When a Dubai Landlord Needs a Lawyer
This page is for owners and landlords of property in Dubai: rent that has not been paid, a tenant who has sublet or altered the property, a notice that has to be served in the right form, a tenancy you want to bring to an end, or a claim already filed against you.
Tenancies of property in Dubai run on Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, with permitted rent increases measured against RERA’s rent index under Decree No. 43 of 2013. What a landlord can do, and how quickly, turns on three things: what the tenancy contract says, what notice was served and how, and what can be evidenced. Most of these disputes are decided by the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre under Decree No. 26 of 2013, whose jurisdiction has defined exclusions.
In practice a landlord’s weak point is rarely the merits. It is the notice.
Jurisdiction: Dubai, UAE.
Discuss Your Property Matter
Tell us what has happened, the documents you hold and the dates involved. Our Dubai property law team will review the details and explain the options that may be open to you.
Overview
This page sets out the legal position of a landlord letting residential or commercial property in Dubai: recovering unpaid rent, dealing with breaches of the tenancy contract, the difference between eviction during the term and eviction on expiry, the three separate notice periods the law uses, deposits and end-of-tenancy claims, and how a claim runs at the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre. It is written for individual owners, corporate landlords and property managers. The framework is Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, Decree No. 43 of 2013 on rent increases, and Decree No. 26 of 2013 on the forum. What is available in a particular case depends on the tenancy contract, on the notices served and on the documents that exist, so nothing here decides an individual matter.
- Jurisdiction
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Who this page is for
- Landlords of residential and commercial property in Dubai, including corporate and non-resident owners
- Governing law
- Dubai Law 26/2007 as amended by Law 33/2008, with Decree 43/2013 on permitted rent increases
- Where it is heard
- The Rental Disputes Settlement Centre under Decree 26/2013, subject to the exclusions in Article 6
- Keep these
- Title deed, tenancy contract, Ejari registration, cheques and payment records, and every notice with proof of service
- What usually decides it
- Whether the correct ground was relied on, and whether notice was given in the required form and period
Unpaid Rent and Returned Cheques
Non-payment is the most common landlord matter, and the one most often lost on procedure rather than on the merits.
Article 25(1) of Law No. 26 of 2007 (as amended) lets a landlord seek eviction during the term where the tenant does not pay within 30 days of being served with a notice to pay, unless the parties have agreed otherwise. Three parts of that sentence do the work:
- The notice. It has to demand payment, identify what is owed, and be served through a Notary Public or by registered mail. A message from the agent or a letter left at the door is something to argue about, not something to rely on.
- The 30 days. The period runs from service, not from the date the rent fell due and not from the day the landlord decided to act. Filing before it has run is a routine reason a claim goes nowhere.
- “Unless otherwise agreed.” Some tenancy contracts set a different period. The contract is read before the statute, not after it.
A returned cheque is evidence that the rent was not paid, and the claim for the money is a civil matter for the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre. Whether any step beyond that is open in a particular case depends on the current law and the facts, and is not something to assume from older material still circulating online.
Rent keeps falling due while a dispute runs. A landlord’s claim is usually put as the arrears at the date of filing, the rent accruing to judgment, and possession, rather than as three separate actions.
Breaches of the Tenancy Contract
Beyond non-payment, Article 25(1) sets out grounds that turn on what the tenant does with the property. Each one is narrower than it first sounds.
Subletting without written consent
Subletting without the landlord’s written approval is a ground in its own right, and eviction may be sought against the tenant and the sub-tenant. What decides it is evidence of occupation by someone other than the tenant, together with the absence of written consent. Short-term holiday letting of a unit let on a residential tenancy usually raises this alongside licensing questions.
Unlawful use, or use contrary to public order or morals
This ground is serious and correspondingly narrow. It is not a route for a landlord who is unhappy with how the property is being used in a general sense.
Use other than as let
A residential unit run as a business, or a commercial unit used outside its permitted activity, engages this ground and often engages planning, building and land-use rules at the same time. Where a municipality or authority has taken a view, that record is usually the strongest part of the file.
