Dubai Real Estate Buyers Cant Cancel Contracts Under Law No. 9

A legal expert suggested during the Dubai Society meeting held recently, that the Dubai property buyers cannot cancel their contracts under Law No. 9. However, the legal system has been somewhat sympathetic to the developers and given them the liberty to cancel contracts under this law. This decision was taken to discourage people from taking undue advantage of the down market. The only way now to cancel contracts, by a buyer, is by presenting an effective case in front of the court or approach the Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority.

Law No. 13, Article 11 was introduced in 2008 to standardize the procedure of cancelling the purchase of a real estate contract. However, over the time being there have been several debates on the law’s interpretation by the purchaser and the developer. Therefore, to normalize this situation, ruler of Dubai has introduced Law No. 9 to facilitate the procedure of termination of real estate contracts in Dubai. All contracts are legally bound by this new law even if the contract was entered before the law was passed, 30-April’09.

Procedure of Cancellation
If the purchaser fails to abide by the terms of the contract, the developer would have to inform the Land Department. The Land Department will then send a notice to the purchaser asking to fulfill contractual obligations within 30days. If the purchaser fails to do so within the stipulated time, the contract may, then, be cancelled.