Dubai: New law to regulate possession of private property for public use

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai, issued a law on the expropriation of property for public use in the Emirate of Dubai.

The new law regulates the procedures for expropriating property for public use.

The law aims to ensure that the rights of owners of expropriated property are protected and that they are afforded full and fair compensation as per a clear set of rules outlined by it.

The provisions of the law will apply to the expropriation of property across Dubai. The law also covers special development zones and free zones including the Dubai International Financial Centre.

The new law regulates the terms and conditions under which buildings and facilities can be expropriated including those that are completed and under construction.

It also sets out the terms for providing compensation to the owners whose properties are expropriated, as per a Decision issued by the Chairman of the Court of His Highness, the Ruler of Dubai.

According to the law, if only a portion of a property is expropriated and the remaining part becomes unfit for use as per Dubai’s construction rules and regulations, full compensation will be provided if the owner does not want to retain it to add it to an adjacent property.

The law creates a permanent committee named ‘The Expropriation Committee’ to oversee all matters related to expropriation of property in the emirate.

The Chairman of the Court of His Highness, the Ruler of Dubai, will issue a decision on the formation of the committee, its members, decision-making processes and expropriation procedures.

The Committee is subject to Decree No. (28) of 2015 on the governance of Dubai Government's councils and committees.

The Expropriation Committee is tasked with reviewing requests for expropriation including requests to assess the viability of expropriating a property to meet the objectives of a project.

The Committee may propose alternatives to expropriating a property for a project, including land grants. It will also assess whether a proposed project requires full or partial expropriation and evaluate the compensation for expropriated property.

Orders issued by Dubai Ruler to expropriate property in Dubai supercede the authority of the Committee.

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The newly issued law is effective from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.