United Arab Emirates – Rent disputes to be solved at new centre

DUBAI will set up a centre to swiftly settle rent disputes in the emirate, a local newswire reported last month. Simplified procedures will help settle cases swiftly from centre based at Dubai Land Department. 

HH Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, issued the decree establishing the Rent Dispute Settlement Centre which will be based at the Dubai Land Department. 

The centre will use simplified procedures to settle all rent disputes unless special judicial committees or courts are assigned. It will not handle disputes arising from finance lease (lease to buy) and long-term lease contracts. 

The Head of the Dubai Judicial Council will issue orders to organise work. Judges will chair the centre, its committees and departments, besides being the experts in the committees affiliated to the centre and its departments. 

The centre will comprise two main sectors – judicial and administrative. 

The judicial sector will include the Arbitration and Reconciliation Department, the Department of First Instance, the Department of Appeal and the Law Enforcement Department. 

Arbitration will try to settle the disputes amicably within 15 days or else a lawsuit will be filed at the Department of First Instance. The dispute should be settled within 30 days. This period may be extended by the council’s head. 

The rulings of the Department of First Instance can be appealed before the Department of Appeal. But rulings on rental claims worth less than Dh100,000 are final and cannot be appealed.