Greedy Nightmare Landlady!!! | ExpatWoman.com
 

Greedy Nightmare Landlady!!!

183
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 10:58

Just wondered if any of you have been through the following, going through it currently or know someone who has...

Our landlady informed us a few weeks ago that our rent next year would be increasing by 14,000 AED! I spoke to RERA and checked their calculator and it categorically said "No rent increase is allowed for your area" and RERA confirmed she could not do this. After going back and forth with us telling her what you are doing is illegal and no we will not pay what you are asking... a letter arrives at work from her serving us our eviction notice as she requires use of the property for "personal reasons" and we are to vacate in 12 month. So obvious and transparent!

1) Our current lease expires in January 2015 but she served us with the eviction in September 2014 and it says we have to vacate by September 2015 - but should this not start from the January 2015 - January 2016? I asked the Land Department this and they said it will start from the date of the eviction letter but how is this correct? That means, that landlords could serve us only 2/3/4 months into our contract? I don't see how this is correct!

2) I hope she knows that she cant legally rent out the property for 2 years once we vacate and if she does we can file a claim against her for 1 years free rent... does anybody know how you would find out if the property is rented once you leave?

3) Shall we reply to her letter reminding her that it can not be rented for 2 years after and if we find it is we shall be taking the necessary steps? I don't know if this would help the situation... We don't know what to do for the best.

Its all just one big headache - this is our first rental where we have had to deal with this as the previous 2 years we were given accommodation with my husband's company. I don't think I can handle this happening every year! We are seriously thinking about saving and buying...

Thanks!

