Real Estate Penalties in Abu Dhabi Part 2
Article 77 Practicing an Activity without a Licence
Without prejudice to any more severe penalty provided for by any other law, any person who practices any activity as a broker, brokers’ employee, auctioneer, director of the owners’ union, Evaluator or surveyor or who introduces himself in this capacity without being licensed or adjusting his situation according to the provisions of this Law, shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of not more than six months and/or a fine of not less than AED 50,000 (Fifty thousand) and not more than AED 200,000 (Two hundred thousand).
Article 78 Violations of Practicing the Activity of Real Estate Development
Without prejudice to any more severe penalty provided for by any other law, a fine of not less than AED 100,000 (One hundred thousand) and not more than AED 2,000,000 (Two million) shall be imposed on whomever:
b. Submitted incorrect documents or statements to the competent authorities in order to obtain a licence for carrying out the activity of real estate development.
c. Offered units in fictitious real estate projects for sale with his knowledge.
d. Refrained from paying any amounts due thereon in the project escrow account.
e. Embezzled, illegally used, or wasted financial payments that were delivered thereto for the purposes of establishing real estate development projects.
f. Any auditor who deliberately developed a false report on the outcome of his review of the financial position of the developer or deliberately concealed fundamental facts in his report.
g. Any person who authenticated incorrect documents related to a real estate development project with his knowledge.
h.Any developer who dealt with a broker without being registered in the Real Estate Development Register.
Article 79 Cancellation and Suspension
1. The Department may cancel or suspend the licence in any of the following cases:
a. If the licensee does not fulfil any of the conditions stipulated in the provisions of this Law and its Executive Regulation as well as any regulations, resolutions or instructions issued pursuant thereto.
b. If the licensee violates the provisions of this Law or its Executive Regulation as well as any regulations, resolutions or instructions issued pursuant thereto, or the code of conduct imposed thereon.
c. If the licensed natural person was condemned of a crime involving moral turpitude or dishonesty.
d. If the licensee is no longer of good conduct according to the Department.
e. If the licensee is no longer capable of assuming his work efficiently at the discretion of the department.
f. Insolvency or bankruptcy of licensee.
2. The Department shall, prior to taking any procedure to cancel or suspend the licence, send a written notification to the licensee where the reasons and justifications of cancellation or suspension are indicated and a period of twenty one days is granted thereto to respond to such reasons and justifications.
3. The Department may only warn the licensee instead of cancelling or suspending the licence, provided that this warning is taken into consideration upon the evaluation of the licensees1 performance and renewal of his licence.
4. The licensee may file an appeal before the competent court against the resolution of the Department cancelling or suspending his licence or the warning sent thereto, within sixty days from the date of issuance of the Departments1 resolution.
Article 80 Deletion of Developer Registration
1. The Department may delete the registration of the developer from the Real Estate Development Register in any of the following cases:
a. He was declared bankrupt or subjected to liquidation.
b. If he failed to start the construction work of the real estate development project after the lapse of six months from the date of obtaining the approval to sell off-plan, without an acceptable excuse.
c. If he committed any of the violations mentioned in Clauses (b), (c), (d) and {e) of Article 78 of this Law.
d. If he violated the laws, regulations or resolutions concerning the regulation of the real estate sector.
2. The Department may, in addition to the deletion of the registration of the developer, impose any additional conditions on the developer in order to protect the public interest.
Article 81 Renewal of Registration
The developer whose registration was deleted according to the provisions of this Law may not submit an application for re-registration before the lapse of 12 months from the date of deletion.
Article 82 The Procedures of Violations
If it was proved to the Department that any of the licensees conducted or refrained from doing an act imposed by the provisions of this Law and its Executive Regulation and the regulations, resolutions and instructions issued pursuant thereto, the Department shall prepare a report on the incident and refer the matter to the public prosecution. Should this person be condemned by a final decision, the Department shall have the power to impose administrative penalties according to the provisions of this Law.
Article 83 Capacity of Judicial Officer
For the purposes of this Law, the Head of the Judicial Department shall issue in agreement with the Chairman, a resolution determining the employees of the Department and concerned municipalities which have the capacity of judicial officers.
