People who want to rent homes in Dubai will now have to provide a statement of income from their employer to landlords before leasing a property. This new condition was revealed recently by a regional website, but no explanation was provided about specific circumstances such as for example divorcees with an income from alimony or students with scholarships, and other similar non-salaried prospective renters.
After November 27th when it was announced that Dubai won the rights to host World Expo 2020, rents in the city continue to rise significantly on the back of the optimistic news. Now renting a home is so expensive that many residents are moving to nearby emirates such as Sharjah and Ajman.
Ordinary tenants are not only expected to pay the rent for their temporary home, but also to pay in 5% annual housing fees, 5% security deposit and 5% commission to the real estate broker. Altogether, prospective tenants should add 15% of the amount of the rent to the first year payment. For example, if the rent is 100,000 Dirhams, with the additional fees it will become 115,000 Dirhams. It is true that the security deposit is refundable, but the cases in which landlords return full amount of the security deposit are very rare.
Renting home in Dubai is not only expensive nowadays, but also a complicated process. Apart from finding a home, which is the easiest part with tens of thousands properties remaining unoccupied across the city, one has to arrange a number of documents such as: passport copy including UAE residency visa; signed application for tenancy with all information provided; the rent sometimes is negotiable but usually four cheques – the first being three months rent cheque, which is dated now, and the following post-dated for 3 monthly intervals.
In the past, some real estate agents were even asking tenants for salary certificates in order to protect investors interests, but it is not sure if this is a legal practice as personal status documents are confidential and usually obtained by third parties only with court orders. In many countries asking a customer for his financial status is considered not only extremely rude, but also unlawful.-Dubai Chronicle
