Dubai Holiday Home Licence
The DET Rules, the Statutory Fees and the Fines, Straight From the Legislation
Letting a Dubai apartment on Airbnb is a licensed activity, not a private arrangement. Dubai has regulated it since 2013 through a published decree, a 2020 implementing bylaw and a statutory fee schedule. Here is exactly what the law requires, what it costs, and what it costs to get wrong.
What a Holiday Home Licence in Dubai Actually Is
A holiday home, in Dubai law, is a furnished residential unit designated for short-stay guest accommodation. Leasing one out on a regular and ongoing basis — or renting one in order to sublet it to guests — is a defined economic activity, and under Decree No. (41) of 2013 Regulating the Activity of Leasing out Holiday Homes in the Emirate of Dubai, no natural or legal person may conduct it unless licensed by the Department of Economy and Tourism. The legislation still refers to the regulator by its former name, the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, or DTCM.
This catches far more owners than expected. If you furnish an apartment in مارینا دبی and list it for nightly stays, you are conducting the activity. The decree applies across the whole emirate — mainland, Special Development Zones and free zones including the Dubai International Financial Centre — so there is no free-zone address that exempts a unit from it.
The most common misunderstanding is that there is one document to obtain. There are two. Administrative Resolution No. (1) of 2020, which is the implementing bylaw for the decree, draws a clean line between them: the licence is issued to you as the operator and authorises you to conduct the activity; the permit is issued for each individual furnished unit and approves that specific property being designated as a holiday home. Operate three apartments and you hold one licence and three permits, each renewed annually.
Both documents run for one year and are renewable on the same terms. There is one useful exception: the bylaw allows DET to approve a licence term of more than one year and up to four years, provided the applicant pays the licensing fees for the whole term up front. Permits remain annual regardless.
Classification is not optional either. The decree divides holiday homes into two categories, deluxe and standard, assessed against criteria set out in DET’s technical guide, and a classification certificate is issued for each unit. The category is not cosmetic — it sets the Tourism Dirham your guests pay per night, and DET can upgrade or downgrade a property against the criteria.
Holiday Homes at a Glance
The regulatory essentials in one place
What DET Charges, Line by Line
These are not estimates. Executive Council Resolution No. (49) of 2014 publishes the fee for every holiday home service as a schedule attached to the resolution. This is that schedule.
| Service | Statutory Fee | When You Pay It |
|---|---|---|
| Permit to conduct the activity in a holiday home | AED 300 per bedroom, up to AED 1,200 per holiday home each year | Per unit, annually |
| Issuing a new licence or renewing a licence | ۵۰۰ درهم | Per operator, annually |
| Initial approval for a new or renewed licence | AED 100 | Once, at the start |
| Subscription to the e-Programme for hotel and tourism establishments | ۱۵۰۰ درهم | Mandatory for licensees |
| No-objection certificate for approval or change of a trade name | ۵۰۰ درهم | Setup / rebrand |
| Inspection of a holiday home | AED 300 per holiday home | بر حسب تقاضا |
| Re-inspection of a holiday home | AED 300 per holiday home | بر حسب تقاضا |
| Holiday home classification certificate | AED 50 per holiday home | Per unit |
| Variation of licence information | ۵۰۰ درهم | As needed |
| Request for suspension of the activity | ۲۰۰۰ درهم امارات | If you pause |
| Re-opening a closed holiday home | AED 200 | After closure |
| Revoking a holiday home permit | AED 50 | On exit |
Source: Schedule (1), Executive Council Resolution No. (49) of 2014 Approving the Fees and Fines Related to the Activity of Leasing out Holiday Homes in the Emirate of Dubai, issued 7 December 2014, as published in English on the Dubai Legislation Portal (dlp.dubai.gov.ae). Retrieved 17 August 2026. Government service pricing can be revised — confirm current amounts with DET before budgeting.
Six Things the Law Requires Before You Take a Booking
Each of these is a written requirement in Decree No. (41) of 2013 or Administrative Resolution No. (1) of 2020 — not a best-practice suggestion.
Not sure whether your building allows short-term letting?
Tell us the tower or community and TruHauz will check the SPA position, the owners’ association rules and whether the area is authorised before you commit any capital.
What Compliance Actually Costs an Owner
Holiday home costs in Dubai sit in three distinct layers, and they behave very differently. Two are fixed and small. The third scales with how well the property performs — which is the one owners consistently forget to model.
Setting Up
The initial approval is AED 100 and the first licence is AED 500. The e-Programme subscription is AED 1,500 and a trade name no-objection certificate, if you need one, is AED 500. These are operator-level costs: they do not multiply as you add units.
Per Unit, Every Year
The permit is AED 300 per bedroom, capped at AED 1,200 per holiday home each year, plus AED 50 for the classification certificate. A studio or one-bedroom sits at the bottom of that range; anything of four bedrooms or more hits the cap.
The Tourism Dirham
AED 15 per occupied room per night for a luxury holiday home, AED 10 for a standard one. You collect it from the guest, show it on their invoice, and pay it to DCTCM before the sixteenth of the following month. Late payment costs 10% of the unpaid fee, minimum AED 1,000.
پرسشهای متداول
The questions Dubai owners ask most often before listing a property for short stays.
Not legal advice. This guide summarises Decree No. (41) of 2013, Administrative Resolution No. (1) of 2020, Executive Council Resolution No. (49) of 2014 and Executive Council Resolution No. (2) of 2014 as published in English on the Dubai Legislation Portal and retrieved on 17 August 2026. The portal notes that where the English and Arabic texts conflict, the Arabic text prevails. Fees, technical criteria and the areas in which the activity is authorised are set by DET and can change. Confirm your position with DET or a licensed UAE legal adviser before acting.
Buying a Unit to Let Short-Term?
Whether a building permits holiday home use is decided long before you list it — in the SPA, in the owners’ association rules and in whether DET authorises the activity in that area. TruHauz checks all three before you buy. Tell us what you are looking at.
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