Damage and alterations
Changes that put the safety of the property at risk and cannot be restored, and damage caused deliberately or through gross negligence, are grounds. Ordinary wear and tear is not. Article 19 requires the tenant to look after the property as an ordinary person would and not to alter it without consent and the necessary permits, and Article 21 requires it to be returned in the condition it was received, fair wear and tear excepted. Those two provisions are what a damage claim is actually built on.
Any other breach, not remedied
There is a further ground where the tenant fails to remedy a breach of the tenancy contract or of the law within 30 days of being notified. It is useful precisely because it is general, but it depends on the notice identifying the breach and asking for it to be put right.
Commercial premises carry one additional ground: being left unoccupied without valid reason for the periods the law specifies, unless the contract provides otherwise. Where the letting is commercial, our page on tenancy and lease agreements covers how the drafting affects what is available here.
Eviction During the Term: Article 25(1)
Article 25 is often summarised as containing four grounds for eviction. That is only the second half of it, and for a landlord acting mid-term it is the wrong half.
Article 25(1) allows a landlord to apply to evict a tenant before the contract expires. The grounds are: failure to pay within 30 days of a notice to pay; subletting without written consent; use for an unlawful purpose or one contrary to public order or morals; commercial premises left unoccupied without valid reason for the statutory periods; changes endangering the safety of the property that cannot be restored, or deliberate or grossly negligent damage; use other than as let, or in breach of planning, building and land-use rules; a Dubai Municipality technical report showing the property is at risk of collapse; failure to remedy a breach of the contract or the law within 30 days of notice; and demolition required by the competent authorities for redevelopment.
Notice under this paragraph is served through a Notary Public or by registered mail. There is no twelve-month notice here — that belongs to the expiry route below. There is no general ninety-day notice either — that belongs to changing terms at renewal.
A landlord who serves the wrong kind of notice for the ground being relied on generally has to start again. By then more rent has accrued, and in some cases the tenancy has renewed in the meantime.
Eviction on Expiry: Article 25(2)
Where there is no breach and the landlord simply wants the property back at the end of the term, Article 25(2) is the route, and it is deliberately narrow. The grounds are:
- the owner intends to demolish the property, reconstruct it, or add works that prevent the tenant using it — permits are required;
- the property needs restoration or comprehensive maintenance that cannot be carried out with the tenant in occupation, supported by a technical report from Dubai Municipality;
- the owner wants the property for personal use or for a first-degree relative, and must show they do not own another property suitable for that purpose;
- the owner wants to sell the property.
Notice must be given at least twelve months before the eviction date, through a Notary Public or by registered mail. This is the single most common failure point on the landlord side: a notice in the wrong form, or served less than twelve months before the date relied on, does not start the clock, and the period cannot be shortened by serving a second notice sooner.
There is a consequence attached to the personal-use ground. Under Article 26, a landlord who recovers the property for their own use may not let it to a third party for at least two years for residential property or three years for non-residential property, and a tenant who finds the property re-let within that period may ask the tribunal for fair compensation. Where the owner’s intention might change, that is worth thinking about before the notice is served rather than after.
The same rules read from the tenant’s side are set out on our page for tenants facing eviction and rent disputes, which is often worth reading before a notice goes out.
Rent Increases, Renewal and the Three Notice Periods
Three different notice periods appear in Dubai tenancy law. They are not interchangeable, and confusing them is the most expensive mistake a landlord makes.
- 30 days — Article 25(1). The time a tenant has to pay after a notice to pay, or to remedy a breach after being notified of it. It runs from service.
- 90 days — Article 14. The minimum notice before expiry for a party who wants to amend any term of the tenancy for the renewal period, the rent included, unless the parties agreed otherwise. Miss it and the contract generally renews on its existing terms.
- 12 months — Article 25(2). The minimum notice before the eviction date where the landlord relies on an owner-related ground at expiry.
