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Don't cut power, water supply, UAQ municipality tells landlord

Umm Al Quwain - The families, hailing from different nationalities, denied the landlord's "baseless" claims, and urged the civic body to take immediate action.

Claiming pending rents, the landlord of a building on King Faisal Road in Umm Al Quwain, home to 180 families, decided to cut power and water supply.
The families, hailing from different nationalities, denied the landlord's "baseless" claims, and urged the civic body to take immediate action.
Othman Taher, a Sudanese engineer, said there are no pending rents as claimed. "All tenants here are paying rents on a monthly basis and that refutes the landlord's baseless allegations."
Wafaa Saqr, an Egyptian teacher said the landlord is not entitled to cut power even if some tenants failed to pay the rent. "What about others? Why should we feel the pitch for no reason?"
"The landlord has even cut power off from lifts and many tenants, particularly students and employees get delayed," said Ahmed Sameer, Palestinian.
Khaleej Times' attempts to get a feedback from the landlord went unanswered.
The Umm Al Quwain Municipality, alerted of the families' dilemma, has warned of hefty fines against the landlord.
Khalfan Ali bin Sarm, Secretary-General of the Tenancy Disputes Committee at the UAQ Municipality, said they have contacted the landlord and warned him against cutting water and electricity supplies.
"Tenants are entitled to report this utility cut to the nearest police station," he added.
A lessor or landlord, as per Article 27 of the tenancy law, is not entitled to cut services or facilities under any circumstances, he added.
"This is also applicable in the case of pending rents, and whoever is involved in such violation shall be slapped with a fine of Dh5,000," he said, pointing out that there is a new mechanism to handle tenancy disputes to avoid such hassles.
ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com