UAE Property: ‘Can I be evicted for agreeing to vacate my home via email?’

Question: I am a tenant who told my landlord via email that I will move out of the property and later changed my mind.

The landlord is holding me to this. I sought legal advice, which agreed that the email is binding.

In one of your previous columns, you said the only way a tenant is forced to stick to an agreed move-out date is if that confirmation notice is prepared via notary public.

Does it mean the landlord cannot legally hold me accountable because of my email? AS, Dubai

Answer: It is exactly for the reason of changing your mind, perhaps due to your own change of circumstances, that the only way to hold a tenant to a written request of leaving a rented property is if that request is sent via notary public.

I’m sure that many people will have the same opinion as your landlord, that an email confirmation of vacating is sufficient to be enforceable as it is in writing but I maintain that only when it is sent via notary public, can it then be cast iron.

If you still feel strongly about it, you can always file a case at the Rental Dispute Settlement Committee stating the reason you need to withdraw your agreement to vacate.

It is then up to a judge on a committee to decide who is in the right.

I go along with the knowledge that in the past, only notarised notifications hold water because the other written forms are open to interpretation.

Q: I have a property that is rented out significantly below the market rate.

As per the Real Estate Regulatory Agency’s rental index, no rent increase is permitted.

However, can I obtain a rental valuation certificate from the Dubai Land Department and use it to increase the rent for the upcoming year?

Can the rent be increased to the figure mentioned on the valuation certificate or do the rental index rules apply?

For example, if the rent is 10 per cent less than the market value, there is no increase permitted and if it is 11 per cent to 20 per cent lower than the market rate, the maximum increase may be up to 5 per cent only. KM, Dubai

A: You can request a DLD rental valuation certificate. However, you will need to ensure that you have communicated with your tenant, giving 90 days’ notice of any potential changes to the rental contract at renewal and this would include the rent.

If you have missed this window, technically you cannot increase the rent or make any other changes to the contract at renewal.

Therefore, it is irrelevant what the DLD certificate will state as the correct rent to date.

If you are within this window of communication with the tenant, you are correct that the rental index rules would still apply.

So you will have to calculate which band the rent amount falls under to be able to then claim the specific rent increase percentage.

Mario Volpi is the sales director at AX Capital. He has worked in the property sector for 39 years in London and Dubai. The opinions expressed do not constitute legal advice and are provided for information only. Please send any questions to m.volpi@axcapital.ae