On the amount, Decree No. 43 of 2013 caps the increase by reference to how far the current rent sits below the average market rent for a similar property, measured against RERA’s rent index: no increase where the rent is within 10% of the average, then 5%, 10%, 15%, and up to 20% once the gap passes 40%. Since January 2025 the Dubai Land Department has assessed those averages through the Smart Rental Index, which classifies buildings by condition, finish, location and services, so the benchmark for a specific building is not simply the community average. Where the parties cannot agree, Article 9 allows the tribunal to determine a fair rent using RERA’s criteria, market conditions and the state of the property.
A landlord who serves a valid notice in time and prices the increase inside the permitted band is in a strong position. One who does neither is usually looking at another year on the existing terms. The mechanics of the renewal itself are covered on our page on lease renewals and rent increases.
When a Tenant Will Not Leave
An expired notice does not by itself give a landlord possession, and self-help is not available. Changing the locks, removing belongings, or cutting off electricity, water or cooling to force a tenant out is not a remedy. It exposes the landlord to a claim in its own right and tends to damage an eviction case that would otherwise have succeeded.
The route is a claim at the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre and, where judgment goes the landlord’s way, enforcement through the Centre’s judgment enforcement function, which handles eviction orders as well as money judgments.
Silence has a cost. Under Article 6, a tenant who stays on after expiry without the landlord objecting renews the tenancy on the same terms for the same period or one year, whichever is shorter. A landlord who lets a term lapse while deciding what to do can find the tenancy has renewed underneath them.
Rent, service charges and utilities continue to run throughout, and those amounts are normally claimed in the same proceedings rather than left to a second case.
Deposits, Repairs and End-of-Tenancy Claims
Article 20 allows a landlord to take a security deposit to ensure the property is maintained, and requires it to be returned at the end of the tenancy. It is not a general fund for anything the landlord would like to recover.
A deduction has to attach to something identifiable: a breach, damage beyond fair wear and tear under Article 21, rent outstanding, or utilities the contract puts on the tenant. Article 22 places government fees and taxes connected with the tenant’s use of the property on the tenant unless the contract says otherwise, which occasionally settles an argument on its own.
Deposit disputes are decided on documents, and the documents that decide them are created at the start of the tenancy rather than at the end. A condition report and dated photographs at handover, matched by the same at check-out, put a landlord in a very different position from one who deducts a round figure and explains it afterwards. Contractor quotes and invoices are worth obtaining before the deduction, not after it is challenged.
Where making good costs more than the deposit, the balance is an ordinary claim and is usually pursued together with any rent outstanding rather than as a separate action.
On repairs during the tenancy, the starting point runs the other way: Article 16 makes the landlord responsible for maintenance and for repairing defects unless the contract says otherwise. Many Dubai tenancy contracts do say otherwise for minor items up to a stated value, which is why the contract is read first.
Filing at the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre
Nearly all Dubai landlord and tenant disputes are decided by the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre, which sits within the Dubai Land Department and was established by Decree No. 26 of 2013. Article 6 gives it exclusive jurisdiction over rent disputes between landlords and tenants of property in the Emirate, including in free zones, together with counterclaims, interim applications, appeals from its appealable decisions, and enforcement of its own judgments.
That jurisdiction has boundaries written into the same Article. It excludes rent disputes arising in free zones that have their own tribunals or special courts competent over disputes within their boundaries, disputes arising from lease finance contracts, and disputes arising from long-term lease contracts governed by Law No. 7 of 2006. A landlord whose property sits in a free zone with its own court, or whose arrangement is not an ordinary tenancy, settles the forum before filing rather than after.
How a landlord’s claim moves
- Registration and conciliation. The claim is registered and goes first to the Centre’s mediation and conciliation function. A settlement recorded there is binding and enforceable, which for a landlord chasing arrears is often the fastest useful outcome.
- First instance. If it does not settle, a tribunal made up of a judge and two members hears and decides it.
