.png "Interview With Expat Saanika Gandhi, Author of Children's Book 'The Yellow Kite'")
Tenancy Contract / Absent Landlord - HELP!
Hi Ladies,
Help needed please! It's a long one - get comfy. My partner had a tenancy contract for a 1 bed apartment which expired in April this year. The apartment was cleaned, all fine and he moved out in to a new place.
The landlord was absent (for most of the tenancy he was missing - no-one could get hold of him or knew where he was). He popped up very briefly in Dubai at the end of last year and then went again. Because he's been out of UAE for so long, he doesn't have active bank accounts etc. The rent was paid quarterly - all the checks were provided to the agent and they were updated during the tenancy.
My partner keeps trying to go to the agent and give them checks totalling approx. 30K but they keep missing the appointments, or cancelling on him. He still doesn't have his deposit back (which is about 3K). We think this is because they collected their agency fee from the landlord and so they don't want to do work for no additional payment and if the landlord doesn't get his money, it doesn't affect them which is fair!
My question is: Is there a statute within property law which says that after a certain amount of time and after reasonable attempts, the landlord is no longer entitled to the rent?
The added issue he has is that during the tenancy there were multiple issues in the apartment that he couldn't get fixed because the landlord hadn't paid the maintenance fees which were around 20K. My partner tried to pay them, but was told he couldn't as he didn't own the property.
Really grateful for any help!
- RATE IT
- 6
