Good morning, my landlord raised a case against me...

Welcome, Thank you for joining us,

with all respect and appreciation to you,

I would like to clarify to you that 

You can file a complaint at the rental dispute committee against the landlord as he refuse to do the necessary repairs. He will be forced to do these repairs upon the decision of the committee

We would like to inform you that you have to go to the committee in the place you follow, and  yes there are small fees to reach this committee.

You do not need a lawyer to represent you at Rent Dispute Settlement Centre “RDSC”, but if you cannot appear, then you need to issue a notarized Power of Attorney in favour of your representative. 

RDSC promises simplified procedures with most rental disputes being judged within 75 days. The Centre will handle most rental disputes for the Emirate of Dubai including Dubai free zones, unless such disputes have been assigned to special judicial committees or courts. Also RDSC will not look into rent disputes arising from finance lease contracts or long-term lease contracts covered by the provisions of Law No. 7 of 2006 for real estate registration in Dubai.

RDSC includes four departments: Arbitration & Reconciliation Department, Department of First Instance, Department of Appeal and Law Enforcement Department.

First the Arbitration Department will try to settle disputes amicably within 15 days. If not successful, a lawsuit has to be lodged with the Department of First Instance, which will try to settle the dispute within 30 days with rulings final unless appealed to the Department of Appeal, and only for for claims worth more than AED 100,000; and issue a verdict within 30 days.

Steps for legal redress: 
1. Prepare all supporting documents, including emails between you and your landlord. Take copies of your passport, Emirates ID, Ejari certificate, original blue tenancy contract, passport copy of landlord, DEWA bill and title deed & copies of cheques that were issued.
 
2. Get the Rent Disputes Settlement Centre form typed. This form is kept by most typists. Ensure your non-Arabic documents are legally translated into Arabic.
3. Go to RDSC and file a case.
4. Pay the fee which is 3.5% of your annual rent (minimum AED 350 and maximum AED 20,000).
5. Have a hearing scheduled and appear on that day. Try and appear a few minutes earlier. If the defendant fails to show up, the judge may ask you to pay for a newspaper advertisement asking the defendant to appear for the second hearing.

6. The Arbitration & Reconciliation Department will first try to solve the dispute at the second hearing.
   If you are unhappy with the verdict, you can file an appeal with the Department of First Instance. This verdict is usually final, unless the claim is worth more than AED 100,000. Then you can try the Department of Appeal as a last resort.