Hundreds of workers sleeping on Sharjah streets following tower block eviction

Around 400 workers in the UAE emirate of Sharjah have been forced to spend the past two nights on the streets, after they were evicted from their homes following a court order.

The former residents of a downtown Sharjah tower block said they were evicted on Sunday without any notice and have been unable to enter their rooms to retrieve their passports, IDs and belongings, local media reported.

The men - all construction workers from Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh - claim they used a third-party property agent, who collected rent and then went missing when a court ordered residents to vacate their rooms, when the building was purchased by a new owner.

The property agent had added partitions to the four room-flats - with two apartments on each of the nine-floor tower - providing the tenants no contracts or paper work, and appearing to pocket the extra cash.

When the apartment block was sold to a new owner, he reportedly did not inform the tenants about their potential eviction and disappeared, switching off his phone. 

The former residents were evicted from the building at 8am on Sunday and without IDs are now living on the streets near the central Sharjah property.

Sharjah council told Gulf News that the men were informed that the tower would fall into new ownership and gave them a week to leave the building.

The building's new owner also said he told the residents they had to vacate the property after a court ruled in his favour.

Residents in the UAE often use third-party agents to find rooms in cities, due to high rents and strict laws on sharing properties.

Real estate agents often demand up to a year's and large deposits up-front, with residents often being unable to pay the large sums asked or forced to run-up huge debts with banks.

Strict bankruptcy laws mean that residents can go to jail if rent cheques bounce or they go into arrears.