Administrative Decision No. (59) of 2010
Concerning the Regulatory Rules for Increasing the Area of
Private Residential Lands in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi
The Chairman of the Department of Municipal Affairs:
- Having reviewed Law No. (1) of 1974 on the Reorganization of the Governmental Apparatus in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and its amendments.
- And Law No. (3) of 2005 concerning the Regulation of Real Estate Registration in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
- And Law No. (19) of 2005 concerning Real Estate Ownership and its amendments.
- And Law No. (9) of 2007 concerning the Establishment of the Department of Municipal Affairs.
- And the decision of the Executive Committee of the General Secretariat of the Executive Council No. (7J 2009/22) regarding the mechanism for increasing the area of lands and properties in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
- And in accordance with the powers and competencies vested in the Chairman of the Department and as required by the public interest.
Has decided the following:
Article (1)
Objectives of the Decision
This decision aims to establish the necessary regulatory rules for handling requests to increase the area of private residential lands in the Emirate.
Article (2)
Definitions
In applying the provisions of this decision, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings assigned to each of them:
| The Emirate |
: The Emirate of Abu Dhabi. |
| The Chairman of the Department |
: The Chairman of the Department of Municipal Affairs. |
| The Municipality |
: The Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, the Municipality of Al Ain City, the Municipality of the Western Region, or any municipality that may be established in the future in the Emirate. |
| The Planning Department |
: The department concerned with planning in the Municipality. |
| The Concerned Department |
: The department, section, or unit concerned with receiving the application. |
| The Application |
: The application to increase the area of a private residential land, approved by the Municipality, in accordance with Article (3). |
| The Applicant |
: The owner of the land who wishes to increase its area. |
| The Land |
: The private residential land whose owner wishes to increase its area. |
| The Increase |
: The area of land to be obtained by the applicant, adjacent to his land, and whose length does not exceed (9) meters. |
| The Separator |
: The vacant land located between two residential lands, whose width does not exceed (6) meters. |
| The Competent Committee |
: The committee competent in land and real estate affairs in the concerned Municipality. |
| The Valuation Committee |
: The committee formed in accordance with Article (6) of this decision. |
Article (3)
Procedures for Increasing Land Area
1. The Concerned Department shall issue a unified application form named (Application to Increase the Area of a Private Residential Land) which includes all necessary data about the owner, the land, and the requested increase, and also specifies the documents and papers required to complete the transaction.
2. The Concerned Department must observe the following procedures upon receiving the application:
a. Receive the application along with all required documents according to the approved form.
b. Collect a fee of AED 2,000 from the applicant, which is non-refundable whether the application is approved or not.
c. Verify the authenticity of all documents and papers attached to the application, and then forward the application to the Planning Department for a technical opinion by studying the location of the requested increase and ensuring the following:
- The length of the increase does not exceed (9) meters.
- The increase is not suitable for allocation as an independent private residential land according to the applicable technical conditions.
- The increase does not conflict with the master plan.
- The increase does not result in exceeding the building line, the regulation line, or existing services.
- The increase does not affect the main entrances of the adjacent plots.
- The increase is not in areas planned for replotting.
d. Upon the application meeting all the conditions mentioned in clause (c), the Planning Department shall issue a preliminary approval conditional on obtaining all required approvals from service authorities.
e. In case any existing services are affected by the increase, the applicant shall bear the cost of removing and relocating those services in coordination with the relevant authorities.
f. In the case of an increase related to adjacent lands resulting from an amendment to the regulation line, the Planning Department shall grant preliminary approval for all adjacent lands located on the same regulation line.
g. After obtaining the approval of the Planning Department, the Concerned Department shall inform the owner of the amount due for the requested increase according to clause (3) of Article (6).
h. For exceptional cases where the length of the increase exceeds (9) meters, the application shall be presented to the Competent Committee in the Municipality for study and decision.
Previous Applications
1. This decision applies to all applications for which preliminary approvals were issued before 09/08/2009 and for which an approved site plan has not been issued by the Municipality, provided that they are exempted only from the application submission fee mentioned in clause (2-b) of Article (3).
2. An applicant who has obtained a preliminary approval according to clause (1) of this article shall be exempted from the valuation amount due for the increase according to clause (3) of Article (6) if they prove that they have commenced the removal and relocation of existing services by providing all official documents approved by the relevant service authorities, which confirm their commencement of the removal and relocation process, including their payment of all fees and expenses resulting from the process of removing and relocating those services.
Article (5)
Merging the Separator
1. Merging separators between private residential lands is exempted from the fees mentioned in clause (2-b) of Article (3), and the amount due for the increase according to clause (3) of Article (6), provided that the width of the separator does not exceed 6 meters, and that it is divided equally between the owners of the two lands.
2. If one of the owners expresses unwillingness to merge the separator, their share of the separator shall be given to the other owner, provided that both parties or their legal representatives are present before the competent employee in the Concerned Department and one of them relinquishes their share of the separator to the other through a signed written declaration, which shall be approved by the Concerned Department.
3. In case any existing services are affected by the merging of the separator, the owners wishing to merge shall bear the cost of removing and relocating those services equally, in coordination with the relevant authorities. In case one of them relinquishes their share of the separator to the other according to clause (2) of this article, the owner to whom the share is relinquished shall bear the cost of removing and relocating those services.
4. If the width of the separator exceeds (6) meters, the application shall be presented to the Competent Committee in the Municipality for study and decision.
Article (6)
Valuation
1. A real estate valuation committee shall be formed in each municipality, by a decision issued by the Director-General of the Municipality.
2. The Valuation Committee is responsible for establishing a real estate market index and updating it every three months based on market data, provided that the index and any updates to it are approved by the Chairman of the Department. The committee is also responsible for valuing private lands and properties expropriated for public benefit.
3. The increase shall be valued according to the market index specified in clause (2) of this article.
4. The committee may seek assistance from any expert firms it deems appropriate to help it perform its tasks.
Article (7)
This decision shall be effective from the date of its issuance, and shall be communicated to whomever it may concern to act accordingly, each within their jurisdiction.
Rashid Mubarak Al Hajeri
Chairman of the Department of Municipal Affairs
Issued by us:
On: 19 Jumada al-Awwal 1431 AH
Corresponding to: May 3, 2010