Additional 7 days granted to restore merged Hiyaa apartments to original state

The Hiyaa tenants who merged two apartments has been granted additional seven days to restore both apartments two their original state by Urbaco.

Urbanco fined the tenants and ordered them to restore the apartments back to their original state after an investigation. The tenants failed to settle the fine or restore the apartments to their original state following which Urbanco decided to nullify their agreement.

However, Urbanco, citing the tenants’ request to grant additional days to complete the restoration, the corporation said an additional seven days have been granted in consideration of the reasons presented by tenants in their request.

The case of the two apartments that were merged by demolishing the parting wall between the two units came to public attention on May 5, after photos and videos of the apartments were shared on social media.

Urbanco conducted an investigation and fined the owners of both units by MVR 100,000 each. They were given 10 days to settle the fine and restore the apartments to their original state.

However, the tenants failed to pay the fine or rebuild the parting wall, and Urbanco decided to nullify the agreement and repossess the apartments, giving the tenants 14 days to vacate the units on May 14^th.

They were also given an additional 30 days to settle the fine.

The tenants have contested Urbanco’s decision with the Civil Court, and sought an injunction to halt the repossession of the apartments.

Civil Court, however, said that the tenants violated the terms of the agreement with Urbanco and residential building laws knowingly. They also underscored the result would be the same under circumstances the court decides the eviction was ordered wrongfully; which is repossession by Urbanco. Therewith, the court stressed it does not believe the refusal to issue an injunction would result in irrevocable losses.

The court also stated that the tenants had no right to request an injunction after violating the terms of the agreement and residential building laws.