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If a developer fails to pay, a UAE contractor's remedies flow from the construction contract and from the UAE Civil Transactions Law. Start by checking whether the payment is certified or due under the contract's payment clause and interim-certificate mechanism, then issue a formal written demand recording the outstanding amount and any contractual interest or suspension rights. Many contracts (including FIDIC forms) give the contractor a right to suspend or reduce the rate of work, and ultimately to terminate, if certified sums remain unpaid after notice — but these rights must be exercised exactly as the contract requires or they can backfire. If payment is still not made, the contractor can pursue the dispute through the contract's forum: arbitration if there is an arbitration clause, otherwise the competent UAE court. Preserve your certificates, correspondence and records, and follow the notice steps before suspending. Because wrongful suspension or termination can expose you to counterclaims, take advice before acting. You can compare verified UAE construction and debt-recovery professionals on LEXAI for your situation.

Liquidated (delay) damages are a pre-agreed amount the contract entitles the employer to deduct or claim when the contractor completes late, commonly expressed as a rate per day or week of delay up to a capped maximum. In the UAE, such clauses are enforceable in principle, but they operate subject to the UAE Civil Transactions Law's treatment of agreed compensation and penalty clauses: a court or tribunal has the power to adjust the agreed sum to reflect the actual loss suffered if the stipulated amount is shown to be excessive or if no loss was in fact incurred. This means the contractual figure is a starting point, not always the final amount. The contractor may also defend by proving an entitlement to an extension of time, which moves the completion date and can reduce or eliminate the damages. To apply delay damages, check the contract's delay clause and cap, confirm the adjusted completion date after any EOT, and keep evidence. Because these claims are frequently contested, take advice. Compare verified UAE construction professionals on LEXAI.

FIDIC contracts require a contractor to give written notice of a claim for additional time or money within a set period after it became aware (or should have become aware) of the event giving rise to the claim, followed by a fully detailed claim with supporting particulars within a further period. The notice is a condition: under the standard wording, if the contractor fails to give notice within the required time, it can lose its entitlement to the extension of time or extra payment entirely, even if the underlying claim was otherwise valid. This 'time-bar' is one of the most common reasons construction claims fail. That said, in onshore UAE there is argument about how strictly such time-bars operate against the Civil Transactions Law's principles of good faith and the rule against forfeiting established rights, so a late notice is not always automatically fatal — it is fact-specific. The practical lesson is to issue notices early and in writing. If you have missed a deadline, get advice quickly rather than assuming the claim is dead. Compare verified UAE construction professionals on LEXAI.

On most UAE construction projects, the contractor is paid progressively against interim payment certificates: the contractor submits a statement of work done, the Engineer reviews and certifies the amount due, and the employer pays the certified sum within the contractual period, usually after deductions for retention and any agreed set-offs. A payment dispute typically arises when the Engineer certifies less than the contractor claims, the employer delays or withholds payment, or amounts are deducted. The first step is to identify whether the dispute is about valuation (challenge the Engineer's assessment through the claims and determination procedure) or about non-payment of a certified sum (enforce the certificate). If unresolved, the dispute escalates through the contract's dispute-resolution route — a dispute board, then arbitration or the competent court. Late payment may also carry contractual interest and, after notice, a right to suspend. Keep your statements, measured records and the certificate history. Because payment disputes turn on the contract mechanics and good records, early advice helps. Compare verified UAE construction professionals on LEXAI for your situation.

Prolongation cost is the additional time-related expenditure a contractor incurs because the project is extended beyond the original completion date — typically site overheads such as staff, site accommodation, plant standing time, and supervision that continue during the extended period. A contractor can claim prolongation cost in the UAE where it has a valid entitlement to an extension of time for an employer-risk delay event and can prove the additional cost was actually and reasonably incurred as a result. The claim usually sits alongside the extension-of-time claim and must follow the contract's notice and particulars procedure; an EOT does not automatically carry money, so cost must be separately substantiated. Crucially, the cost must be linked to the delay event and supported by records — global or unsubstantiated claims are routinely reduced or rejected. Under UAE law the contract governs entitlement, subject to mandatory provisions. Keep contemporaneous cost records and a clear cause-and-effect narrative tied to the delay. Because prolongation claims are evidence-intensive, expert and legal support helps. Compare verified UAE construction professionals on LEXAI.

