Landlord in Dubai wants a full year’s rent for breaking a contract early Q
I was trying to set up a business in Dubai International Financial Centre. DIFC gave me a work visa in the hope I would be successful in getting a licence to operate the business. I then leased an apartment with a one-year tenancy agreement via an agent. However, I was unsuccessful in getting the licence and as such cannot operate from Dubai. This means the visa will also now be cancelled. Obviously, this was not planned, so I have given two months’ notice for the apartment as I have to leave Dubai. However, the landlord’s representative is saying I need to pay for the whole year’s rent. I have spoken to the agent who I discussed the tenancy agreement with before signing and nothing of this sort was mentioned – just the standard two-month penalty. The agent says the landlord is acting illegally. The landlord’s representative says that it was in the contract (which the letting agent did not pick up on or explain) and must I follow that. Is there anything I can do? AR, Dubai
AYou do not mention in your email if the property you have signed the tenancy agreement for is in the DIFC or in Dubai in general. I asked this because the DIFC does not necessarily follow the same rules as the rest of Dubai when it comes to the rental laws. If the property is in the DIFC you can seek independent advice from DIFC lawyers, who can advise further. In the meantime let me first tackle the tenancy contract part.
Given the details of your email, I assume you are confirming that there is a clause in the contract that states if you wish to break the contract, the landlord has the right to request the full year’s rent. I have to admit that in the past, this wording was fairly common as job security was perhaps better or maybe tenants did not need to break the contract as much as they do today.
In any case, it was always at the discretion of the landlord to come to the aid of a tenant needing to break the contract. It appears this landlord is really mean by holding you to the contract given her circumstances but actually he is not acting illegally. It is now down to pure negotiations between you and the landlord to get to the desired point of being allowed to break the contract with the minimum of cost or fuss.
The only solution I can see – assuming you cannot change the landlord’s mind – would be to get the agent to help find another tenant to replace you. This way, the landlord will not be out of pocket or indeed suffer any void periods while another tenant is sought.
If the property is in Dubai rather than the DIFC, I would not necessarily recommend that you spend time, money and effort to file a case at the Rental Dispute Settlement Committee because despite the fact it would seem ridiculous to pay for something you cannot use, the landlord has not broken any rules, given the content of the tenancy contract.