What Can Get You in Trouble in Dubai – With Amin

The Rules Most People Are Playing Without Knowing

Dubai attracts founders, investors, and operators from every corner of the world — but the legal framework that governs businesses and real estate here is rarely explained properly. In this episode, we sat down with Amin, a born-and-raised Dubai legal expert with a background in immigration, company setup, and corporate law (with a law degree from Paris, no less) to get into the specifics: subleasing exposure, tenancy disputes, tax filings, free zone traps, and the visa situation affecting Iranian residents.

This is one of those conversations that could save you serious money — or keep you out of court.

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The Sublease Warning Nobody Listened To

Amin was direct about the short-term rental and sublease model that was booming across Dubai until recently:

"CO taught me such a big lesson. I was almost bit more than a million dollars in and then CO happened. I'll never sublease again even if I will do 200% losses."

He wasn't alone in calling it out early. He made a video at the peak of the sublease frenzy warning about the structural risk — and was publicly mocked for it by some of the model's loudest promoters. No reply was needed.

The legal reality: one client came to Amin recently with 30 sublease contracts already signed. After working through notice periods and penalties contract by contract, the total exposure came to around AED 1.5 million in penalties alone — before factoring in licence cancellations, employee costs, and outstanding checks.

"He's going to owe a lot of money. I gave him the legal ways to deal with it — how to negotiate, maybe delay payments. But yeah, I don't recommend this business model if you don't have backing."

His point wasn't that the model is inherently unworkable. It's that a single unpredictable event — a pandemic, a flood, a personal health crisis — can wipe the profit side of the equation while the liability side stays firmly in place.

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MOUs, Force Majeure, and What the Law Actually Says

Several listeners had asked about buyers who signed MOUs with 45-to-60-day transfer windows and wanted to exit without forfeiting their 10% deposit. Amin's answer was unambiguous.

Force majeure only applies where there is actual impossibility — government systems shut down, power of attorney rendered non-functional, institutions no longer operating. If property transactions are still processing, court systems are running, and people are going to work, there is no legal basis for invoking it. A job loss or salary cut, however painful, does not qualify — it is what Amin called "improvisation that you should have predicted before the purchase."

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Taxes: France vs. Dubai, by the Numbers

Having studied and briefly worked in France before returning to Dubai, Amin walked through the tax maths that made the decision easy:

"If you're going to be taking more than half of my money, you should be working for me half of the year."

In France, he argued, once you account for employer taxes, personal income tax, profit extraction, and consumption tax, an entrepreneur making a million in year one is likely losing money in real terms. He puts the effective take north of 70% — and suggested it runs even higher when you add everything up.

In the UAE, corporate tax kicks in at 9% on net profit above AED 375,000. Below that threshold, it is zero. VAT registration becomes mandatory at AED 375,000 in revenue, with a registration window of under a month once that threshold is crossed. Miss that window and the fines start.

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Free Zone vs. Mainland: The Setup Mistake That Keeps Showing Up

One of the most consistent issues Amin sees: businesses registered in the wrong vehicle because whoever set them up had a referral incentive to push free zone licences.

"You will hardly find these setup companies advertising mainland because the cost is clear and there's no kickback to them. They're making money from the free zone partnership — that's why they only push it."

The practical consequence: a client who needs to sell into the mainland, operate physically in Dubai, or hold a real estate trading licence cannot legally do that from a free zone. Amin described one case involving a vapes import business set up in a free zone that cascaded into a public prosecution matter — entirely avoidable with the right structure from day one.

His advice on ChatGPT for legal research was equally blunt: a language model can only summarise what's already been written online, and much of what's online about UAE company setup is written by the same agents with the same incentives.

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Unpaid Rent: What Actually Happens

For tenants who stop paying, Amin outlined the realistic sequence: RDC case, hearing, possible appeal, payment plan agreed with the court. The criminal exposure arrives specifically when someone signs a court-approved payment plan and then defaults on it.

"You're now frauding not only the landlord — you're frauding your own promises that you made with the court. That's when it becomes a problem."

A straightforward late payment, a bounced commercial cheque, or a temporary reduction in income are handled differently — judges do take documented salary cuts and payment history into consideration when determining what a tenant can reasonably pay.

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One Piece of Advice From Amin

We asked Amin for a single golden rule for anyone operating in Dubai. He kept it simple:

"If you're thinking of doing something and you're doubting whether it's going to be okay — it's probably not. Speak to a lawyer before the problem, not after. I'm a therapist, not a doctor. Come before you get sick."

The analogy extends to his business model: a lawyer who sets you up correctly and helps you grow makes more money as you make more money. The interests are aligned in a way that a one-off company setup agent's interests simply are not.

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The full episode covers Amin's take on the Iranian visa and property situation, the AED 1 billion government relief package, Dubai's long-term resilience versus other global markets, and much more. Listen now on [Buzzsprout](https://www.buzzsprout.com/1232855/episodes/19002175-this-can-get-you-in-trouble-in-dubai.mp3) or watch on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk1md8O3yjM).

If you're a founder or expert based in Dubai and want to share your story on the show, apply to be a guest — we'd love to have you on.