“This sends the wrong signal,” said Nadia Hussain. A Rent Dispute Committee official said the panel will look into the case again.

Meanwhile, an Australian who owns a flat in the Greens has found himself in the same situation and is living in a hotel. Mohammad Jafar Hussain has appealed the verdict.

Lease

To add to Jafar Hussain’s predicament, he is forced to lease the flat at Dh45,000, and pay the legal costs of the tenant. The present rent for his home is Dh80,000.

“I need the flat for my family,” said Jafar Hussain, who plans to bring his eight children here and open a business. The Australian had also given proper notice to the tenant. “I have put in my life’s savings and am practically on the street,” he said.

The British family’s villa in the Springs was rented by a company for their staff and the lease contract expired on June 19. “We gave them notice as we needed our house back for our own use,” said Nadia Hussain.

Last year the tenant wished to extend the lease and the family agreed. After checking the rents here, both parties agreed to Dh35,000 rent increase.

“It was still a good deal to the tenant but we did not know about the rent cap law which had come into force,” she said. The rent cap does not allow a yearly hike in rent.

Stunned

She thinks maybe this was used by the tenant against them at the Rent Dispute Committee hearing.

“We are all stunned (at the verdict). This will be a warning to homeowners to be wary about long-term leases,” she said.

The couple and two children are “living out of boxes”, sharing a room in her parents’ home. “The whole situation is bizarre,” she said.

The representative of a company which has leased the villa refused to speak to Gulf News. Asked whether he thought the Rent Dispute Committee did a good job, he only said, “If you call this number again, I will report you to the police.”

GN ARTICLE