Real Estate Law
Buyers or sellers frequently use real estate lawyers. All paperwork and court documents pertaining to the property will be examined by real estate attorneys for any potential legal problems. The legal facets of real estate agreements are supervised by real estate lawyers, who are experts in this field. When negotiating the intricate aspects of a property purchase, sale, or lease, it may retain the services of attorneys to assist them. When purchasing a plot of land for development, updating an existing building, etc., real estate lawyers collaborate with legal professionals. They also deal on complicated issues involving numerous properties. Before signing a contract, they can assist you in understanding its advantages and disadvantages.
Long-term leases, usufruct rights, musataha rights, and freehold titles over real land in Dubai may all be registered with the Dubai Land Department. The Dubai International Financial Center is an exception, though; as it has its own property rules and a separate property record for real estate that is situated there. The right to own freehold title to real estate and to acquire all types of real estate interests, such as usufruct, musataha, and long-term leases up to 99 years, are provided for by Article 4 of Law Number 7 of 2006 concerning Real Property Registration in the Emirate of Dubai (“Property Ownership Law”), which also applies to companies that are wholly owned by nationals of the UAE or the GCC.
Following the legislation controlling the governance of the real estate sector in Abu Dhabi, real estate lawyers in Abu Dhabi make it clear that expats are now only allowed to acquire real estate in the form of flats and villas. In the nation’s capital, there are four fundamental systems that control real estate transactions. They include:
1. Musataha
For a predetermined period of time, foreign buyers have the right to use, modify, or construct the housing units they have purchased under Musataha contracts. Additionally, they are allowed to own homes for a maximum of 50 years. The renewal period is determined to be the same length with the parties’ approval.
2. Ownership Deeds:
Foreigners are given 99-year ownership deeds to residential properties. With the exception of land ownership, foreign property owners are free to sell the villas and apartments they buy outright.
3. Long-term lease:
A long-term lease has a minimum initial period of 25 years.
4. Usufruct:
A usufruct contract allows owners to enjoy the property and its amenities without making any changes to them and enables expats to hold the residential property for more than 99 years.
Regarding foreigners owning property in investment areas, the Abu Dhabi Real Estate Law was amended in 2019. According to one of the amendments, tenants with “musataha” or “usufruct” contracts for more than ten years are free to sell or otherwise dispose of their homes, including having the option to mortgage them. Furthermore, landlords cannot mortgage the property without the consent of the musataha or usufruct holders. The Law No. 9 of 2009 was passed as a result, and it established a procedure for a developer to end an off-plan sales agreement if the buyer defaulted on its financial obligations. It became crucial to make sure that in situations where developers wanted to end a sale contract owing to a buyer’s non-payment, the amount of compensation that a developer could expect would be directly tied to his own progress toward finishing the project and fulfilling the sale contract. Therefore, Law No. 9 established a system wherein the amount of compensation that a developer might seek in the event that he terminated a sale contract was dependent upon the degree of development that was complete on the project site.
