The Dubai Rental Disputes Center, the judicial arm of Land Department, states 100% of its services are provided "remotely", including 24-hour services, particularly those that affect the needs of the tenants and owners of the real estate properties.
Briefing the daily “Emarat Al-Youm”, the RDC explains one of the most protuberant services rendered round the clock, is "Petition Order" dealing with complaints associated with provisional and summary actions, including the deprivation of tenants form utility services that require urgent intervention by the RDC.
Judge Abdulqader Mousa, Chairman of the Dubai Rental Disputes Center, said, “One-hundred percent of the RDC services are delivered remotely, including 24-hour services, such as "Petition Order" that enables the complainant to quickly file his complaint at the Dubai Rental Disputes Center.
Throwing further light on the process, the RDC Chairman explained, “Petition Order” allows customers to file their petitions addressing the RDC Provisional and Summary Actions Judge. The applicants request him to issue “Status Affirmation” order to determine the severance of utility services. Accordingly, the RDC starts communicating with the real estate property owner to reinstate the service, as soon as it receives the request electronically.
He confirmed that if the RDC does not receive a response by the owner, it would get in touch with the police to alert the owner to return services immediately.
Deprivation of services
Judge Mousa pointed out that the RDC would seek the support of the police based on Article 34 of Law No 26 of 2007, on Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai, as amended, which stipulates that “The Landlord may not disconnect services from the Real Property or prevent the Tenant in any manner whatsoever from using the Real Property. Under no circumstances, the landlords must deprive the tenants of basic water, electricity and air conditioning services, even if the tenant delays paying the rent as this exposes the landlord to a legal offence punishable by imprisonment or fine.
Relentless Service
"Facilities such as these affect living needs, the RDC continues to deal with them immediately, around the clock, despite the current circumstances related to the spread of virus (Covid-19), where the RDC staff communicate directly with the real estate owner, right after the tenant electronically lodged the complaint", Judge Mousa continued.
Urgent Affairs
Judge Moussa emphasized that disconnecting such services under these circumstances, would possibly expose the tenant to physical harm, as it is not allowed to cut water, electricity or air conditioning, pointing out that the Dubai Rental Disputes Center is fully operational and ready for all circumstances, while some of the RDC departments work 24 hours to receive urgent complaints, to be considered by the RDC Judge of Summary Actions concerning matters and issues where lapse of time cannot be an option. As there is an imminent danger in the case of one of the parties to the legal dispute, It is indispensable to take temporary action to protect this party and to assess the imminent danger, pointing out that the "situation" is a matter to be assessed by the discretion of Provisional and Summary Actions Judge.
"Remote" services
The RDC stated that the following services at the Registration of Cases and Disputes Section are provided "remotely: Manual Cases Registration - Petition Order Request - Sequestration (Omission in Judgment - Judgment Interpretation - Registration of Injunction by a third party - Grievance or Appeal over the Execution Judge’s Decisions – Inquiries about Summary Orders - Receiving Summary Orders - Publish a notification on Offer and Deposit Motion), Letters of “Whom It May Concern” and inquiries by the Competent Authorities. The customers can obtain these services by sending in an email along with supported documents attached.
Manual case registration, Judgment Execution services and technical support services, which deal with solving problems related to user data on the RDC website, including user name and password recoveries can also be obtained by the relevant emails given below respectively.
The RDC customers may write to reg-rdc@dubailand.gov.ae for manual cases and petition order requests registrations, etc., to rdc-fsc@dubailand.gov.ae to inquire about the Judgment Execution services, and to csd-rdc@dubailand.gov.ae for technical support services.