Villa tenants blame sub-lessor for cheating

Two dozen families living in a villa compound in Abu Dhabi’s Mohammad Bin Zayed City have recently said that they fear they will be evicted following a dispute between the landlord and sub-lessor who leased out the villas.

According to tenants, problems started soon after they moved into the compound of eight villas on July 28 when the sub-lessor’s cheque to the landlord bounced. The landlord then took legal action, leading to the disconnection of water and electricity to the homes by the authorities.

The tenants said that they paid an estimated Dh600,000 in one year’s rent in advance.

“We paid the rent directly to the sub-lessor who signed one-year lease agreement with us. Around 10 days after all payments were made and tenants moved in, the landlord told us that we would have to vacate the villas as the sub-lessor’s cheque was bounced,” said A.A an Indian resident who paid Dh18,000 for a flat in one of the villas.

“After that water and electricity connections to our homes were disconnected without any notice, leaving us in a very difficult situation,” he said.

“The residents had to live without water and electricity for five days, after which their utility services were restored on court’s order. During those five days some of the tenants slept on the roofs of their villas, and others in their cars. It was a very difficult situation for us,” he added.

A.A added,“The court ordered to restore our electricity and water connections for only two months and we don’t know what will happen after that. The landlord continues to tell us that we need to vacate the villas but we have tried to explain the situation to him. We told him that we paid one-year rent in advance to the sub-lessor and we don’t have any other place to go.”

“Apart from the Dh600,000 paid by us, an Emirati paid Dh500,000 to the sub-lessor for three villas, who has taken away Dh1.1 million,” A.A further added.

A.A said that the tenants failed to get in touch with the sub-lessor as his mobile phone has been switched off.

“We have tried to call him on several occasions, but all his mobile phones are switched off. We feel that we have been scammed by the sub-lessor,” he said.

Aslam M, another Indian tenant who has been affected by the situation, said that he paid Dh22,000 for a flat.

“I have paid Dh22,000 rent for one year, and in a few days my wife will be returning to the UAE from India. It is a very complicated situation for me. There are many other families who have young children. We are hoping that this issue can be resolved,” he said.

“We have filed a case in the court and are waiting for the date of hearing,” he added.

“It has been very difficult for us to get on with our daily lives. We are ready to move out of the villas if our money is returned to us. We don’t know what to do if we have to move out without our money being returned,” he said.

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