Dubai court rejects mother's plea seeking partition of villa she co-owns with her son

Dubai Real Estate Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by an Asian woman seeking to cancel the co-ownership of a villa in Dubai between herself and her son, as each owns a 50% share.

The court ruled that the villa, designated for single-family occupancy, cannot be divided into two equal portions.

According to case details, the plaintiff stated that she intended to transfer her share of the property to her other son to ensure fairness and equality among her children.

When she asked the property developer to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the sale and transfer process, the developer refused to issue the certificate due to the absence and non-cooperation of her son, who is a co-owner of the property.

Case documents revealed that the plaintiff had previously filed a lawsuit before the Dubai Personal Status Court but the court ruled it lacked jurisdiction, prompting her to file the case before the Real Estate Court, requesting either the allocation of her share or the partition of the property to enable her to sell her portion to her other son.

The court appointed a specialised expert to determine the feasibility of partitioning.

The legal representative of the son argued for the dismissal of the case, citing the impossibility of division since the villa is designed for single-family occupancy and cannot be separated.

The expert’s report affirmed that the villa consists of a ground floor and a first floor, currently occupied by a tenant, and is designated for single-family use, making it impossible to divide into two equal shares.

The expert also assessed the villa’s market value at Dhs5.25 million, based on official data from the Dubai Land Department.

Dr Alaa Nasr, the legal representative of the appellee, explained that the court’s rejection of the plaintiff’s claims was based on the provisions of the Civil Transactions Law, which stipulates that the jointly owned property must be divisible and the expert’s report conclusively established the impossibility of fairly dividing the property.