Residents are required by –law to register for Ejari for both residential and commercial rental contracts.
Ejari is an online system created by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) in Dubai that is set in place to legalize and monitor the relationship between landlords and tenants. It provides security for tenant rights when it comes to disputes and rental prices. By law, all rental and lease contracts must be recorded in this portal. You may be wondering what the word ‘ejari’ means, it is actually the Arabic word for ‘my rent’.
If you do not register your contract with Ejari and a dispute arises, the Rental Dispute Centre will not be able to assist you. A registered contract is also necessary for those who wish to acquire residence visas for family members, and to apply for certain government services.
Some people choose not to register their contracts, but it’s worth it to pay Dh 175 to renew every year to get the government stamp on your rental contract.
1. Mandatory by law
The law No. 26 of 2007 states that it’s mandatory to register lease contracts with the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) in order to improve relations between tenants and landlords. This applies to both residential and commercial contracts.
2. It’s not expensive to register for Ejari
The cost to register for Ejari is only Dh 175 for the year, which is a small price to pay should a serious issue arise. No one ever thinks that something can happen to them, but when it does, you’ll be thankful you registered your lease to receive support.
To renew the lease tenants simply have to provide passport copies and Emirates ID, rental contract, DEWA bill and title deed of the property.
3. Who covers the registration cost?
RERA has not specified whether the landlord or tenant should be responsible to cover the registration cost. Usually the charge is billed to the tenant when property is being handled via a property management company.
4. Guaranteed rights
By registering for Ejari you guarantee the rights of all parties in the lease agreement, as once the agreement is registered its validity is automatically accepted by government agencies and recognized by the courts as eligible evidence.
5. Date used to compile the rent index
The Dubai property rent index is calculated based on Ejari registrations, which is updated every four months and provides the rates for rental levels by region for every unit and property type.
