Dubai Court of Cassation (General Assembly), No. 3 of 2022 (opinion requested by the Judicial Council), 28 April 2022
Under Article 106(2) of the Civil Procedure Regulation (Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018), the house used as a residence by the debtor and the dependants living with him may not be attached, unless it is mortgaged and the debt arises from its price. The exemption does not require the house to be necessary or modest: if the debtor actually lived in it before enforcement and did not move there to shield it, it cannot be attached and sold on the argument that a cheaper home would do. The exemption covers one home only; if the debtor has several, creditors may enforce against all but one. Article 242(2) of the current Civil Procedure Code (Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022) contains the same exemption in materially the same terms.
The General Secretariat of the Judicial Council asked the General Assembly whether execution by sale may be levied on the house prepared for the debtor's residence where it exceeds his needs, in the light of Article 106(2) of the Civil Procedure Regulation.
Article 106 of the Regulation, issued by Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018, provides that, without prejudice to any other legislation, the house serving as a residence for the debtor or judgment debtor, and for relatives living with him whom he must support, may not be attached, unless the house or a share in it is mortgaged and the debt arises from its price, in which case it may be attached to pay that debt.
The Assembly held that the legislature thereby preferred the debtor's right to remain in his home to the creditor's right to be paid from any surplus value. The text does not require the house to be necessary for the debtor's housing or not to exceed his needs, as long as he actually lived in it before enforcement and did not take it as a residence in order to remove it from the assets available to creditors. It must, however, be the debtor's only home: where he has several, the creditor may enforce against all but one, reserved for the debtor and his family, because the others exceed his needs. It is therefore not permissible to attach a debtor's only family home, occupied before enforcement and without any device, on the argument that it could be sold and a cheaper home bought, because that contradicts the express wording of Article 106(2). Where a text is clear there is no room for interpretation (Article 1 of the Civil Transactions Law); had the legislature wanted to limit the exemption to a necessary home, it would have said so.
The Assembly concluded that execution by sale on the house prepared for the debtor's residence is not permitted on the ground that it exceeds his housing needs.
Individual debtors in the UAE, including business owners who have given personal guarantees for company debts, keep their family home out of creditors' reach unless it is mortgaged for its own price, and creditors cannot force a sale to make the debtor move somewhere cheaper. Second homes and investment properties remain exposed.
| Article 106(2) of Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018 on the Regulation of the Civil Procedure Law Decided under this law; it has been replaced by Civil Procedure Code. |
| Article 242(2) of Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022 (Civil Procedure Code), the current equivalent provision — text of article 242 |
| Article 1 of Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 (Civil Transactions Law) — text of article 1 Decided under this law; it has been replaced by Civil Transactions Law 2025. |
“عدم جواز التنفيذ بالبيع على الدار المعدة لسكنى المدين”Short quotation from the judgment as published by the court. The full judgment is on the court’s official service.
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