- Appeal. Whether a judgment can be appealed depends on the value and the subject matter. Under Decree No. 26 of 2013, judgments in claims below AED 100,000 are final except in defined situations, eviction among them, and the appeal period is short enough that the position is checked the week judgment is issued.
- Enforcement. The Centre enforces its own judgments, including eviction orders.
Proceedings run in Arabic and documents in other languages need legal translation. Registration of the tenancy matters too: Article 4 requires lease contracts to be registered, which in practice means Ejari. Timeframes vary with the type of claim, whether it settles at conciliation and whether it is appealed, so a fixed number of weeks is not something anyone can promise.
A fuller account of the forum and the procedure is on our rental disputes and RDC page.
Documents a Landlord Should Keep
Landlord claims are won on the file. Not every item below is needed in every case, and it is normal not to hold all of it, but this is what a matter is usually assembled from:
- The current tenancy contract and every earlier contract for the same property.
- The Ejari registration certificate.
- Title deed or other ownership documents, and, for a company or a representative, the trade licence, authority to act and any power of attorney.
- A rent ledger showing what was due, what was received and when.
- Cheques, including any returned cheque and the bank advice, and records of transfers.
- Every notice served, with the Notary Public attestation or the registered-mail receipt and tracking record.
- Correspondence with the tenant, the agent and the property manager, exported rather than screenshotted where possible.
- Handover, inspection, snagging and check-out reports, with dated photographs from both ends of the tenancy.
- Maintenance records, contractor quotes and invoices for anything being claimed.
- Service charge and utility statements where those amounts form part of the claim.
- A Dubai Municipality technical report where the ground relied on requires one.
- Evidence supporting an intended sale, personal use or redevelopment where the notice relies on it — permits, listing documents, or proof that no other suitable property is owned.
The last item is the one landlords most often leave until the hearing. Where an Article 25(2) ground is being relied on, the supporting evidence is part of the notice strategy, not an afterthought.
How a Landlord Matter Is Run
A first review is short. We read the tenancy contract and the ones before it, check what has been served and in what form, work out which periods have run and which have not, and identify the ground that is actually available rather than the one that sounds strongest. That usually produces one of three answers: serve a corrected notice and wait, file now, or settle.
Where a claim is the right step, the work is the notice, the schedule of arrears, the evidence bundle and the translation, then registration at the Centre and conciliation. Where a landlord is outside the UAE, a properly drafted power of attorney allows the matter to be run without travelling, provided it covers filing, settlement and enforcement rather than being a general form.
We will also say when a landlord does not have the case they think they have. A notice served in the wrong form, or an increase above the permitted band, is better identified before a filing fee is paid than at a hearing.
Related pages
- Tenant lawyer in Dubai — the same framework from the tenant’s side.
- Rental disputes and the RDC — the forum, procedure and jurisdiction in more detail.
- Lease renewals and rent increases — notice periods and the permitted increase.
- Tenancy and lease agreements — drafting and review before a dispute starts.
- Dubai landlord and tenant law — the underlying legislation explained.
To have a landlord matter looked at, send us the details: the property, the tenancy, what has been served and the dates involved. The legislation referred to on this page is published by Dubai Legislation.
Related Pages
A landlord question often runs into ownership, service charge or sale questions. These pages cover the neighbouring ground.
Landlord Questions We Are Asked Most Often
Thirty days from service of a notice to pay, under Article 25(1) of Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended, unless the tenancy contract sets a different period. The period runs from the date the notice is served through a Notary Public or by registered mail, not from the date the rent fell due. A claim filed before it has run is likely to be premature.
Only on one of the grounds in Article 25(1) — non-payment after a 30-day notice, subletting without written consent, unlawful use or use contrary to public order or morals, commercial premises left unoccupied for the statutory periods, safety-threatening alterations or deliberate or grossly negligent damage, use other than as let or in breach of planning rules, a Dubai Municipality report that the property risks collapse, failure to remedy a breach within 30 days of notice, or demolition required by the authorities. Wanting the property back is not a mid-term ground.
