Tenant threatens to kill Dubai house owner

Eman Al Baik

A tenant who vacated threatened to kill the house owner who wanted to deduct the cost of damages from his deposit, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

BM, the house owner, a 50-year-old Indian manager, had a dispute with his flat’s tenant HA, 42, American of Arab origin.

The landlord brought the dispute to Dubai Municipality’s tenancy committee. After hearing the dispute, the committee ordered the tenant to vacate the flat.

On August 27, and after the order was issued, the house owner, accompanied by a maintenance worker, went to take over the flat from the tenant.

“When I entered the house, I noticed damages to the water pipes, wardrobes, door locks, and some electric equipment, so I started taking pictures of the damages. When he saw me taking the photographs, he got angry and tried to prevent me from doing it and asked me to give him back the Dh5,000 deposit. I continued taking pictures and went down to the parking lot where I found out that the bulb did not light up. So I asked the maintenance worker to replace the bulb and to put it also on his list,” the house owner told investigators.

However, this made the tenant very angry and he told the house owner: “I will break your head.”

The landlord replied “If you wish, you can break it” and stepped towards his car with the worker. The tenant then turned to the landlord and said: “I will kill you.” The house owner replied: “If you want you can kill me.”

When the landlord tried to drive away, the tenant tapped on the rear glass of his car. The landlord stopped and asked him why he did that. The tenant asked him for a copy of the lease contract and the landlord told him that he can get a copy from the municipality.

The tenant snatched the house owner’s copy from the car and left the place.

The house owner reported the incident to the police.

The maintenance worker, NR, 34, Sri Lankan, repeat corroborative testimonies saying that the tenant threatened the house owner as the latter told him that he will deduct the cost of the damages from the deposit.

The court will reconvene on December 8.

Source: emirates247