Landlords in Dubai Require Legal Orders for their Rent Re-evaluation Requests

The Real Estate Regulatory Authority (“RERA”) set a new requirement recently for landlord who wish to apply for rent re-evaluation services in the Emirate of Dubai.

In a recent change from the previous practice of evaluating rents in the Emirate of Dubai, and starting from 1 April 2024, Landlords can apply to RERA for a rent re-valuation if they believe that they deserve a rent higher than the one indicated by the updated Rental Index, but they must attach a legal order or judgment to their re-evaluation request.

The previous practice required landlords only to pay a fee to the Land Department for rental valuations if they wish to adjust the market benchmark set by the outdated calculator, but with RERA’s new requirement, such requests must be accompanied with a supportive legal order.

According to RERA’s new requirement, Landlords who wish to apply for re-evaluation must submit their request through the Rental Dispute Centre (“RDC”) and file a case to obtain the necessary legal order. This requirement applies to all rent re-valuation requests submitted as of 1 April 2024 onwards.

RERA has updated its Rental Index in March 2024, allowing landlords to raise rents in line with rental growth in the Emirate of Dubai as per the RERA’s index, but cannot do that without a legal order. It is believed that this new shift in rental rules would provide better transparency to tenants and fairness in applying the rental benchmarks.

For more information, please contact Essa directly:

Essa Ziad Galadari Advocate essa@galadarilaw.com