al Khaleej newspaper, the buyers completed full payment of the agreed price, but the seller failed to deliver the property on the scheduled date without any legal justification, prompting them to seek judicial intervention.

During the proceedings, the buyers were represented by legal counsel, while the seller appeared in person. Both parties submitted supporting documents, including the title deed, a translated copy of the sale contract and payment records.

In his written defence, the seller explicitly acknowledged receiving the full purchase price and confirmed his agreement to hand over the property, but he had not fulfilled that commitment.

In its judgment, the court reaffirmed the legal principle that contracts are binding on the parties and must be executed in good faith once concluded free from defects of consent.

It added that the burden of proving compliance with contractual obligations rests with the party claiming performance once the original obligation has been established, in line with precedents set by the Dubai Court of Cassation.