Most landlord problems in Dubai are not legal problems. They are calendar problems and paperwork problems — a notice served too late, a condition report never taken, a service-charge invoice nobody opened, a cheque banked three weeks after its date. This guide is deliberately built as a working checklist rather than an essay: five stages, each a list you can actually tick.
Where a step has legal weight — Ejari, notice periods, the rent cap, the deposit — the rule is stated with the mechanism behind it. Notice periods and grounds are fact-specific, so confirm your own position with the Dubai Land Department or a qualified adviser before you act on anything time-critical.
Stage 1 — Before You List
Work through this before a single photograph goes on a portal. Getting it right here is what makes the next four stages uneventful.
Ownership and compliance
- Title deed in hand, in the correct name, with the details matching what you will put on the tenancy contract.
- Service charges paid up to date. These are the owner's cost, not the tenant's — set per square foot against a budget RERA approves, collected through the Mollak escrow system.
- Any owners association restrictions checked: pets, short-term letting, occupancy limits. Some buildings prohibit holiday-home use outright.
- If you intend to let short-term rather than annually, confirm you can hold a holiday-home permit from Dubai's tourism regulator (DET, formerly DTCM) for that unit. It is a licensed activity, not an option you can exercise quietly.
Price and positioning
- Benchmark against live comparables in the same building or community, at the same bed count — not against what you achieved two years ago.
- Check the official RERA rental index on the DLD's channels or the Dubai REST app. It tells you where the market average sits, and it is the same reference that will cap your future increases.
- Decide your cheque policy before you market. Dubai rent is usually paid in one to four post-dated cheques; fewer cheques normally earn a better price, more cheques widen the tenant pool.
Condition and readiness
- Deep clean, AC serviced, all appliances tested, every light working.
- Snagging done: leaks, grouting, door and window seals, water pressure.
- DEWA account live in your name for viewings and voids, and settled.
- District cooling account status confirmed with the provider (Empower or similar), including how the fixed and consumption elements split between owner and tenant in your building — this varies, so do not assume.
- Keys, access cards, parking fobs, and remotes counted and logged.
Representation
- If you appoint an agent, check they hold a valid Broker Registration Number (BRN) and that the scope and fee are in writing. Leasing commission is customarily around 5% of the annual rent plus VAT — a market norm, not a fixed legal rate, so it is negotiable.
- If you want the whole cycle handled rather than just the letting, compare full management scopes; ours is set out in full.
Stage 2 — Tenant Onboarding
The window between accepting an offer and handing over keys is short, and almost every deposit dispute is decided by what you do — or fail to do — inside it.
Screen before you commit
- Passport, and Emirates ID or a valid UAE visa.
- Employment and income verified, proportionate to the rent.
- Cheques drawn on a UAE bank account in the tenant's own name.
- Previous landlord reference where one exists.
Get the contract right
- Use RERA's standard unified tenancy form (Form H). Do not accept a non-standard contract.
- Confirm it states: property details, annual rent, cheque structure and dates, deposit amount, the maintenance split with a value threshold, and restrictions on pets, smoking and subletting. Subletting without the owner's permission is a recognised ground for ending a tenancy — put it in writing.
- Record who registers Ejari and who pays for it, so nobody arrives at move-in day assuming the other side did it.
Register the Ejari
- Register the tenancy with RERA through the Dubai REST app, an approved typing centre, or your brokerage. Registration typically costs around AED 220.
- The landlord is legally responsible for making sure the tenancy is registered, even where the tenant drives the process because they need the certificate for DEWA and visa purposes.
- Keep the certificate. The Rental Dispute Centre generally expects a registered contract when a case is filed, and RERA's protections assume one.
Document the handover
- Dated photographic condition report of every room, appliance and surface, acknowledged by the tenant.
- Meter readings for DEWA and cooling recorded on the same day.
- Keys, cards and fobs handed over against a signed inventory.
- Move-in permit or NOC from the owners association arranged in advance — most towers require one.
- Deposit received and its amount and terms recorded in the contract. It is refundable at the end of the tenancy less agreed deductions for damage beyond fair wear and tear.
Stage 3 — During the Tenancy
The quiet stage, and the one where good habits compound.
