I have been an expat for going on 12 years now and finally ended up in Dubai for the last 2 years. i am having extreme trouble with my landlord when it comes to maintenance and repairs of our apartment in Emaar Towers in Deira.

Although all the complaints i have were listed when I moved in over a year still now none of the issues have been addressed. My main concern is the Air Conditioning which is in such an unhealthy condition it is causing my wife and child to get sick.

The apartment is paid for by my office and they have also refused to get involved with this dispute. I have also contacted Emaar about the issue and they say the landlord is responsible, the landlord says Emaar is responsible.

I just need to know if I have any legal rights against these guys to get this sorted out or not?

Our colleagues at 1Step Properties has investigated this with RERA who state “In general, it is the landlord’s responsibility as this is part of the major maintenance. The only exception is, if its expressly mentioned in the contract that the client will handle it and both parties agreed on this.”  RERA is the government department where you should take up all rental disputes.

However, from my experience many landlords put in clauses such as amounts under AED 500 should be paid by tenant – if your contract has this do check how much the cleaning would cost.  To keep an air-conditioning unit in good working order they should be cleaned at least twice a year.