What is home swapping?
Home swapping is exchanging one rented residential unit with another without officially changing the tenancy contract. Many residents of some communities in Dubai has stated that they have been offered to swap their apartments with other tenants. For example: a 2BR apartment in Motor City which costs around 80,000AED a year to be swapped with a studio in Downtown Dubai which costs the same amount.
What is subleasing?
Subleasing is renting out the entire or part of a rented unit to a third part. As a tenant, if you sublease the apartment without the landlord’s consent, he has the right to evict you.
Should you do it?
No. House swapping is not only a breach of your tenancy contract, but it is also illegal and could land you an eviction notice and a heavy fine.
Under the law, apartment swapping constitutes as sub-leasing the unit without the owner’s/landlord’s written consent. As per the Dubai Rental Committee Law No. 26 year 2007 Article No. 25 states that subleasing full or part of the real estate without the employer consent is a reason for eviction. In some cases, landlords also include clauses in their rental contract that bars the tenant from sharing or subleasing with the breach leading to eviction.
In some instances, even when the landlord is aware of the subleasing, he might be fined if he rents out a unit for too many people at the same time.
Trakhees, which manages, regulates and enforces rules and regulations related to environment, health and safety in various freehold communities, states that the maximum allowable occupancy limit for apartments under its authority is one person per 200 square feet from the total property area. Violators can face a minimum fine of Dh1,000 or a maximum of Dh50,000.
Even the Dubai Municipality follows the same regulation on occupancy limit in apartments. Violators face fines of up to Dh50,000.
(Communities managed by Trakhees include Palm Jumeirah, Discovery Gardens, International City, Jumeirah Lakes Towers.)
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