Money
- Bank each post-dated cheque on its due date. Not early, not late.
- Keep a dated ledger of every payment received; it is your primary evidence in any dispute.
- If a cheque is returned, act in writing on day one rather than letting arrears build. Non-payment is a recognised ground for ending a tenancy, but only with a clean record behind it.
- Any mid-year change to the payment schedule goes in writing, with the cheques formally swapped. Verbal arrangements are unenforceable.
Property
- Give the tenant one clear reporting channel for maintenance, and respond to it.
- Honour the owner's side of the maintenance split — major and structural work generally sits with the owner, minor day-to-day upkeep with the tenant, but the contract governs the detail.
- Schedule AC servicing rather than waiting for a failure in August.
- Run a periodic inspection, commonly around the mid-point of the year, and record it. You are looking for water ingress, unauthorised alterations, and anything trending towards an expensive repair.
Admin
- Pay the annual service charge invoice on time, and read the approved budget while you are at it.
- Keep owners association correspondence in one place.
- Renew Ejari each year when the tenancy renews.
Stage 4 — Renewal
This is the stage where landlords most often lose income they were legally entitled to, purely on timing.
Diary the dates
- Set a reminder at least 120 days before expiry, so the 90-day notice is never tight.
- To change any material term at renewal — the rent, the cheque structure, other conditions — you must give the tenant at least 90 days' written notice before the contract expires, unless both parties agree otherwise. Miss it, and the tenancy typically renews on the same terms for another cycle.
Check what you may actually ask for
- Rent increases are capped by the RERA rental index under Decree No. 43 of 2013. The permitted increase depends on how far the current rent already sits below the market average: no increase within 10% of the average, then up to 5%, up to 10%, up to 15%, and a maximum of 20% once the gap exceeds 40%.
- The percentage applies to the tenant's current rent, not to the market average — a common and expensive mistake.
- Run the official calculator before you draft the notice. If it returns zero, the conversation is over before it starts.
Serve it properly
- In writing, before the 90-day mark, with proof of delivery retained.
- Re-register Ejari on the renewed terms.
- If you intend to recover the property on permitted legal grounds — for example selling or moving in yourself — the requirement is different and far longer: generally a 12-month notice served through a notary public or registered mail. Eviction grounds are specific and cannot be used as a workaround for the rent cap.
- If you cannot agree, the Rental Dispute Centre (RDC) under the Dubai Land Department is the venue, and its decisions are binding. Bring the Ejari-registered contract, payment records, and evidence of the notice served.
Stage 5 — Exit and Handover
Before the tenant leaves
- Confirm the tenant's notice against the contract. Our renting guide notes the common position that a tenant gives 60 days' notice before lease end to vacate without penalty — check what your own contract says.
- Book the move-out inspection for the day of vacating, not later.
- Remind the tenant to arrange the owners association move-out permit and to close and settle DEWA and cooling accounts.
On the day
- Repeat the move-in condition report, photograph for photograph, on the same rooms.
- Take final meter readings.
- Recover every key, access card, fob and remote against the original inventory.
- Confirm all tenant belongings removed and the unit professionally cleaned.
Settling up
- Compare move-in and move-out reports and prepare a written schedule of deductions, each supported by an invoice or quote.
- Deduct only for damage beyond fair wear and tear — repainting a normally-aged wall is not damage.
- Return the balance of the deposit promptly, with the schedule attached.
- Retain the full file — contract, Ejari, notices, ledger, both condition reports — for at least the period in which a claim could still arise.
Reset for the next tenancy
- Snag, service, clean, and re-photograph.
- Re-benchmark the rent against the index and live comparables before relisting.
- Review what went wrong last cycle and fix it in the next contract.
The Short Version
Register the Ejari. Photograph everything, twice. Bank the cheques on their date. Budget for the service charges as an owner cost. Diary the 90-day notice with a month to spare, and check the index before you ask for more rent. Landlords who do those six things rarely see the inside of the Rental Dispute Centre.
Binayah has been letting and managing Dubai property since 2007 as a RERA-certified brokerage. If you would rather hand the calendar to someone else, we manage the whole cycle for owners — and if you prefer to self-manage, this checklist is yours to work from.