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Lawyer to target estate agents in landlord dispute
The lawyer representing a group of Dubai tenants who could be evicted from their homes after paying rent to a company that was not their landlord said he will file a case against the property agents they used.
Thirty eight families living in Discovery Gardens have yet to hear from Dubai Rent Committee if they will be evicted from their homes.
The committee was due to meet at on Sunday afternoon to reach their final verdict, and if agreed, issue a notice of eviction.
Rent Committee General Secretary Mohammad Ahmad Al Shaikh was unavailable when Arabian Business tried to contact him on Monday, and the tenants’ lawyer Ossama Aborayah said he had not received any news.
Aborayah, of Accord International, told Arabian Business: “They will send us the decision of the Rent Committee and we will see.
“I am going to file a complaint to the Land Department against the agencies. This is a good aspect that we can go through because law 85 from the year 2006 states that they are jointly liable with the landlord, so we will try to gain what we can and get our money back.”
The tenants say they rented the flats through property agents Palma Real Estate, Imperial Real Estate and Homeland, all registered with Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA).
Only one month after paying their rent to Corporate Business Solutions (CBS) and moving in they discovered the real owner of the property was Meraas Real Estate.
However, tenancy contracts signed by the families clearly state CBS as landlord and are signed and stamped by the firm. The contracts were successfully registered with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA).
Meraas Real has filed a case against CBS, but the firm is believed to have closed and the owner disappeared.
One tenant told Arabian Business they had not received any news about the committee hearing. “There’s been nothing as yet. Nothing has been delivered.
“Yesterday we tried a couple of options to see if something would work, but we’re still in the same boat. Everyone was a bit depressed yesterday.”
The 27-year-old woman said the tenants had tried to make a direct appeal to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum to ask him to intervene, but were unsuccessful.
“We were just passed about,” she said.
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Comments 1-3 of 3
Posted by Hamid on 29 October 2009 at 02:09 UAE time
Yes, I believe their lawyer is 100% right. It's about time for the agents to be held responsible. They need to make sure a deal is clean EARN their money for a change.
So far, the agents have been making all kind of double dealing unscrupulous business. Even the honest brokers do nothing but a referral and yet insist on making a full broker commission. Many agents has no business to be an agent, because they are either not knowledgeable or unscrupulous.
Yes RERA can certainly do a better job and there is a lots of room for streamlining the system, but still I 100% hold the agent responsible. Because, the current system is what we have, and the agent must be able to operate on or get out of business.
The agent must have received a copy of the first page of contract and passoprt copy/ Trade License of the Landloard and then he must have have asked the landlord to showe him the originals too. Lat but not least, the agents must have verified the accuracy of those information with with the developer and land department.
Yes we all wish RERA to install a more streamlined and reliable system in place, but meanwhile the agents must use what is available. This is there job and what they are getting paid for!!! all day they have nothing else to do but this..
No doubt in my mind the agent is responsible, unless they have done all of the above and still for some reason were deceived.
Posted by Hani Zaitoun, Dubai, UAE on 28 October 2009 at 09:44 UAE time
RERA should be fully responsible for this as they accepted the contracts and registered them, confirming indirectly that CBS are the owners of the property. If RERA cannot confirm who are the owners of a property who can?
I hope the DIWAN will be able to look at the flaws of the regulatory body overlooking Dubai properties. RERA should be responsible for verification of a property, i.e. its plot number, who it belongs to, etc... not simply stamp blindly and hand over.
The lawyer should consider RERA being part of the complaint.
Posted by NAfees Ahamed, Abu Dhabi, UAE on 27 October 2009 at 12:00 UAE time
I also see Dubai Real Estate market with lot of culprits like unscrupulous Brokers. They are the middleman who earns for just talking.
In Abu Dhabi, the scenario is/was worse. When I was looking for flat I faced situations I had to oblige to agents and their subs. Even I was asked to pay the so called "key money", in other terms "bribe", to secure an accommodation.
This report mentions that those brokers in question are registered with RERA. Under such circumstances, how can one believe the government authorities?!