Tenancy Contract Dubai
What the Law Actually Requires in Your Lease — and What Is Only Market Practice
A Dubai tenancy contract is a short document that sits on top of a much longer statute. Most of the questions tenants and landlords argue about — renewal, rent increases, deposits, repairs, flatmates — are already answered in Law No. (26) of 2007, whether or not the contract mentions them. This guide goes clause by clause through what the law fixes, what it leaves to you, and where the two are routinely confused.
Your Contract Is the Shorter Half of the Agreement
Tenancies in Dubai are governed by Law No. (26) of 2007 Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai, issued on 26 November 2007, as amended by Law No. (33) of 2008, issued on 1 December 2008. Both are published on the Government of Dubai Legislation portal. The amending law replaced or amended Articles 2, 3, 4, 9, 13, 14, 15, 25, 26, 29 and 36, which is why older summaries of the 2007 text circulating online are unreliable on exactly the points people care about most.
The practical consequence is that the two-page contract you sign is not the whole agreement. It sits on top of a statute that already answers most of the questions that later cause friction. What happens if nobody says anything at renewal. How much notice is needed to change a term. Who fixes the air conditioning. Whether a flatmate is allowed. In each case the law has a default, and your contract either restates it, varies it where variation is permitted, or is silent — in which case the default applies anyway.
Article 4 sets the minimum content. A lease contract must describe the property, state the purpose of the lease, state the term, and state the rent together with the method of payment; where the landlord is not the owner, the owner must be identified. The same article requires that lease contracts covered by the law, and any amendments to them, are registered with RERA — which in day-to-day terms is what Ejari registration accomplishes. A contract that is vague about the term or the payment method is not just badly drafted; it is missing something the statute expects to find.
It is worth separating two categories that get muddled constantly. Some things are law: the ninety-day notice, the automatic renewal rule, the requirement of written consent to sub-let. Others are market convention: the number of cheques, the size of the security deposit, who pays the agency commission. Convention is negotiable and varies with the market. Law is not negotiable in the same way, and a clause that purports to remove a statutory protection is worth questioning before you sign rather than after.
The Dubai Tenancy Contract at a Glance
Where each rule actually comes from
What the Statute Says About Each Part of Your Lease
Read your contract with this table beside it. Where a clause contradicts the right-hand column, that is the clause worth asking about before signature rather than after a dispute.
| Subject | Provision | What the Law Provides | Binds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum contents | Article 4 | Description of the property, purpose of the lease, term, rent and method of payment; the owner identified where the landlord is not the owner. | Both |
| Registration | Article 4 | Lease contracts covered by the law, and any amendments, are to be registered with RERA. | Both |
| Expiry with no objection | Article 6 | The contract is renewed for the same term, or one year, whichever is shorter, on the same terms. | Both |
| Rent and increases | Article 9 (as amended) | Rent is assessed against criteria including the percentage of increase prescribed by RERA, the prevailing economic situation in the emirate, and the condition of the property. | Landlord |
| Disagreement at renewal | Article 13 (as amended) | The tribunal may determine a fair rent using the Article 9 criteria. | Tribunal |
| Notice to amend or not renew | Article 14 (as amended) | No less than ninety days before expiry, unless the parties agree otherwise. Amending any term is caught, including the rent. | Both |
| Condition and maintenance | Articles 15–17 | The landlord delivers the property in good condition, maintains it during the term, may not make changes that prevent full use, and bears defects not caused by the tenant. | Landlord |
| Rent and care of the property | Article 19 | The tenant pays rent on time and maintains the property as an ordinary person would maintain their own. | Tenant |
| Security deposit | Article 20 | The landlord may take a deposit to ensure maintenance of the property on expiry. The article permits the deposit; it does not fix its size. | Landlord |
| Handing the property back | Article 21 | The tenant surrenders possession in the condition in which it was received, except for ordinary wear and tear. | Tenant |
| Government fees and taxes | Article 22 | Unless agreed otherwise, the tenant pays fees and taxes due to government entities for use of the property. | Tenant |
| Improvements | Article 23 | The tenant may not remove leasehold improvements they have made, unless the parties agree otherwise. | Tenant |
| Sub-letting and assignment | Article 24 | Not permitted without the written consent of the landlord. | Tenant |
| Death of a party | Articles 27–28 | The contract is not terminated by the death of landlord or tenant; it continues with the heirs. | Both |
| Sale to a new owner | Articles 27–28 | Transfer of ownership does not affect the tenant’s right to continue to occupy. | Both |
Source: Law No. (26) of 2007 Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai, and Law No. (33) of 2008 amending it, as published on the Government of Dubai Legislation portal (dlp.dubai.gov.ae). Retrieved 18 August 2026. Article groupings are used where the portal text presents the provisions together. This table summarises the provisions and is not a substitute for the legislation itself.
Six Clauses Worth Reading Twice
These are the parts of a Dubai tenancy contract that most often differ from what the parties assumed, and the questions to ask about each.
Want a tenancy contract read properly before you sign it?
TruHauz reviews leases for landlords and tenants across Dubai — including how the payment structure works if you are weighing rent now, pay later against the traditional cheque system.
Three Layers, and Why People Confuse Them
Almost every Dubai rental argument is really an argument about which of these three layers a particular rule belongs to. Sorting that out first usually settles the question.
Fixed, and Not Yours to Waive
The ninety-day notice, automatic renewal on the same terms, written consent for sub-letting, the criteria against which rent is assessed, and the grounds and notice periods for eviction. These come from the statute. A contract clause that simply removes one of them is the clause to query before you sign.
Where the Law Says “Unless Agreed”
Several articles expressly defer to the parties — the ninety-day notice applies unless otherwise agreed, government fees fall to the tenant unless otherwise agreed, and improvements stay unless otherwise agreed. This is real negotiating space, and it is where reading the document carefully genuinely pays.
Habit, Not Obligation
The number of cheques, the size of the deposit, who pays commission, whether the unit comes furnished. None of this is prescribed by the articles above. It moves with supply and demand, which means it is negotiable in a soft market and much less so in a tight one.
پرسشهای متداول
The questions that come up most often about Dubai tenancy contracts, answered from the legislation.
General information, not legal advice. This guide summarises publicly available provisions of Dubai Law No. (26) of 2007 as amended by Law No. (33) of 2008, as published on the Government of Dubai Legislation portal and retrieved on 18 August 2026. Deliberately, no figure is given here for the customary security deposit, the number of rent cheques or the permitted rent-increase percentages: the first two are market convention rather than statute, and the third is set through the RERA rental index rather than by the articles described above. Individual contracts and cases turn on their own terms and facts, and provisions may be amended. Take qualified legal advice before signing, varying or terminating a tenancy.
Have the Lease Checked Before Signature
Whether you are letting a unit for the first time or renewing on terms you are not sure about, it takes very little time to check a tenancy contract against what the law actually requires — and a great deal of time to unwind one that was signed without that check. Send us the draft.
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