By Mohamed Ghanem
Lawyer I LLM I Lecturer I Speaker I DIAC Arbitrator
May 10, 2025
In spring 2023, the owner of a stunning villa in Dubai’s lively Mankhool district signed a lease with tenants for a large yearly rent of 265000 AED. The villa looked like a dream palace, but trouble was quietly brewing.
When the lease ended and the tenants were forced to leave by a court order in December 2024, the owner was shocked to find the villa in ruins, with heavy damage. An engineering expert estimated repair costs at a huge amount of 150,839 AED, plus a rental loss for 45 days with the amount of 32,671.35 AED. The owner sent a legal notice demanding payment of AED 183,510.35, but the tenants stayed silent.
Determined, the owner went to court with the lease agreement and the expert’s report. In fall 2024, the court ordered the tenants to pay, but the tenants were secretly planning a comeback.
The tenants appealed, arguing that an earlier renter caused the damage with the owner’s approval and that the changes actually increased the villa’s value. They called the expert’s report unreliable and asked for a new expert to find the truth.
The new expert revealed a bombshell: the owner had torn down the villa after taking it back, without spending a single Dirham on repairs. There was no proof the damage happened during the tenants’ stay, and no documents showed whether the owner had disagreed to the changes. This caused the case to fall apart.
The appeals committee cancelled the petition order, stating there was no real harm due to the demolition and not enough evidence. The dispute ended, with the owner paying the costs of the original appeal.
This judgement shows how demolishing a villa changed the outcome of a case, proving that evidence is king and that fate can bring unexpected twists to the path of justice.