Your rent is going up. What a Dubai landlord is actually allowed to do
The short answer
Under Decree No. 43 of 2013, a Dubai landlord may raise rent only within set bands: no increase where the rent is up to 10% below the average for similar units, rising in steps to 20% where it is more than 40% below. Any change at renewal needs at least 90 days notice before the contract expires.
A renewal notice arrives with a number on it and most tenants treat it as a decision that has already been made. It has not been. Dubai sets out both how much a rent may rise and how much warning has to be given, and the figure a landlord is entitled to is frequently lower than the one on the notice, and quite often nothing at all.
By House Of Orange editorial. A licensed Dubai real estate brokerage, ORN 49865, at The Opal Tower, Business Bay. About the firm
Key points
- The notice
- At least 90 days before the contract expires, for any change of terms including the rent
- The bands
- Decree No. 43 of 2013: nothing, then 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%, according to how far the current rent sits below the average for similar units
- The reference
- The Dubai Land Department's Smart Rental Index and its Rental Index calculator
- Eviction
- To end a tenancy at expiry: 12 months notice through a notary public or by registered mail, only on the grounds in the law
- Where disputes go
- The Rental Disputes Center at the Dubai Land Department
What decides whether a rent increase is lawful?
Both have to be satisfied. A landlord who gets the amount right and the notice wrong is in the same position as one who gave proper notice of a figure they were never entitled to ask for.
The notice, at least 90 days before renewal
Any change to the terms of a tenancy, the rent included, needs notice at least 90 days before the contract expires, unless both parties agree otherwise. This is not 90 days for the tenant to decide. It is 90 days before the tenancy renews. For a rent increase, the Dubai Land Department's guidance is that an increase notified later than that cannot be applied at that renewal.
The amount, within the index bands
A landlord may not ask for more than the figure the index allows. The permitted increase depends on how far the current rent sits below the average rent for similar units, measured by the Dubai Land Department's Smart Rental Index, which since 2025 classifies each building rather than only comparing an area. Where the rent is no more than 10% below that average, the permitted increase is zero.
What are the rent increase bands?
Decree No. 43 of 2013 sets five steps. The comparison is between the rent currently being paid and the average rent for similar units, as the Dubai Land Department's rent index measures it.
Up to 10% below the average: no increase
A tenant paying close to the going rate cannot lawfully be asked for more at renewal.
11% to 20% below the average: up to 5%
The first band in which any increase is permitted at all.
21% to 30% below the average: up to 10%
A gap of this size opens when rents rise around a tenancy that has not been reviewed.
31% to 40% below the average: up to 15%
The last band before the maximum.
More than 40% below the average: up to 20%
The maximum permitted in a single renewal. There is no band above it, whatever the gap.
| Current rent against the average for similar units | Maximum increase at renewal |
|---|---|
| Up to 10% below | None |
| 11% to 20% below | 5% |
| 21% to 30% below | 10% |
| 31% to 40% below | 15% |
| More than 40% below | 20% |
Why can the calculator return no increase at all?
Tenants expect the index to justify some increase and are surprised when it justifies none. The reason is that the index compares the rent being paid with the average for similar units, and a tenancy signed recently at the going rate leaves no gap for a band to apply to.
The gap opens over time and in one direction: a tenant who has stayed several years while rents rose around them. That is the situation the bands were written for, and it is why the steps get larger as the gap widens. It is also why a landlord who has kept a good tenant at a below-market rent for four years may be entitled to a meaningful increase, and one who signed a new tenancy last year at the going rate is entitled to nothing.
What can a landlord not do?
Two limits catch people out, and both come up more often than the increase itself.
A landlord cannot end a tenancy in order to rent the property out again at a higher rent. Ending a tenancy at expiry requires 12 months notice, served through a notary public or by registered mail, and only on the grounds set out in Dubai's tenancy law: demolition, major works that need the property empty, the owner or a first-degree relative moving in (the owner must show there is no suitable alternative property), or a sale. Wanting more rent is not one of them, and an owner who recovers a home to live in it cannot rent it to anyone else for two years.
And notice has to be served properly. An eviction notice must go through a notary public or by registered mail. A renewal or rent notice should also be in writing and kept, so the date it was served can be shown; a message, a phone call or a conversation in the lobby is hard to prove.
What should a landlord do at renewal?
The commercial answer and the lawful answer point the same way more often than owners expect. A tenant paying on time, in a property that has not been vacant since they moved in, is worth more than the increase the index would have permitted anyway. A void of even one month, plus the cost of re-marketing and a new commission, wipes out a great deal of a 5% rise.
Where an increase is properly available, the way to secure it is to serve notice on time and to show the working. A notice that arrives 90 days out with the calculator result attached is a different conversation from one that arrives late with a figure and no explanation.
We serve renewal notices on the date they are due for properties we manage, run the calculator on the actual unit rather than on a guess, and tell owners when the honest answer is that nothing is available this year. That is a less satisfying conversation than the alternative and a considerably cheaper one than losing a good tenant to a notice that was never enforceable.
What this page relies on
Laws, regulators and government services only. Each link carries the date we last read it against the text above.
- Decree No. (43) of 2013 Determining Rent Increase for Real Property
Dubai Legislation Portal
- Law No. (33) of 2008 Amending Law No. (26) of 2007 (notice, eviction grounds)
Dubai Legislation Portal
- Law No. (26) of 2007 Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants
Dubai Legislation Portal
- Rental Index (calculator)
Dubai Land Department
- The Smart Rent Index mitigates inflation in Dubai and enhances market transparency
Dubai Land Department
- About the Rental Disputes Center
Rental Disputes Center
Renting, answered straight
The questions that come up most often on this, with the figures rather than a brochure answer.
Only within the bands set by Decree No. 43 of 2013, which depend on how far your current rent sits below the average rent for similar units. Where the rent is up to 10% below that average, no increase is permitted at all. From there the permitted maximum rises in steps of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. The Dubai Land Department's Rental Index calculator returns the figure for a specific property.
A change to the rent or to any other term needs notice at least 90 days before the contract expires, unless both parties agree otherwise. For a rent increase, the Dubai Land Department's guidance is that an increase notified later than that cannot be applied at that renewal. Keep the notice and the envelope or the message it arrived in, because the date it was served is the fact in question.
Not in order to rent the property out again at a higher rent. Ending a tenancy at expiry requires 12 months notice, served through a notary public or by registered mail, and only on the grounds set out in Dubai's tenancy law, such as a sale or the owner moving in. An eviction notice given informally does not start the clock.
The Dubai Land Department's Rental Index calculator returns the rental increase and the average rent for a specific property once you enter the contract expiry date, the property type, the area, the number of rooms and the current annual rent. It is the reference point, and it is worth running before responding to a renewal notice rather than after.
Disputes go to the Rental Disputes Center at the Dubai Land Department, which has exclusive jurisdiction over rental disputes in Dubai. Cases are argued on documents, so keep the Ejari registration, the tenancy contract, the notice as it was served and the calculator result.
More on how Dubai property actually works.
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What we will tell you
- Which end of the district
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