Twelve months, served through a Notary Public or by registered mail, and only on one of the Article 25(2) grounds: demolition or reconstruction, comprehensive maintenance that cannot be done with the tenant in place, use by the owner or a first-degree relative, or sale. The period cannot be shortened, and a second notice does not restart it any sooner.
For the statutory notices it is not what the law contemplates. Article 25 requires service through a Notary Public or by registered mail. Messages and emails are useful evidence of what the parties discussed, and they matter for showing a breach was raised, but they are not a substitute for service in the required form.
At renewal, with at least 90 days’ notice before expiry under Article 14 unless the contract says otherwise. The amount is capped by Decree No. 43 of 2013 by reference to how far the current rent sits below the average market rent for a similar property on RERA’s index — no increase within 10% of the average, then 5%, 10%, 15% and up to 20% once the gap passes 40%. Since January 2025 the averages are assessed through the Dubai Land Department’s Smart Rental Index, which grades buildings individually.
A claim at the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre, then enforcement of the judgment through the Centre if it is in your favour. Possession changes on an enforceable judgment, not on the date in the notice. In the meantime rent and utilities continue to fall due and are normally claimed in the same proceedings.
No. Self-help is not a remedy available to a landlord in Dubai, and interfering with the tenant’s use of the property is actionable in its own right. It also tends to damage an eviction case that would otherwise have been straightforward.
Only against something identifiable. Article 20 requires the deposit to be returned at the end of the tenancy, and Article 21 requires the property to be handed back as received, fair wear and tear excepted. A deduction supported by a check-in report, dated photographs and a contractor invoice is defensible; a round figure explained afterwards usually is not.
Article 26 prevents a landlord who has recovered the property for their own use from letting it to a third party for at least two years for residential property or three years for non-residential property. A former tenant who finds the property re-let within that period may ask the tribunal for fair compensation.
Subletting without the landlord’s written consent is an Article 25(1) ground, and eviction may be sought against both the tenant and the sub-tenant. The case rests on evidence of occupation by someone other than the tenant and on the absence of written consent, so it is worth gathering that before serving anything.
Under Article 16 the landlord is responsible for maintenance and for repairing defects during the term unless the tenancy contract says otherwise. Many Dubai contracts do shift minor repairs up to a stated value to the tenant, so the contract is read first and the statute fills the gaps.
At the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre, which under Article 6 of Decree No. 26 of 2013 has exclusive jurisdiction over rent disputes for property in Dubai including free zones. The same Article excludes rent disputes in free zones that have their own tribunals or special courts, disputes under lease finance contracts, and disputes under long-term leases governed by Law No. 7 of 2006. Where the property or the arrangement might fall into one of those, the forum is checked before filing.
Yes. A power of attorney, notarised and legalised for use in the UAE and translated into Arabic, allows the matter to be run without you travelling. It needs to cover the specific steps — serving notices, filing, settling and enforcing — rather than being a general form, and a company landlord will also need evidence of the signatory’s authority.
Official Legal Sources
The statements of law on this page rest on the following official sources:
- Law No. 26 of 2007 Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai — Dubai Legislation.
- Law No. 33 of 2008 amending Law No. 26 of 2007 — Dubai Legislation, including the amended Articles 25 and 26.
- Decree No. 43 of 2013 determining rent increases — Dubai Legislation.
- Decree No. 26 of 2013 concerning the Rent Disputes Settlement Centre — Dubai Legislation.
- Rental Disputes Settlement Centre — the Centre’s structure and procedure.
- Dubai Land Department — Ejari registration and the Smart Rental Index.
Legislation, fees and procedures change. Where a notice period, a fee or a date matters to a step you are about to take, check it against the official source or ask us to confirm the current position.
Disclaimer
The content provided here is for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the most current legal developments, verdicts, or settlements. DubaiPropertyLawyer.com disclaims all liability for any actions taken or not taken based on the content of this article. For legal advice specific to your situation, we encourage you to contact our expert legal consultants at DubaiPropertyLawyer.com.