841
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EW GURU
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 23:35
Just to clarify, it's the Rent Committee that arbitrates these things, *not* RERA. Given the way the LL has been treating you, I would not hesitate to remind her that if she evicts you on the pretext of needing the property for "personal reasons", then she cannot rent it for two years. The RC has a system for blocking the Ejari registration of properties, so that if a LL tries to pull the "personal reasons" trick, any new tenant will be unable to register for Ejari and hence be unable to set up a DEWA account and so on.
230
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 15:31
The only one I can answer is No.1. You can be given your notice at any time in the contract, although most LL do wait until contract renewal time. In our case this was not true. We moved into a property in November 2012, property was sold and the new LL gave us notice to leave in May 2013, asking us to be out by May 2014. We went to the rent committee and won the case to remain in the property until November 2014 - RC said that you can only give notice at the signing of a new contract, but in our case it may have been because we had only just rented the property. However, they said all contracts have to be registered with Ejari and Ejari only issues contracts that are 1 year - there is no such thing as a contract for a few months. I'm not an expert and telling you what I know from our experience. If I was you I would go to the Rent Committee and not communicate with her at all. She has to prove to the rent committee why she requires the property for personal purposes, and if she can't prove that then you will win the case. I also think the correspondence that you have with her from trying to put up the rent shows that initially she was not intending to use the property herself. Just to add: Rera did not question our LL if that was his only property, nothing. The eviction notice just said 'he needs it for personal use' and Rera said it was fine. Maybe if you open a case they check these things.
230
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 15:27
The only one I can answer is No.1. You can be given your notice at any time in the contract, although most LL do wait until contract renewal time. In our case this was not true. We moved into a property in November 2012, property was sold and the new LL gave us notice to leave in May 2013, asking us to be out by May 2014. We went to the rent committee and won the case to remain in the property until November 2014 - RC said that you can only give notice at the signing of a new contract, but in our case it may have been because we had only just rented the property. However, they said all contracts have to be registered with Ejari and Ejari only issues contracts that are 1 year - there is no such thing as a contract for a few months. I'm not an expert and telling you what I know from our experience. If I was you I would go to the Rent Committee and not communicate with her at all. She has to prove to the rent committee why she requires the property for personal purposes, and if she can't prove that then you will win the case. I also think the correspondence that you have with her from trying to put up the rent shows that initially she was not intending to use the property herself. Something must have changed - we have just had our contract signed for 7months at Rera office - they confirmed it was ok. I need to ask my DH if we received the Ejari..
230
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 15:25
They can serve you 12months notice at any time - we got ours mid contract. The letter does not have to be notarised; we have confirmed this with Rera, and I think it is stated in the law as well that it can either be a notarised letter or sent via registered mail (ours came via courier and Rera said it was fine) wow Rowellian, that's a sad story! wonder what happened there behind closed doors.
943
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EW GURU
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 15:22
The only one I can answer is No.1. You can be given your notice at any time in the contract, although most LL do wait until contract renewal time. In our case this was not true. We moved into a property in November 2012, property was sold and the new LL gave us notice to leave in May 2013, asking us to be out by May 2014. We went to the rent committee and won the case to remain in the property until November 2014 - RC said that you can only give notice at the signing of a new contract, but in our case it may have been because we had only just rented the property. However, they said all contracts have to be registered with Ejari and Ejari only issues contracts that are 1 year - there is no such thing as a contract for a few months. I'm not an expert and telling you what I know from our experience. If I was you I would go to the Rent Committee and not communicate with her at all. She has to prove to the rent committee why she requires the property for personal purposes, and if she can't prove that then you will win the case. I also think the correspondence that you have with her from trying to put up the rent shows that initially she was not intending to use the property herself.
109
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 15:14
Sorry to hear about your situation. We went through exactly the same thing a year ago, landlord wanted more money, we said No, she said get out then, we said No, she gave us 12 months notice on the pretence that she was moving in. We moved out & 2 weeks later new tenants moved in paying can extra 90,000 per year! We filed a case & after five hearings we lost and we have no idea why! The paperwork was lost and at the final hearing they closed the court and some officials came out, handed out paperwork to inform us we lost! Not willing to file another case or spend the time on it!
183
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 14:25
How did the letter arrive? and is it notorised? Yes it is notarised and stamped by the court
5334
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 13:49
How did the letter arrive? and is it notorised?
183
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 13:06
I would reply to her saying that you accept her eviction notice, BUT, if you discover she has re-rented the property, you WILL be filing a case against her with the rent committee. In which case she could end up having to turf the new tenants out and re-renting to you at the old price. Also she could end up paying you a years rent as compensation and banned from renting for two years. Make this all absolutely clear. Yeah I think I will write a reply letter to her FairyDust explaining just that - however another thing I have heard is, if we take her to court for re-renting it out, the judge is likely to order the landlady to allow us to move back in for 1 year free rent - but in our case, this will be irrelevant to us as we will have already moved out and signed a 1 year lease with a new landlord so we wont be able to just move back in... The reason this is even more of a pain in the neck is we were hoping to stay there as it is quite cheap and were going to be saving a huge chunk of our salaries hopefully giving us the option of buying if we decide to in 2016! So frustrating!
183
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 13:00
This may help http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/renting-in-dubai-what-you-need-to-know-1.1384904 Thanks Alison - yeah pretty much everything in the article is what we were already aware of... before she served the eviction, we were going to file a case at the Land department against her because of the illegal increase but she kind of took this out of our hands with the eviction.
2264
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 12:04
I would reply to her saying that you accept her eviction notice, BUT, if you discover she has re-rented the property, you WILL be filing a case against her with the rent committee. In which case she could end up having to turf the new tenants out and re-renting to you at the old price. Also she could end up paying you a years rent as compensation and banned from renting for two years. Make this all absolutely clear.
199
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 11:54
This may help http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/renting-in-dubai-what-you-need-to-know-1.1384904
8965
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 11:13
How do you know it can be served mid contract? I can get security to keep an eye yeah. We have tried to negotiate but she only come down by 5,000 AED and its simply still too high. Also, its the principle of the matter I think. She lives in Deira and was shouting at me over the phone saying her rent has increased so why shouldnt mine! Saying how can she pay hers... shes a crazy b***h! Shouting telling me to get out of the property now to just leave now! Totally unacceptable. I went to the place that served me the LL notice and asked them. They said it can be served at any time. I agree her abusing you is totally unacceptable
4393
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 11:11
The only one I can answer is No.1. You can be given your notice at any time in the contract, although most LL do wait until contract renewal time.
183
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 11:09
How do you know it can be served mid contract? I can get security to keep an eye yeah. We have tried to negotiate but she only come down by 5,000 AED and its simply still too high. Also, its the principle of the matter I think. She lives in Deira and was shouting at me over the phone saying her rent has increased so why shouldnt mine! Saying how can she pay hers... shes a crazy b***h! Shouting telling me to get out of the property now to just leave now! Totally unacceptable.
8965
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 23 October 2014 - 11:04
my eviction notice was served at the end of my last contract It can be served mid contract but most will do it at the end of your current one I think you can only play detective to know if anyone new moves in. Do you have security? maybe they can help you. I would let her know about the re-renting scenario and firmly tell her that you will investigate this and if needs be take her to the rental court Failing that are you able to give her an increase to an amount you are comfortable with. I know you legally don't have to do this but if you want to stay.
 
 

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