Hi, I have paid AED 10500  for a flat in Dubai and I received a receipt detailing rent, deposit and commission but did not sign any contract yet. Initially the landlord representative told me there was a AED 500 fee for a 9 days booking, but I liked the flat so I added 10K cash and I told him that I will come back next evening to pay the remaining balance with cheques. But after 2 nights of returning  back to the building, they weren’t there. So I decided on the 3rd day I would cancel the flat and look for another flat. When I spoke to them, they advised me that they would take AED 2100  from my money for the deposit, are they allowed to do that or they are only entitled for the AED 500 booking charge? Please advise. Thank you very much.

For this answer I contacted 1step properties and this is what they said:

‘The security deposit is a non refundable amount in case the tenant doesn’t want to go ahead with the contract. In general the security deposit represents 5% of the yearly rental amount but it can be any amount. In this case, he received the receipt with details, which must be indicated.  They can retain only the security deposit, nothing else.’