# Breaking the lease contract before expiry



## Zaugna (Mar 17, 2015)

Hi all!

Soooo, I have a problem and I could surely use your advice/recommendations.


I'll try to keep it as brief as possible but there are some details that I need to write below, and I'm kind of in a desperate situation so I would truly, sincerely appreciate if you can at least point me to the right direction for my queries below


*Facts:*

*- *I'm living in JBR with a rent of AED 110,000 p/a with 3 cheque payment method. 
*-* It's confirmed that I will go back to my original country at the end of December. I want to move out of the house as late the 15th of December 
*-* Contract was made on April 22, 2015, and will expire on April 2016. 
*-* My next cheque payment is on December 22nd, 2015, for AED 36K. It's a post dated cheque, for staying in the flat between December '15 - April '16 
*- *I have given them a cheque of AED 11K for deposit, but the landlord has not cashed that out. 
*-* My contract clause says the following (word by word): "In the event that the tenant want to cancel the tenancy agreement before expiry date, then he will be charged 2 months rent as a penalty, rest will be refunded within one month the tenant shall have no claim against the landlord" 
*-* Side note: I have trouble trusting my landlord or his rental agent because they sent me a 12-month notice in May 2015 (2 weeks after I moved in) to evict the house on April 22nd, 2016.



*What I want:*

*- *Naturally, I do not want to pay AED 36K for the duration that I'm not staying in the house, so I'm trying to identify the way I can get out of this situation with minimum damage.


*Your advice needed:*

Thinking about this situation, I can think of a couple of alternatives, but I would like to hear your input to see if any of them makes sense, and what is the best way to handle this situation. I have only been in the country for 6 months, so I'm not very good with the regular practices here.


*- Alternative 1: *Pretty straightforward: I give notice at the beginning of December, and pay 2 months rent as penalty. I'm not sure how I will do this, so any advice is appreciated as well. The problems: a- The landlord already has a cashable cheque of AED 11K from me (for deposit), and some person told me that they can still cash out my post dated cheque even before its due date (is that even possible?)
*- Alternative 2: *This requires some leap of trust - I can give 2 month notice on the 15th of October to leave the house on December 15th, and be willing to show the house to potential tenants until I leave the house. I would not be paying any penalty and get back some of the deposit if everything would go well.


*And finally: *Are the rental agencies here provide this kind of moving out/breaking contract support to the tenants, which company do you think I can contact for this, and how much would they charge? I would try not to go to a legal counsel, because, well, I love my money

I know it's been a long post, but I would truly, truly appreciate if you could throw some advice to my face 


*TL;DR: *I'm trying break my lease contract before making the final cheque payment and trying to identify the best solution in order to how to do that.


Thank you so much!


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## Haru (Oct 22, 2014)

Hi,

I'm just basing this on my 1 experience with breaking a lease early.

Does your contract not state a notice period you have to provide? For me I had to give 2 months notice before I intended to move out. The 2 months penalty was then applied from after the day I move out. So what happened was my 3rd cheque (I paid in 4 cheques) covered my last month of notice period + 2 month penalty. He returned my 4th cheque on the day I handed back the apartment.

I don't know about outside 'support'. In my case I just spoke with the real estate agent (representing my landlord) and dealt with it directly. I had to be pretty forceful and annoying with my phone calls.


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

Just talk to your landlord. Pretty sure if it is a "penalty" then even if you give notice in October, the landlord will only return your deposit + unused rent minus the 2 months of rent. So he may not cash in the cheque for 36K and 11K, but would only return them if you pay the balance amount (whatever you do, make sure you do not hand them any more money till you have the cheques back).
Also, do make sure that you give two months' notice (and its a shame that the penalty will still be applied). Try doing all of this in writing as much as possible.

So in short, it is notice + penalty even if you have just the penalty mentioned in your contract. Also, be prepared for deductions to paint/restore the apartment


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## WelshgirlinDubai (Apr 21, 2015)

This is a really interesting thread as I will be in the same situation in a few months time. I guess what I am not clear upon is whether the 2 months penalty is applied after the date of vacating the appartment as suggested by the poster above, or if it can be added to the notice period given to the landlord - i.e. if I give the landlord 3 months notice as opposed to the 1 required in my contract can I then stay in the apartment until the 3 months are up (as I have already paid this up front).

Any ideas? Would RERA be able to provide a definitive answer?


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

WelshgirlinDubai said:


> This is a really interesting thread as I will be in the same situation in a few months time. I guess what I am not clear upon is whether the 2 months penalty is applied after the date of vacating the appartment as suggested by the poster above, or if it can be added to the notice period given to the landlord - i.e. if I give the landlord 3 months notice as opposed to the 1 required in my contract can I then stay in the apartment until the 3 months are up (as I have already paid this up front).
> 
> Any ideas? Would RERA be able to provide a definitive answer?


Hi,
I doubt they will let you stay during the "penalty" period - as that is supposed to cover the period between you moving out and the landlord getting the place ready for the next tenant - along with the inevitable empty period whilst a new tenant is found.
Cheers
Steve


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## WelshgirlinDubai (Apr 21, 2015)

Hmm good point - unless it's marketed with us in situ - I viewed a few occupied appartments when we first arrived.


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

depends on the contract. Penalty in lie of notice, or just notice, or penalty + notice. I haven't looked at the law lately, but I was in this situation in the past, and I think that the law used to be silent about this. Hence comes down to the contract negotiated.
The 2 month notice, if I recall, is in the law.


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## imac (Oct 14, 2012)

the penalty is in ADDITION to the time before you hand over the place to the landlord... 

so the long and short is, you have to pay rent for the duration of the occupancy before handover.. the handover determines the end of your contract, and then the penalty is ON TOP of the end of the contract...


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## WelshgirlinDubai (Apr 21, 2015)

Sigh - that's what I thought the answer would be


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## Nursemanit (Jul 10, 2015)

You could always try what we do in the US to get out of a lease . Market the apartment ( with your landlords permission ) and find them a new tenant at the rate the landlord wants. Then they have no real reason to hit you with major penalties. 
They are probably faking the eviction to get a better rate anyway so you would be doing them a favor but with rents dropping it may be hard to re rent .


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

Just take it on the chin.

Just about every part of the rental system here is stacked against the landlord so its entirely reasonable that if you break, you get a penalty.


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

twowheelsgood said:


> Just take it on the chin.
> 
> Just about every part of the rental system here is stacked against the landlord so its entirely reasonable that if you break, you get a penalty.


Sigh. Not in Abu Dhabi though. Still the wild west (wilder than Dubai)


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