General guidance on the Dubai market, not legal, tax or financial advice. Fees and regulations change. Ask one of our consultants to confirm the current position before you commit to anything.
Residential tenancies in Dubai sit under Law No. 26 of 2007, as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008. Rent increases are governed separately by Decree No. 43 of 2013. Disputes go to the Rental Dispute Settlement Centre at the Dubai Land Department rather than to the ordinary courts.
That framework matters because a tenancy contract cannot sign away a right the law gives you. If a clause in your contract conflicts with the law, the law wins. Equally, a great deal of what people describe as a rule in Dubai is market custom with no legal force at all, and custom is negotiable.
Ejari is the Dubai Land Department’s tenancy registration system. The UAE Government portal states plainly that in Dubai landlords must register lease agreements with the Dubai Land Department. In practice the cost and the legwork are frequently pushed onto the tenant, which is custom rather than law, so it is worth raising before you sign.
Without a registered Ejari certificate you cannot:
That last point is the one that matters most. An unregistered tenancy leaves you without access to the body that exists to protect you. Do not move in on a handshake.
Almost everything in this section is convention, not legislation. Knowing that changes how you negotiate.
| Item | Typical Dubai practice | Law or custom |
|---|---|---|
| Rent payment | One to four post-dated cheques per year; more cheques often means slightly higher rent | Custom |
| Security deposit | 5% of annual rent unfurnished, around 10% furnished | Custom |
| Agency commission | 5% of annual rent, or a fixed fee, plus VAT | Custom |
| Ejari registration | A modest fixed fee, frequently passed to the tenant | Registration is required; who pays is custom |
| DEWA deposit and activation | A refundable deposit plus a connection charge, higher for a villa than an apartment | DEWA tariff |
| Housing fee | 5% of your annual rent, billed in monthly instalments on your DEWA bill | Dubai Municipality charge |
| District cooling | Registration deposit plus consumption and a standing capacity charge | Provider tariff |
The housing fee is confirmed by the UAE Government portal at 5 per cent of annual rent, added to your electricity and water bill. Everything marked custom is negotiable.
Two practical points. First, the housing fee surprises people: it is a real 5 per cent on top of your rent, collected monthly, so factor it into your budget from the start. Second, the number of cheques is the most useful thing you can negotiate. Landlords value payment certainty, and in a softer market a single cheque buys a meaningful discount.
Your landlord cannot raise your rent at will. Decree No. 43 of 2013 ties any increase to how far your current rent sits below the market rate for comparable property in your area, measured against the Dubai Land Department’s rental index. The Government portal confirms that increases are applied by comparison with the area average via the RERA increase calculator.
| How far your rent sits below market | Maximum increase permitted |
|---|---|
| Within 10% of market rent | No increase |
| 11% to 20% below market | 5% |
| 21% to 30% below market | 10% |
| 31% to 40% below market | 15% |
| More than 40% below market | 20% |
Tiers under Decree No. 43 of 2013. The Dubai Land Department’s Smart Rental Index now supplies the benchmark the calculation runs against; it changed how market rent is assessed, not the caps themselves.
Two things make this enforceable. The calculator is public, so you can check the number yourself before you accept it. And under Article 14 of the tenancy law your landlord must give you 90 days’ notice before the end of the term if they want to change the rent or any other term. Notice given later than that does not bind you, and the tenancy renews on the existing terms.
A rent increase and a notice to vacate are different things with different notice periods. Ninety days to change the rent. Twelve months to require you to leave. Do not let the two be presented to you as one.
During a fixed term, a landlord can only seek eviction on specific grounds, such as non-payment after formal notice, illegal use, or serious damage. At the end of a term, the grounds are narrower than most tenants fear and the notice is longer than most landlords realise.
Article 25(2) of Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended permits a landlord to require possession at the end of the term where they intend to sell the property, to occupy it themselves or house a first-degree relative, or to demolish or substantially reconstruct it. In every one of those cases the landlord must give 12 months’ notice, stating the reason, served through the Notary Public or by registered mail.
If you receive something that looks like a notice to vacate, check the date, the method of service and the stated reason before you start packing. A defective notice does not run.
The Rental Dispute Settlement Centre sits within the Dubai Land Department and handles landlord and tenant disputes: unlawful rent increases, invalid eviction notices, deposits withheld without justification, and maintenance a landlord will not carry out. Filing fees are calculated as a percentage of the annual rent, subject to a cap, and the Centre is designed to move considerably faster than ordinary litigation.
Before you file, do two things. Put your complaint to your landlord in writing so there is a record, and make sure your Ejari is registered, because without it you have no standing. Keep copies of your contract, your Ejari certificate, your cheques and every message about the issue.
On maintenance, the default position under the law is that major maintenance and structural repair are the landlord’s responsibility while minor day-to-day upkeep falls to the tenant. Contracts often try to shift more onto the tenant, so read that clause specifically, and get any agreed split written in.
The legal obligation to register the tenancy sits with the landlord, as the UAE Government portal states. Who actually pays the fee is a matter of market custom, and in Dubai it is commonly passed to the tenant. Raise it during negotiation rather than after signing.
No. Decree No. 43 of 2013 caps the increase according to how far your rent sits below the market rate for comparable property, from no increase at all up to a maximum of 20 per cent. They must also give you 90 days’ notice before the end of the term. You can check the permitted figure yourself using the Dubai Land Department calculator.
No. Selling is a valid ground for requiring possession at the end of the term, but it carries the same 12-month notice requirement as every other Article 25(2) ground, and the notice must be served through the Notary Public or by registered mail. Ninety days applies to changing the rent or the terms, not to eviction.
One to four a year is the normal range. Nothing in the law sets it, so it is negotiable. Fewer cheques is worth more to a landlord than most tenants realise, and offering one cheque is a legitimate way to ask for a lower rent.
Yes, through the Rental Dispute Settlement Centre, provided your tenancy was registered on Ejari. Protect yourself at the start: photograph the property thoroughly on move-in, keep the handover inventory, and do the same on move-out.
Give us your budget, the areas you are considering and when you need to move. We will line up viewings that are genuinely available at the rent advertised.