To enforce a construction arbitration award in the UAE, you generally apply to the competent court to recognise and enforce the award, after which it can be executed against the debtor's assets. For an onshore UAE-seated award, enforcement runs through the local courts under the Federal Arbitration Law and the relevant procedure, while DIFC- and ADGM-seated awards are enforced through those courts' own regimes, and awards can then be moved between the onshore and offshore systems through established channels. For foreign awards, the UAE is a party to the New York Convention, which obliges UAE courts to recognise and enforce qualifying foreign arbitral awards subject to limited refusal grounds, such as a procedural defect or public-policy objection. The losing party may resist enforcement or seek to annul the award on narrow grounds, so enforcement is not always automatic. Identify the correct enforcement court for your award's seat, prepare the certified award and arbitration agreement, and be ready to address any challenge. Because enforcement is procedurally technical, local legal support is valuable. Compare verified UAE arbitration and construction professionals on LEXAI.

Online purchases are covered by the UAE Consumer Protection Law just like in-store sales, so a faulty item bought from a website or app entitles you to a remedy from the seller. Start by contacting the online store through its official support channel, describe the defect, attach photos, and reference your order number and invoice. Many platforms have return and replacement processes for defective goods, and the seller remains responsible for delivering a product that works and matches its description. If the retailer ignores you, refuses a fair remedy, or the seller is registered in the UAE, you can escalate to the Ministry of Economy's consumer protection service (600 522225) or your emirate's economic department. Keep the original packaging where possible, screenshots of the product listing, delivery confirmation, and all messages. Cross-border purchases from sellers based outside the UAE can be harder to enforce, so check where the merchant is based and which platform policies apply. For a disputed high-value online order, you can compare verified UAE legal professionals on LEXAI to understand your enforcement options.

Selling counterfeit or fake goods is prohibited in the UAE and is both a consumer-protection and an intellectual-property violation. If you discover that an item sold to you as genuine is counterfeit, you generally have grounds to demand a refund or replacement, because the product was misrepresented and does not match how it was described. Gather your evidence first: the invoice, the product and its packaging, any branding or labels, and the seller's advertisement claiming it was authentic. Raise it with the seller in writing, but be aware that counterfeit trade is taken seriously by the authorities, so you can also report it to the Ministry of Economy (600 522225) or your emirate's economic department, which enforce against fake goods. Reporting helps protect other buyers and can trigger action against the trader, not just resolve your individual purchase. Where the counterfeit involves a known brand, the brand owner's representatives may also act. Keep all evidence safe and avoid altering the item. For significant losses, you can compare verified UAE legal professionals on LEXAI to assess any further claim.

For a change of mind on a product that is not faulty, UAE consumer law does not automatically guarantee a refund. In that situation the store's own return and exchange policy controls whether you can return or swap the item, and many retailers allow returns within a set period if the product is unused and in its original packaging with the receipt. This is different from a defective or misdescribed product, where the seller does have an obligation to provide a remedy. Because change-of-mind returns depend on the shop's stated policy, always check the return terms before you buy, keep the receipt, and note any time limit the retailer specifies. If a shop advertised a returns guarantee and then refuses to honour it, that broken promise can itself be a consumer-protection issue you can raise with the Ministry of Economy (600 522225) or your local economic department. For non-faulty goods, though, your strongest protection is the store's published policy, so read it carefully and ask staff to confirm it at the point of sale.

If a trader will not resolve a problem directly, you can escalate it to the UAE Ministry of Economy, which handles consumer complaints nationwide. The usual first step is to contact the seller in writing and give them a chance to fix the issue, because the authorities will often ask whether you tried to resolve it directly. If that fails, you can lodge a complaint through the Ministry of Economy's consumer channels, including its consumer protection hotline 600 522225 and its online and app-based complaint services, or through your emirate's economic department such as Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism or Abu Dhabi's Department of Economic Development. When you file, provide the trader's details, your invoice, photos or evidence of the problem, and a clear description of the remedy you want. The relevant authority will review the complaint and can mediate or require the business to comply. Keep records of every step. If the dispute is significant or the response is unsatisfactory, you can also compare verified UAE legal professionals on LEXAI to consider further legal action.