# Massive problem with the Land Department/Rental Dispute Center keeping my Passport



## Brighty11 (Feb 8, 2017)

Hello,

My partner and I are having a huge issue with the Land Department/Rental Dispute Center.

In 2015 my partner re-entered the country and was arrested, taken to jail and told he had to pay a huge amount on a previous rental contract that he apparently absconded from.

They took his passport away from him and made him sign 6 post-dated cheques to pay off the amount. 

It has now been nearly 2 years, the Land Department didn't give the cheques to the landlord in question and the cheques have since expired and have never been cashed. They are still in a file in the Land Department.

My partner's visa has now expired but he was lucky enough to find another job, except his new employer can't process his visa without his passport and will subsequently not let him start work or pay him. We tried to swap his passport for mine at the courts so he could sort his visa out but the Judge told him this wasn't allowed and he still owed the full amount despite the Land Departments negligence.

How are we supposed to get his passport back and how are we supposed to get this case resolved if they insist he still owes this massive sum of money despite them not doing their job or giving us his passport.

If he can't get a visa, he can't work and therefore will never be able to pay off his debts or leave the country. How is this possible?

Please, someone help with any advice, it would be greatly appreciated!!


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## dime06 (Dec 28, 2014)

Your case is very simple.. your partner needs to pay a "massive" amount of money to a landlord, Pay him in full and get the case sorted out


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

Get a lawyer as well. If you've handed over six post dated cheques and they havent been cashed one has to assume you knew that about five cheques ago but didnt make a fuss then ? How come its taken two years to notice the cheques hadnt been cashed and were expired ?

I'm afraid it sounds like half the story - how can you hand over cheques to be cashed, and wait until they expire before kicking off ? Just pay the landlord.


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## Brighty11 (Feb 8, 2017)

Thanks so much for the helpful comments guys.

Who knew I could just pay the landlord and solve the issue!

The reason behind waiting was/is due to extreme fear, the fact that we have no money due to unfortunate circumstances that involve being made redundant and also the fact that prison isn't particularly pleasant in this wonderful country (in case you haven't had the fortune to stay inside one, I advise you to avoid it).

We did have a lawyer and he insisted on upfront payment to then tell us he couldn't do anything about it.
We now can't afford another one.

Granted, we all get ourselves into these messes and yes, the ideal situation would be to pay (as I am fully aware this is how renting a home works) but what I was asking was in regards to retrieving his passport for the purposes of getting a new visa (and actually earn said money that you say I should 'just pay the landlord' with) so we can get ourselves out of this hole.

I wanted to know if swapping passports was possible (as I have heard it is) and how we could make it so.

I'm not asking for a quick fix or advice on how to pay my debts. I am asking for friendly, knowledgeable advice, which I thought this forum was for.....


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Only in 'certain' circumstances will they allow you to swap passports. Plus your friends case is a complicated one, as now his visa has expired, he'll have to pay overstay fines and get it properly cancelled before anything can be done - sadly they don't care that the police have held your passport.

Do you have any direct contact with the landlord? Why did he not go and retrieve the cheques?


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

Not wanting to contradict my learned friend Choco, if your visa expires while a court is holding your passport you have no overstay fees.

You gave 6 cheques over without the means to pay them? That's a bit of a worry (don't concern yourself that they have expired, it's a promissory note to pay in effect.

I'd also suggest your partner petitions the court for return of his passport giving them all the saliant points, write out what you want it to say in English and get it professionally translated into Arabic and take it to the Judge.


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## dime06 (Dec 28, 2014)

Their is not overstay or any other fine if the passport his witheld with Police, once u sort out all problems then police will give u letter and this will help him clearing all his fines.

passport swapping is possible and in some case needs 2-3 passports,a lawyer can help otherwise speak to them..I can say with my personal experience that police and prosecutors both are helpful in genuine cases.

Not sure how your work n pay strategy will work but go to bare minimum,Ask your family/friends for help,negotiate with bank to restructure or get additional loan.

Speak to landlord also so your checks should not get bounced otherwise you will be in deeper trouble.


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## Brighty11 (Feb 8, 2017)

Hello everyone,

thank you for taking the time to reply to me.

We did have the money at the time of writing the cheques as we got a loan but due to job loss we ended up having to spend it while we were waiting for the cheques to be cashed.

We do not have direct contact with the landlord but our previous lawyer tried reaching out to him to make a settlement and he didn't want to settle.

I'm glad to hear that there are possibly no overstay fees.

We are currently trying to find the means to pay a different lawyer who might be able to negotiate a passport swap for us as all we really want is for him to get his visa and give it back to the courts afterwards so he can start work!

Thank you again!


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

You don't need a Lawyer.

That's another 20,000 down the drain, go to the court and talk to them.


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Ok, I stand corrected. Just I knew a couple of people who had their passports withheld and their visas expired and they were still fined. Guess it might depend on the situation.

By the sounds of it, the landlord is just being spiteful. You need to get this person into a courtroom and forced to deal with the situation.


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

4.34am Choco? Insomnia was it?

There is a process to get the fine reversed, and that means getting a letter from the Police or Court stating when your pp was taken and when it was returned, say it was taken on Jan 1, your visa expired on Jan 31 and it was returned to you on April 1, you got the letters on April 1 and gave them to immigration on April 2, they would be highly unlikely to give you a fine, and if they did it would be for just one day.

As always, the devil is in the detail, and the letter from the police/Courts is key.


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## Mambo21 (Mar 19, 2016)

Not sure why you thought staying in jail would waive rental amount. Imprisonment can be in lieu of fines, but a rental amount is money owed to a landlord. A tenant being in jail would not get the owed monies back to the landlord


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## sm105 (Jan 9, 2014)

The Rascal said:


> There is a process to get the fine reversed, and that means getting a letter from the Police or Court stating when your pp was taken and when it was returned, say it was taken on Jan 1, your visa expired on Jan 31 and it was returned to you on April 1, you got the letters on April 1 and gave them to immigration on April 2, they would be highly unlikely to give you a fine, and if they did it would be for just one day. As always, the devil is in the detail, and the letter from the police/Courts is key.


This exactly. Always apply for the clearance letter immediately on receiving your passport as the fines start accruing after midnight on the same day even with the letter.

You can always choose not to apply for the letter and simply pay the immigration fines instead. If the amount is relatively small and you just want to get out of the country ASAP, there may be some attraction to this course of action.


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