Man asked to vacate flat to facilitate rent increase

A. RAUF KAIKAMBA claims that he was asked to vacate his apartment to enable the landlord to rent it out at a higher rate. He said not all building owners give the chance to the tenants to approach the court in case they plan to file a case against rent hike.

By Complaints Corner

Published: Thu 10 Aug 2006, 9:46 AM

Last updated: Sat 4 Apr 2015, 6:07 PM

Usually, he says, when the owner decides to increase the rent by 50 per cent or more, they try to push the tenant out of the flat by "hook or crook" and rent out the same to a new comer for whatever amount they wish.

"In my case, my cousin and I were staying with our families. We were four adults and a five-year-old child, staying in a three-bedroom flat. One fine day, my building watchman handed a letter to me advising me to report to the Khalifa Committee within 72 hours as otherwise my power supply would be disconnected."

On approaching the concerned person, Mr Rauf said he was told that he could not renew his flat lease and the reason given was that he had accommodated more than one family in the flat.

"If that is the rule, why would a family of two adults and a child go for a three-bed room flat? Now how to take action against this owner?" he asked.

Reply

MOHAMMED Abdullah Al Basous, Deputy Director of Rents at the Department of Social Services and Commercial Buildings (DSSCB), also known as Khalifa Committee, said it is against the law to rent one flat in Abu Dhabi to more than one family.

"The law does not allow the tenant to sublet the apartment to others and any such practice makes the tenancy contract null and void. Therefore, the renting authority will have the right to cancel the contract or refuse to renew it as per the law," Mr Basous said. A legal advisor of the department said the issue of shared accommodation cited to kick the tenant out and hike the rent was irrelevant and has no legal validity.

However, the law is on the side of the owner as long as the case concerns the sharing of accommodation and not a hike in rent.

Concerning the other part of the problem, hike in rents is a general problem which all segments of the society suffer from. As far as Abu Dhabi is concerned, an official source at Khalifa Commitee said the general surge in rent market is one of many factors that should be calculated in fixing rent value. Soaring demand against lack of enough supply pushes prices of available apartments to higher levels.

He said the tenancy law sets the increase in rent at 20 per cent at a maximum in two years from the date of contract or the last increase.

Many circles have recently called for a new federal law to streamline hike in rents in the country. Officials expect such a law to be issued soon in view of the growing concern among tenants.

Delay in credit cards' delivery

ABDUL Rahim of Dubai complained: "I work for an engineering company in Dubai. A few weeks ago a representative of Dubai National Bank contacted me and two of my colleagues and tried to attract us towards taking credit cards. He assured us that we would all get credit cards within 10 days of the submission of our documents to him. We gave him all the required documents nearly 20 days ago and still haven't received our credit cards. Whenever we call him, he gives us excuses or doesn't pick up his mobile. I have also called the helpline of the bank on many occasions but they also have not been helpful at all. They ask for our details and after putting us on hold for a few minutes, tell us that our cards have been approved and will be delivered shortly. But when exactly will the cards be delivered? Nobody knows and it seems nobody cares.

Reply

WHEN Khaleej Times contacted the sales representative, he said: "In issuing a credit card, lots of procedures are involved. It usually takes 10 to 12 working days for a credit card to be processed. After that it's handed over to the courier company to be delivered to the client. Sometimes the delay is from their side. The bank tries to do its best to ensure that the clients get their credit cards as soon as possible."

Khaleej Times also talked to Dubai National Bank who noted down the names of the customer and the sales representative and said they would carry out an investigation. They, however, called back Khaleej Times and said that the issue has been resolved and the clients can collect their credit cards after two days.

No medicine for disabled child

A PERSON complained against Sharjah Qasimi Hospital for not providing medicine for his handicapped child. He said that when a visiting doctor came to Al Qasimi Hospital, he advised him to use a special type of medicine, which will be effective for his child's illness.

The doctor also informed him that the medicine can only be provided by the hospital. But, it is more than one-and-a-half month now and he has been checking with the Al Qasimi hospital daily if they have received the medicine stock. But every time, the hospital informs him that the requisition for the medicine has been sent for approval to the concerned authority.

Reply

AN official from Al Qasimi Hospital said that he is not aware of the medicine prescribed for the complainant's child. The official said that generally there are some medicines that are imported from various countries and are not distributed or provided to patients prior to approval of the Ministry of Health which analyses all imported medicines in its labs in all the emirates.

Sometimes medicines stay for long time in the laboratory due to excessive work or the medicine needs too much analysis before approval. But as soon as the hospital pharmacy receives the approval from the ministry, it will immediately dispense the medicine to the patients.