Dubai landlord refuses to pay tenant’s Dh8,000 water bill after leak

Mario Volpi advises a tenant after the landlord refuses to pay the massive bill from a leak which took a month to fix.

Mario Volpi advises a villa tenant issued with a huge water bill. AFP

We moved into a villa in Abu Dhabi at the beginning of November last year and received our first utility bill early in January. We were charged for a massive water usage which was due to a leak outside the villa. We were not aware of it as it was on the street side and not visible to us. There were numerous other water leaks that we reported and these were fixed, but the maintenance company took almost a month to repair this. The landlord agreed to pay Dh1,500 towards the bill but is still leaving us with over Dh8,000 to pay. EP, Abu Dhabi

aThis is a very difficult situation you are in because on the one hand the villa’s major maintenance is normally the responsibility of the landlord so on paper, he should be liable to rectify this. On the other hand, presumably it is not his fault that the maintenance company took nearly a month to repair the leaks(s). As I always say, when situations similar to this arise, both landlord and tenant need to sit down and thrash out a solution. In my opinion, what would appear to be fair for all, given that nobody is at fault, is to agree to split the bill 50/50. If you do not reach an agreement with the landlord then your only recourse is to take him to court for failure to maintain the villa. This action is not advisable as the cost is prohibitive and whatever relations you may have with your landlord will be irretrievably broken down.

I am about to renew the lease on my apartment. The apartment is leased through a property management agency and I have already informed them that I will be renewing the lease. However, because I have left my previous employment and am awaiting confirmation on another position, I do not have a UAE residence visa at the moment. I asked the Dubai Land Department about this and they stated that having a residence visa is not necessarily required to renew a lease, but it is needed for the Ejari system. What happens if the agency refuses to renew the lease? Will I have to vacate at the time of the current lease expiring or can I stretch this by a few weeks or months to sort out the transition? BS, Dubai

Given that this is a renewal and not a new lease, the agency handling the lease should not refuse to go ahead. Having said that, it is important that you have in place evidence of your next employment, even if this is not 100 per cent finalised. I’m not sure of the time frame here or how long before your lease is actually up, but I’m sure you will have sorted your new position by then and as long as you can show your visa application is under process, I’m certain you will be fine.

I have a villa in Dubai which I have been renting to a tenant and his family for Dh80,000 per year. It's a three-bedroom Mirabella villa in Jumeirah Village South. I now want to increase the rent, but my tenant only wants to pay an extra Dh5,000. I want to give him notice to move out in three months. His contract is ending next month so please advise if I can do this or not. ZS, Dubai

Any changes to the rental contract have to be communicated by either party by giving 90 days notice and this can obviously also mean the rent. If you have missed this window then you will not be allowed to change any part of the contract and it will renew on the same terms and conditions as before. If you are in time with this window, you will only be able to raise the rent as per the Rera rental calculator.

If you want to evict your tenant you can do so for certain reasons only, and I’m afraid that non-compliance to what rent you want to charge is not one of them. If you wish to sell or move in yourself, then these two main reasons are valid for eviction, but then you have to give your tenant 12 months’ notice sent via notary public or registered mail to effect this eviction.

Mario Volpi is the managing director of Ocean View Real Estate and has worked in the industry in the emirate and in London for the past 30 years. Send any questions to [e-mail].

The advice provided in our columns does not constitute legal advice and is provided for information only. Readers are encouraged to seek appropriate independent legal advice.

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