Renting property in Dubai has its challenges from all parties - tenant -agent- landlords - because no one knows exactly what he/she stands for most of the time.
So it’s essential to acknowledge and understand the role of each during the process of property leasing in order to avoid any post-rent confusion in the near future. Before hiring the right real estate agent for you in Dubai, here’s what you need to know:
Maintenance and handover:
When listing the property, the agent should obtain all the terms and conditions from the landlord and should inquire on whether the property will be cleaned or painted before the new tenant settles in. That is a very crucial point as all this causes conflicts between the agent and the tenant and some agents take the apartment maintenance for granted without asking the landlord beforehand.
Therefore, it’s highly important for the agent to clarify with the landlord from the beginning so agents can inform the new tenant who is going to settle in the property.
The tenant should understand that it's not the agent’s job to get the apartment cleaned or repaired. The agent takes the comments from the tenant and submits it to the landlord. Agent can't take decisions on behalf of the landlord for his/her property. Everything is subject to landlord’s approval.
In fact, the agent’s main role is to assist from signing the tenancy contract by both parties to the handover of the apartment and to be the point of contact between the tenant and the landlord during the process. Agents are not at any point of time responsible for the missed cleaning or any repairs that the landlord did not do.
Utilities:
Sometimes there’s confusion when it comes to registering the utilities for the tenant and this is another point of conflict with agents and the tenants. Many tenants think that as they pay the commission, the agent should undertake the utilities registration for them which is wrong.
It's not the agent’s responsibility to register the utilities on behalf of the tenant. The reason being personal information, original signature and some originals documents might me asked while registration and agents cannot sign on behalf of the tenant or carry all originals documents with him/her. However some companies in Dubai can provide a PRO who can assist the tenant in applying for their utilities based on the NOC signed, but the tenant will be charged for an extra cost for that service.
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