My husband requested our previous landlord to decrease the rent as his salary has been reduced by 40 per cent for the past year. She didn’t reduce the rent and instead compelled us to vacate the property.
Because of this, we were unable to serve the 90-day notice period. We moved out and offered her two months’ rent as penalty. However, she rejected our offer and is demanding four months instead. We told her that we are not in a position to pay that amount.
Our landlord then refused to collect the keys from us for two months. Because the negotiations were not heading anywhere, we decided to send her a notice through a notary.
We repeatedly asked her to give us her mailing address to send the notice. However, she didn’t comply and instead took our mailing address from the legal notice we e-mailed her and sent us an eviction notice.
Due to a lack of funds, we are unable to take any further steps on this issue, but we did manage to make the key submission request even though she rejected that as well.
My husband was hospitalised for two weeks because of this stress. How can we get out of this situation? DD, Dubai
I’m sorry to hear of your plight. I’m sure it cannot be easy dealing with a landlord who is neither compassionate nor listening to your requests.
In most rental contracts, the penalty for leaving before a tenancy expires is one to two months’ rent, so I cannot understand why the landlord was looking at a four-month penalty, especially as you had missed the 90-day window.
My advice to you is to file a case at the Rental Dispute Settlement Committee. While I cannot predict the outcome of your particular case as it is only judges who decide, in many cases they have favoured tenants who are facing financial hardship due to Covid-19.
In many cases, judges at the Rental Dispute Settlement Committee have favoured tenants who are facing financial hardship due to Covid-19
It is important to file the papers correctly and translate them into Arabic, which will cost time and money, but will be worthwhile in the long run.
There isn’t much else that I can recommend to you at this stage as the landlord is not prepared to compromise with you. The only way would be to use litigation services such as the RDSC.
My apartment was damaged by flooding three weeks ago. The damage is quite extensive – the flooring has lifted throughout the property and there is water damage to the skirting boards and walls. The flooding was caused by a ruptured pipe that leaked water for up to 12 hours while I was out of the apartment. Today, the landlord told me she is holding me accountable for the cost of repairs. Obviously, I do not have contents insurance to cover this. Can she do this? CB, Dubai
This is an unfortunate situation and it is obvious that it is nobody’s fault but, sadly, someone has to take responsibility.
Without any insurance to fall back on, it would appear that you are left "holding the baby" so to speak. The only way I can see you potentially sharing the cost with the landlord is if you can somehow hold her liable for negligence of maintenance. However, this will be very difficult to prove.
A ruptured pipe could break at any time and while you are responsible as a tenant, the landlord should also take some responsibility.
In most rental contracts, owners are responsible for major maintenance and tenants for minor repairs. I believe this could potentially fall under the landlord’s responsibility due to it being a major repair. However, for fairness, the cost should be shared.
While it will be difficult to get your landlord to admit to any sort of liability, I think it would be beneficial for you to arrange a meeting with them to try to find some common ground. To prevent this happening again, I recommend that you get contents insurance.
Mario Volpi is the sales and leasing manager at Engel & Volkers. He has worked in the property sector for more than 35 years in London and Dubai. The opinions expressed do not constitute legal advice and are provided for information only. Please send any questions to mario.volpi@engelvoelkers.com
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
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THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War by Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O’Reilly
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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1.
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United States
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2.
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
TCL INFO
Teams:
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
When December 14-17
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.4-litre V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 523hp
Torque: 750Nm
Price: Dh469,000
Brief scores:
Huesca 0
Real Madrid 1
Bale 8'
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
