Man told to repay Dhs181,000 after selling promised property to another buyer

The Abu Dhabi Family, Civil and Administrative Cases Court ordered a man to return Dhs181,000 to another, with whom he had agreed to sell his property. Based on this, he contracted with a bank and obtained a real estate loan, but was later surprised to find that he had sold the property to another person and transferred its ownership to him.

He then filed a lawsuit requesting that the defendant be compelled to pay him Dhs180,000, the value of a residential unit he had agreed to purchase, but the defendant breached the agreement.

The plaintiff also demanded that the defendant be compelled to pay him a late interest of 9% from the date of the claim until full payment.

The complainant stated that the defendant offered a residential unit for sale, and he signed a memorandum of understanding with him, under which the defendant committed to selling the unit to him for a total amount of Dhs2,250,000, provided that the purchase would be made through bank financing.

The complainant fulfilled his obligations and applied for financing from a bank for Dhs1,600,000, and obtained the necessary approval.

He also initiated, through the real estate agent, the procedures for transferring ownership and coordinating with the real estate developer to set a transfer date. However, the real estate developer informed him that the ownership of the unit had been transferred to another buyer.

The court clarified that the defendant did not follow the legal procedure to request the termination of the contract, nor did he agree with the buyer to terminate it. The court added that selling the property to a third party is a clear violation of his contractual obligation and a serious breach of the principle of good faith in the execution of contracts as stipulated in Article (246).

Therefore, the court ordered the defendant to return Dhs180,000 to the complainant and Dhs1,000 for court fees and expenses.