Technical article

Renting in Dubai: Ejari, the Rental Index and How Much Rent Could Rise

They want to know what these are, and whether they protect a tenant.

By Neil Solomon · 4 min read

Picture a couple named Steve and Margaret. Both are 66. They plan to rent an apartment in Dubai for a year, and they have heard two words again and again. Ejari. Rental Index. They want to know what these are, and whether they protect a tenant.

I read the Dubai Land Department pages, the UAE government portal, and the text of the Dubai rent decree. The pages explain some parts well. Other parts, such as fees, they do not give.

Ejari: the registration of the lease

The Dubai Land Department tenancy guide says "the registration of tenancy contracts through EJARI is mandatory." It applies to lease contracts for all property types in Dubai. The guide adds that, under Law No. 26 of 2007, courts and government bodies may not consider a lease dispute unless the contract is registered.

The UAE government portal says leases "must be registered by the respective authority in each emirate", and that registration is needed to connect utilities. It says that in Dubai the landlord registers with the Dubai Land Department. It also says tenants pay a housing fee of 5% of yearly rent.

To sign a lease, the portal says a tenant needs "a valid residence visa and Emirates ID", plus a passport copy. It says the tenant provides "post-dated cheques covering payments for the agreed lease period."

The Ejari registration fee: Not stated on an official page. The tenancy guide did not state an amount.

The Rental Index

The Land Department describes the Rental Index as a service to "calculate the rental increase and the average rental in the real estate market." You enter:

• the tenancy contract's expiry date
• the property type
• the area
• the number of rooms
• the current annual rent

The result shows right away. The page lists no fee for this service.

How much rent could rise: Decree No. 43 of 2013

The decree ties the maximum increase at renewal to how far the current rent sits below the average rent for similar units. It says the average comes from the "Rent Index of the Emirate of Dubai", which the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) must approve.

One caution. The decree's wording of the cutoffs is uneven in the version I read, so the exact edges of each band are not entirely clear. The Land Department's own tenancy guide gives the same range, from 0% to 20%. For a real case, the Rental Index calculator on the Land Department site is the official way to get the figure.

Notice and timing

The tenancy guide says a party who does not want to renew, or wants to change the terms, must give notice "no less than ninety (90) days before the date on which the Lease Contract expires", unless the parties agree otherwise. It also says rent cannot be raised within two years of the original contract's start. That second point comes from a summary of the guide, so I mark it as my reading and not a quote.

For a landlord who wants a tenant to leave at the end of the contract, the guide says the 2008 amendment requires notice of the reasons "twelve (12) months prior to the date set for eviction." For unpaid rent, it says the landlord may seek eviction if rent is not paid "within thirty (30) days from the date of service of Notice to pay."

What is left open

• The Ejari registration fee amount.
• The size of a security deposit. The guide says a landlord may take one and must refund it, and gives no amount.
• How the rules apply to short-term rentals of under a year.
• Rental rules in the other emirates.