Rental contract dispute
Hi everyone,
I had a dispute with the rental company while drafting the tenancy contract and I hope someone has advice.
I responded to an ad on bayut by an agent who took me to view an apartment. Once we decided to go forward with the unit, we handed over a 5% security deposit cheque in the owner’s name to the agent. When we went to sign the contract, it turned out that the “landlord” is another real estate company. In addition to the agent’s 5% commission, this real estate company acting on behalf of the landlord is asking for an additional 5% admin/municipality fee. They’re being vague about this fee, and I argued that municipality attestation fee is covered by the landlord (as stated on the Sharjah municipality website) and the municipality fee calculated as 4% of the rent should be paid in 12 monthly installments as part of the sewa bill. They kept insisting that no it’s paid directly to them and part of this fee is their own admin fees, PRO (?) and tasheel. I said those should be covered by the agent’s commission, but they’re saying well why did you go to the agent and didn’t come directly to us. I obviously didn’t know the building had its own real estate company that handles the contracts, and I responded to the agent’s ad (who seems to know them as well). All of their units are advertised by different agents.
They’re now refusing to refund the security deposit cheque, and I feel extremely uncomfortable moving forward with this company. Is there any way we can refund it?