• Home
• /
• UAE

Sharjah residents thank govt for reduced attestation fees during pandemic

Sharjah - The 50% reduction incentive expired on March 31, and the original rate is in force from April 1.

The 50 per cent reduction on attestation fee for rental lease has expired on March 31, according to a Sharjah City Municipality official.

Earlier, the Sharjah Executive Council authorities had announced that the reduction for attestation fee for rental lease would be from 4 per cent to 2 per cent owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The sop was part of the Sharjah government's incentives to support state-run and private agencies, individual tenants, and businesses to tide over the viral outbreak.

The new original rate of 4 per cent has come into effect from April 1. The civic authorities also facilitate attestation transaction facilities for tenants by providing an online service.

“The municipality has been keen to conduct most of its services and transactions electronically. It is trying to go 100 per cent paperless. The digital transformation exercise called Sabiq was started last year, but the roll-out got partially delayed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic," the officials said.

Landlords and real estate agents can use their own cards and list all their documents to receive a user identity (ID) and activation code to be able to renew the rental contracts through the website on their own.

Complaints against landlords or tenants can also be submitted to judges via the municipality's website. Customers can access judges' verdicts through the website, they added.

The official said that this includes the attestation of both new and renewed rental leases for residential, commercial, and industrial sectors.

Residents hail the initiative

Ayman Al Attaya, a Sudanese national and a resident of Al Mahatta in Sharjah, profusely thanked the emirate's government's largess that has immensely helped him tide over a financial crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I paid Dh300 as attestation fee for rental lease, which has now gone up to Dh600," he said.

Fatima Mahmoud, an Egyptian national, who lives in a one-bedroom apartment at Al Nabbah, said: "I paid Dh650 for attestation. I'd have to pay the revised rate of Dh1,300 because of the doubling of the fee."

Nitin Kumar, an Indian national and a resident of Abu Shagara, said: "I'd like to thank the Sharjah government for the incentive, which tremendously helped me during the pandemic.”