Dubai court cancels ownership of property worth Dhs443,000 after buyer fails to pay installments

The Dubai Real Estate Court ruled to terminate a real estate unit sale agreement and cancel its registration in the buyer's name, after he failed to pay the due installments.

The court also ordered the re-registration of the unit in the name of the owning company and obligated the buyer to pay fees, expenses, and legal costs.

The details of the dispute date back to December 2024, when a real estate company and an investor concluded an agreement for the sale of a unit within a hotel project in the Business Bay area, valued at Dhs443,000, including administrative and registration fees.

The company fulfilled all its contractual obligations, as it registered the unit in the buyer's name with Dubai Land Department (DLD), and the project was completed and ready since 2021 but the buyer paid part of the property's value then stopped paying the due installments starting from July 2025.

The company sent several warnings to him demanding payment, but he did not respond, which prompted the company to file a lawsuit demanding the termination of the agreement and the cancellation of the real estate unit's registration.

During the sessions, the buyer did not appear despite being legally notified, while the company submitted documents including the sale contract, account statement, completion certificate, and payment warnings.

The court confirmed that the documents proved the buyer's breach of his obligation to pay the due installments, despite the company fulfilling its obligations, preparing the unit, and registering it in his name.

The court also clarified that the failure to pay the agreed-upon installments constitutes a contractual breach which allows the company to request the termination of the contract, especially since the documents contained no evidence of payment or a legal justification for stopping the fulfillment of financial obligations.

Therefore, the court ruled to terminate the sale agreement, erase the unit's registration in the buyer's name from the real estate registry, and re-register it in the name of the owning company, while obligating the buyer to pay fees, expenses, and legal costs.