If you're worried about eviction by new landlord, you can leave now!

Some of us met with Jeevan J D'Mello of EMAAR regarding feedback on our previous requests. It seemed that despite the job title of 'Director' he was not actually a company director, more a manager, lacking the authority required to negotiate deals and sign off agreements on behalf of his company without recourse to his bosses (who *are* actual company directors presumably). Anyhow, we appreciated him meeting us even if he wasn't really allowed to do anything except repeat the EMAAR PR releases.

He did at one point generously state that if tenants were worried about having a new landlord who might evict them, EMAAR would (probably) accept them terminating their tenancy now, with a refund of outstanding rent. In other words, if you are worried about eviction and higher rents from a new landlord in a few months time, you always have the option of facing that now instead. What a deal!

Regardless, we pushed EMAAR to try to get some movement on the points at issue. In particular:

1. That EMAAR extend the leases of existing tenants who wish to, such that any new owner would be bound to accommodate the tenant for at least the duration of their current tenancy plus one year

Amazingly, despite Hamptons being self-styled property 'experts' and EMAAR being the country's largest property developer and 30% owned by the Dubai Government, both claimed not to know with certainty what the rent laws actually were! And these are the 'experts'!? By this evidence, Dubai has some way to go in terms of legal development and business competence. Despite assuring us that they think you would have to be offered at least another year, they would not put it in writing and said that despite their understanding of the laws "there are no guarantees". Indeed.

Despite insisting that they have a waiting list of investors interested in capital growth not evictions, Mr D'Mellow stated absolutely that his bosses would not permit any lease changes to provide any more security (such as a year lease extension) to tenants other than what the law provides for (which they were unsure of anyway). The Rent Cap Laws aimed to stabilize rents, yet average rents in Dubai continue to climb at double digit rates. Despite the Dubai Government's stated aims to stabilize costs in Dubai and stem rampant inflation, it appears the 30% Dubai Government shareholding in EMAAR has not been used to influence EMAAR's decision towards preserving a large amount of reasonably priced rental accommodation in the Emirate.

2. That EMAAR offer more incentives, more time and more flexible payment plans for those who might be interested in buying.

It seems that only a tiny minority of affected tenants will actually buy. The few who do buy will largely do so through having succumbed to the "buy now or else" bullying tactics employed by EMAAR. After all, if people wanted to buy apartments at market rate, there are plenty of those for sale in Dubai already. Far too many in fact, with more coming on stream all the time.

Mr D'Mello agreed to raise the point regarding further small discounts with his directors, but since EMAAR is about to start its 'closing down' style sale imminently, it seems that they are more interested in money now regardless of who it comes from than in repaying the loyalty of customers with several years standing.

On a lighter note, Mr D'Mello assured us that the reason for the snap sale is nothing to do with any impending shock to the market in the next couple of months that EMAAR management have got wind of (think floating currency and massive interest rate hikes to fight inflation or the potential for Iranian military responses against US interests in the region). But then again, EMAAR also stated that the decision to sell was based on requests from tenants and just a couple of weeks ago that there were no plans to dump Lakes stock into the market in a similar fashion to the Greens sale.

So in the end, it's every tenant's choice. EMAAR is not going to change its mind and you must pin your hopes on a successful visit to the Rent Committee if you don't plan on buying, because it's pretty clear the new buyer will see you as a liability not an asset and do whatever they can to get you out as soon as the law allows.

Such uncertainty and instability has become part of the Dubai experience, and it's something we all have to factor in when making decisions about our future. As inflation rages, the calculations most of us made to justify coming here increasingly don't add up. Those who came a few years ago have seen costs double or triple since then. Many companies will be doing the same calculations and looking for more stable cost bases elsewhere.

The problem for Dubai is that on the one hand it is trying to convince real estate investors that property prices and rent receipts will rise impressively forever, while on the other hand telling international companies that costs will stabilize. There is an obvious contradiction, but at this point it's difficult to see which argument is going to give out first.