Journal
The rules, written down plainly.
Short notes on Dubai tenancy. Free, dated, and corrected in public when they turn out to be wrong. No email required to read any of it.
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The ninety-day rule most tenants never check
A landlord who wants to change the terms of a renewal — the rent included — must give ninety days’ written notice before the tenancy expires. Not thirty. Not “a reasonable period”. Ninety.
Miss that and the consequence is not a warning: the tenancy renews on its existing terms. Which makes the first thing worth doing on any renewal notice the least exciting thing imaginable — counting the days between the date on the letter and the date the lease ends.
It is astonishing how often that count comes up short, and how rarely anyone runs it.
More notes
Everything else worth knowing.
Fees
Agency commission is customary, not statutory
The familiar five per cent plus VAT is a market convention, not a legal requirement. It is negotiable, it is often three to four, it does not arise when you deal with the owner directly, and it has no place on a renewal.
Cost
What a tenancy costs beyond the rent
Ejari registration, a refundable utilities deposit and activation charge, a security deposit of five or ten per cent depending on furnishing, and — the one that surprises people — district cooling, which can run into thousands a year on a one-bedroom.
Limits
There is no legal route to a reduction
The rules cap how far a rent may rise on renewal. They say nothing at all about lowering one. A reduction can be agreed; it can never be demanded. Confusing the two is the fastest way to lose the points you do hold.
Choosing
The cheapest listing is rarely the cheapest home
Advertised rent is one line in a total. Cooling charges, commission, parking and the cheque schedule move the real figure enough to reverse a shortlist — regularly by several thousand dirhams a year.
Agents
Check the licence before you pay anyone
An unlicensed agent cannot lawfully collect commission, and money handed over to one is not protected. The broker’s registration number can be verified in the official app in under a minute, and the regulator has a public helpline.
Disputes
What a dispute actually costs
Filing at the Rental Dispute Settlement Centre carries a fee calculated on the annual rent, with a floor and a ceiling, plus a government charge. No lawyer is required. Most matters conclude in about a month.
Long game
The rent you sign becomes the base for every renewal
Negotiate hard on a new lease and you widen the gap to the index — which permits a larger increase later. You are still far better off. But budget for it rather than being surprised by it in year two.
Market
Supply is arriving, unevenly
Tens of thousands of units are being handed over, and several communities have gone flat or softened on new leases while the wider market has kept rising. Which community you are in matters more than which year it is.
Method
Advertised is not transacted
Asking prices are a negotiating position. Recorded transactions are evidence. Any argument built on the first is answerable in one line; an argument built on the second is not.
Figures and rules are stated as at publication and can change. Verify anything you intend to rely on.
Notes when they are published.
Occasional, short, and only when something has actually changed.