Abu Dhabi launches digital service for rent refunds on commercial leases

A ‘20 per cent Rental Rebate Initiative Registration’ page has been added to the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development’s (ADDED) website to facilitate the rent refunds on commercial property leases for specific businesses in the capital.

In April, ADDED said that it would offer a 20 per cent rent refund to restaurants and F&B outlets, as well as tourist and entertainment facilities, within the emirate as part of its economic stimulus package.

Read: Abu Dhabi offers 20% rent refund to restaurants in the emirate

The new online service of receiving applications for refunding the rental amounts has been activated in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Department of Finance, reported official news agency WAM.

All requests will be processed without human intervention by the automation of procedures.

In case the rent allowance is in participatory form, such as a fixed rental allowance and a percentage of the income, the refund is then calculated on the fixed allowance.

The property owner who claims any financial rights towards the tenant or otherwise has to review the court’s decision to reserve the due allowance, in which the department does not accept any reservation request of any kind except those mandated by a court ruling.

ADDED’s resolution will not affect the remaining terms of the rental contracts and will adopt the entire contractual annual allowance for the purposes of documentation and fees.

It does not apply on rental contracts ending in ownership.

However, the decision will apply on all new contracts that were signed during the period covering October 1, 2019 until March 31, 2020, in addition to all rental contracts that were renewed from the beginning of April 2020 to September 31, 2020, regardless of the date of signing.

Owners of restaurants, tourism and entertainment facilities – not including hotels – that are covered by the resolution, can obtain a refund via the ADDED website.

ADDED chairman Mohammed Ali Al Shorafa said that the resolution was part of the initiatives that the body had launched to help support the private sector. As part of these measures, businesses operating in Abu Dhabi were exempted from violations recorded by the department, with a total value of around Dhs246m.