Nine years of fulfilment, giving, and sustainable development reflects the journey of the Rental Disputes Center (RDC), the judicial arm of Dubai Land Department (DLD), which was launched according to a systematic developmental journey to achieve social and economic stability for all those involved in the real estate rental sector and other relevant sectors, establishing a specialised judicial system according to a streamlined mechanism.

His Excellency Judge Abdulqader Mousa, Director of RDC, said: “The Rental Disputes Center in Dubai has taken it upon itself to strengthen and develop the judicial system in the real estate sector, based on the wise vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who has always emphasised that justice is the basis of governance and the happiness of members of society. We worked diligently and tirelessly with our qualified national cadres and harnessed our material resources, particularly technical ones, to keep pace with global developments and chart a strategic path that would define the future of litigation, consistent with the visions and directions of the emirate to consolidate its position on the regional and global arena as the premier real estate destination for investors.

Mousa added: “We are proud to have developed the world’s first smart judicial rental system and made it available to litigants, whether inside or outside the country, based on a sustainable methodology, a pioneering real estate and rental model, an environment that incubates innovation and effective governance, and as part of Dubai Land Department’s strategic vision.

Unparalleled success

The Rental Disputes Center achieved remarkable success in terms of addressing and settling rental disputes. The number of lawsuits registered in the center to date has reached 103,975 rental lawsuits, divided between 92,732 primary and 11,243 appeal lawsuits, of which 100,000 lawsuits have been settled, comprising 96% of the cases registered at the center.

These lawsuits represent only 1.9% of the total number of lease contracts that were registered with Dubai Land Department in the same period, amounting to more than 5.2 million lease contracts with a total value of AED 654 billion. This contributes to enhancing the community’s confidence in the laws and legislative system in the emirate.

Mousa clarified: “The speed and accuracy of litigation can be inferred through the index of the average duration of first-instance lawsuits, which is 10 days, and the average duration of appeal lawsuits, which is 14 days. Concerning the execution of judgments, the average duration of execution of rental judgments and decisions in 2013 reached 10 days, and after the implementation services were transformed into smart services following the provision of a coherent and integrated system, and thanks to the efforts of the implementation team who constantly seek to develop its tools and create new systems to improve work mechanisms in the implementation sector, the average duration of execution of rental Judgments and decisions for 2022 is four days, while the rate of execution of rental Judgments and decisions reached 97%. This reflects positively on the convenience and satisfaction of the customer and shortens the period of completion and closing of execution lawsuits.

RDC succeeded in resolving cases by concluding reconciliation agreements amounting to 10,179 cases that were resolved amicably, with a value of AED 282.8 million, and an average period of five days for disputed cases to be conciliated.

RDC’s most prominent initiatives:

His Excellency Judge Abdulqader Mousa confirmed that RDC’s achievements, initiatives, results and figures are a testament to the center’s quality and professionalism, which contributed our enabling of a streamlined system for resolving rental disputes with high accuracy and facilitation. HE added: “We affirm that our journey continues with development and excellence in line with the approach of our wise leadership to become an active player in achieving and translating the ‘Principles of the 50’ aimed at creating the best economy in the world in the coming years.”

RDC has been launching initiatives that aim to achieve its vision of being the first international reference in resolving real estate disputes. These initiatives include:

The Rental Disputes System (2015): The world’s first smart judicial rental system specialised in managing rental cases, including their registration, resolution, issuance of judgments, and implementation. This system accelerated the accuracy of litigation and is available to litigants, whether inside or outside the country.

The Smart Judge application (2016): the world’s first smart application for judicial advice. It provides more than 100 interactive scenarios for rental lawsuits in which a guiding judgment is issued for customers.

The ‘Yad Al Khair [Hand of Giving] Committee (2017): It is considered the first committee to provide support and assistance to eligible groups in the UAE community affected by rental lawsuits while also alleviating the anguish of families struggling to pay rents, leading to court rulings issued by the RDC.

The remote litigation system (2018): this is the first judicial court that was successful in facilitating the litigation process without the need for personal attendance. It relies on the latest technologies to save time and effort for all parties.

The Rental Good Conduct Certificate (2018): This is a service that enables parties involved in a rental contract to enquire about the rental record of either party in the RDC system. It also allows for a certificate of the previous rental case sheet to be issued.

The first ‘Court Probe,’ CP1, of its kind in the world: It was announced in 2018 and preparations are underway to launch the judicial probe soon. It constitutes a quantum leap in the remote litigation system, in which artificial intelligence will issue judicial rulings, enabling litigants to issue self-judgments without human involvement.

It is noteworthy that the Rental Disputes Center in Dubai was established on September 18, 2013 in accordance with Decree No. 26 of 2013 issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Until 2022, RDC witnessed a development in the litigation journey, starting from the implementation of the traditional mechanism, passing through the implementation of smart litigation without paper in 2015, and then the implementation of the remote litigation system in 2018, leading to the ‘Court Probe’ – CP1.