Unpaid rent, a returned cheque or sums a tenant owes under the contract are registered at the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre as a financial claim — a first-instance case, decided on the contract and the documents that prove the amount.
Do You Need a Notarized Notice to Claim Unpaid Rent?
No. The RDC requires the notarized notice and the delivery affidavit only where the request is eviction. A financial claim rests on the tenancy contract, the identity documents of the parties and the claimant’s IBAN. That said, where the aim is both to recover the money and to remove the tenant, the notice route matters — and the two are decided by different requirements.
Documents Required to Register the Claim
- A copy of the latest tenancy contract (Ejari)
- Emirates ID for individuals; for companies, the trade licence with the Emirates ID of the licence manager or owner
- A bank letter or statement showing the claimant’s IBAN — this is where an awarded amount is paid
- Supporting documents: copies of the cheques, correspondence and notifications, electricity and water bills, powers of attorney and the management contract
Claims That Can Be Included
- The rent in arrears
- The value of returned cheques
- Rent that continues to accrue up to the date of actual vacating, where the facts and the requests support it
- Amounts or damage the landlord bears because of the tenant’s breach, where established by documents
- Fines or charges tied to the tenant’s use of the property, where there is a basis and documents establishing responsibility
- The fees and costs of the case
No Claim Goes In Without a Document Behind It
Requests are not added to the claim at random. Each one is checked against the documents actually in the file, because a request the file cannot support weakens the requests that it can. What is not evidenced is left out, and we tell you which document would put it back in.
After the Judgment
The judgment is not the end of the file. Where the amount is not paid, an execution file is opened on the judgment and the recovery steps run from there. Where the arrears are represented by a returned cheque, the RDC also offers a separate cheque execution file for collecting its value.
Filing Without an Emirates ID
The RDC requires the Emirates ID as the identity document for individuals, and the claimant’s IBAN as the account an awarded amount is paid into. A landlord holding only a passport registers the claim through a notarized POA to someone who holds an Emirates ID — and the IBAN on the file still has to be one the claimant controls.
Frequently Asked Questions
The RDC lists the notarized notice and the delivery affidavit as a required document where the request is eviction. A financial claim is registered on the tenancy contract, the identity documents and the claimant’s IBAN. Where you want the property back as well as the money, the notice route becomes relevant.
A bank letter or statement showing the claimant’s IBAN is one of the documents the RDC requires to register the case. It is the account an awarded amount is paid into, so an outdated or mismatched account holds the file up at exactly the wrong moment.
It is one of the requests that can be put in a landlord’s claim, but only where the facts of the file and the requests made support it. Whether it goes in is decided by the documents in the file, not by the size of the amount.
An execution file is opened on the judgment. Once the execution writ notice has been served on the party against whom execution is sought, e-requests can be submitted seven days after that service, and the execution judge decides on them.
Start Your File
Send the documents you have and we review the file.