Controls that guarantee the refund of insurance amounts to tenants after the end of the contract

Many tenants suffer from the intransigence and trickery of their landlords by not refunding the insurance amounts at the end of the rental period, and the tenant’s desire to leave the house, and they are unable to do so with justifications, most of which are illegal or logical, which ultimately prompts tenants to waive the insurance in order to avoid headaches and get into quarrels. Or they resort to commercial dispute resolution centers.
Wajih Amin Abdulaziz, a senior legal advisor, confirms that there are controls that guarantee the refund of the insurance amount to tenants of residential units, pointing out that it is not permissible to deduct the value of natural damages resulting from consumption from the insurance amounts.
He stressed the need for tenants to be aware of their rights and not to give them up. It is best to repair any damage to the rented property before handing it over to close the door to any fraud.
In detail, Muhammad Al-Buhairi says that he spent about 10 years in one apartment that he rented in one of the northern emirates, and when he decided to leave, he was surprised that the office from which he rented the apartment refused to refund the security deposit of 3,000 dirhams due to damage to a number of doors and the kitchen, pointing out that he had not checked the details. The issue of annual maintenance of the apartment. It is natural that these damages occur due to consumption over many years.
Alia Abdel Salam reported that she also faced stubbornness from the landlord when she asked him for the security deposit, and he decided to deduct a large portion of it under the pretext that the walls of the apartment were not in the condition he handed it over to her, because of her children who were drawing on them, pointing out that it was normal for him to paint the apartment annually, but she did not know that she was a tenant. She was responsible for this, and in the end she was forced to accept the amount he set for her.
While Fatima Ibrahim Al Mahdi stated that she expected the rental office to evade the return of the security deposit, because many of these offices do that, pointing out that there were damages that occurred in the bathtub resulting from natural consumption, in addition to the door handles being removed, and the office told her that she would bear this. Damage and refusal to refund the amount.
For his part, senior legal advisor Wajih Amin Abdulaziz said that the rulings issued by the Rental Disputes Settlement Center established that comprehensive cleaning work and painting of the interior walls after vacating the rented property are the obligations of the landlord, not the tenant.

Damages that occur naturally within the framework of normal consumption may not be deducted from the insurance, but only the value of damages to basic facilities that occur intentionally, negligence, or misuse is deducted.

He added that, pursuant to the text of Article (16) of Law No. (26) of 2007 regulating the relationship between landlords and tenants of real estate in the Emirate of Dubai and its amendments, “the landlord is responsible during the lease period for the maintenance of the property and for repairing any malfunction or defect that affects the tenant’s payment.” The intended benefit unless the parties agree otherwise.”

It is also stipulated, pursuant to the text of Article (20) of the same law, that “the landlord, upon concluding the lease contract, may collect from the tenant a deposit to guarantee the maintenance of the property at the end of the contract period, provided that he is obligated to return this deposit or what remains of it to the tenant upon the expiration of the contract.”

He explained that Article (21) stipulates that “the tenant is obligated, upon the expiration of the lease, to deliver the property to the landlord in the condition in which he received it at the time of contracting, except for any deficiency as a result of normal use of it or for a reason beyond his control.” Therefore, it is advised that the tenant repair basic damages, if any, before vacating the property to avoid Deduction from the insurance value. In the event of a dispute over the value of repairing these damages, one must resort to the Rental Disputes Settlement Center.

Senior legal advisor
Wajih Amin Abdulaziz