UAE Property: ‘Can my landlord compel me to sign an agreement to vacate?’

Question: I renewed my tenancy contract on September 20. While signing the contract, the landlord, a real estate company, made me sign a document asking me to vacate the premises next year. I was forced to sign this document to renew and receive my contract. Is the document valid? I would like to renew my lease next year as well. SD, Dubai Answer: Any signed agreement between two parties is valid, as long as the agreement is still in place. In your case, you can prove that you were forced to sign it to renew the contract, which is illegal as all tenancy contracts are renewable unless otherwise agreed. There are four reasons that the landlord can use to evict you. These are stated in the law as: to sell the property, to move in themselves or for a first-degree next of kin to move in, for extensive modernisation, and for demolition. For these four reasons, the landlord would have to give the tenant 12 months’ notice of the eviction. I would suggest you file a case at the Rental Dispute Settlement Committee in the Dubai Land Department building in Deira. State that you were forced to sign the document against your wishes and that you do not agree with its contents now as you would wish to renew for the following year, too. The rent committee judge of the day will decide the outcome. However, I suspect your case will be viewed favourably, so hopefully you will be able to stay on in the property for years to come. Q: After saving for many years, I bought a property in a new Dubai community. It’s still off-plan and I am paying as per construction milestones. I bought the unit in 2023. My family and I have already started making plans to move into the property in 2025 and secured admission for our children in a school in the same community. However, considering the property boom in Dubai, the price of my unit has appreciated tremendously. I am receiving attractive offers from real estate brokers on a daily basis. I am torn between retaining the unit as an owner-occupier and selling it to make a big profit. What should I do? Please advise. PB, Dubai A: Assuming you are buying this off-plan unit as your next home, I would continue with your original plan and take handover of it in 2025. If the property price continues to rise (as I’m expecting) and you want to invest in future units to gain a further foothold on the property market, you can always remortgage the unit once handed over and take out the equity as the down payment on another property. You can, of course, sell the property now if you have achieved a very good offer. However, I assume you will still need to live somewhere, in which case you’d have to buy again. This could delay your move-in date if the property was off-plan again. Or you could cash out but move into rented accommodation and wait to see what the property market does in the future. Most analysts are not expecting a downturn in the property market anytime soon, so cashing out now, moving into rented accommodation and waiting could be risky as you would be out of the market. Either way, it’s your choice but I would do my research and due diligence before moving ahead. Mario Volpi is head of brokerage at Novvi Properties and has worked in the property sector for 40 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@novviproperties.com