In this note
When a landlord loses a case at the Rental Disputes Centre, it's rarely because they were wrong about the facts. More often, a notice went out too late, or went out the wrong way.
Dubai's tenancy law has three clocks that matter. Here they are, with the day each one counts from.
Counted from the day you serve the notice
Ending the tenancy
Serve notice 12 months before your lease end
Changing the rent or terms
Send them 90 days before your lease end
Unpaid rent
Serve notice as soon as rent is overdue
How to serve each, and what the law does next
Ending the tenancy
12 months before the date you want the tenant to leave, which can't fall before the lease ends.
How: notary public or registered mail, with one of the four legal reasons.
Then: take a home back for your own use, and you can't rent it to someone else for 2 years.
Changing the rent or terms
90 days before the lease ends, unless your contract says otherwise.
Good practice: start talking about four months before your lease end.
How: in writing you can prove was received.
If late: you can still ask, but the tenant doesn't have to agree.
Unpaid rent
How: notary public or registered mail. A WhatsApp reminder, an email or a call doesn't start the clock.
Then: from day 31, you can file at the Rental Disputes Centre.
At the lease end
If the tenant stays on and you haven't objected, the lease renews on the same terms, for the same term or one year, whichever is shorter.
Law: Dubai Law No. 26 of 2007, Article 6; Law No. 33 of 2008, Articles 14, 25 and 26; read on 27 October 2026. The four-month conversation is Hazel's practice, not the law. General information, not legal advice.
Show the deadlines(5 steps)
| Step, and the rule it follows | When |
|---|---|
| Notice to end the tenancy12 months before the date you want the tenant to leave, which can't fall before the lease ends. By notary public or registered mail, with one of the four legal reasons. | 12 months before your lease end |
| Start the renewal conversationGood practice, not the law. | About 4 months before your lease end |
| New rent or termsUnless the contract says otherwise. In writing you can prove was received. | 90 days before your lease end |
| Lease endsIf the tenant stays on unopposed, the lease renews on the same terms, for the same term or one year, whichever is shorter. | Your lease end |
| Demand for unpaid rentThe tenant has 30 days to pay after the notice; you can file from day 31. By notary public or registered mail. | As soon as rent is overdue |
| Dates worked out from your lease end fall one day inside each limit, so acting on the date is in time. | |
1. Changing the rent or terms: 90 days
If you want a different rent or different terms at renewal, you must tell the tenant at least 90 days before the lease ends, unless your contract says otherwise. Any increase is still capped by the RERA rental index.
Miss the 90 days and you can still ask, but the tenant doesn't have to agree. If they stay on after expiry and you haven't objected, the lease renews automatically, on the same terms, for the same term or one year, whichever is shorter.
I start renewal conversations about four months out. That way the 90-day line is never the first time anyone hears about it.
2. Unpaid rent: 30 days, but only after a proper notice
If rent goes unpaid, you can seek eviction once the tenant has had 30 days to pay after you serve a notice asking for payment. The same 30 days apply to other breaches of the contract.
The notice is the part landlords get wrong. It must go through a notary public or by registered mail. A WhatsApp reminder, an email or a call from your agent does not start the 30-day clock.
Get the notice right and the odds are on your side. Of nearly 32,000 non-payment eviction cases landlords brought between January 2024 and September 2026, 99% were granted.
3. Ending the tenancy: 12 months, and a reason you can prove
At the end of a lease you can only require the tenant to leave for one of four reasons:
- You're selling the property.
- You or a first-degree relative will live in it. You must show you don't own another suitable property.
- It needs restoration that can't be done with the tenant in place, backed by a Dubai Municipality technical report.
- It's being demolished or rebuilt, with permits.
Each needs 12 months' notice before the date you want the tenant to leave, served through a notary public or by registered mail. That date can't fall before the lease ends. If you want the tenant out when the lease ends, the notice has to go at least 12 months before that. And if you take a home back for your own use, you can't rent it to someone else for two years.
This is where landlords lose. Of 1,702 cases on these grounds decided since 2024, about one in eight was refused.
- Nearly half of the refusals came down to the notice itself. It wasn't sent by notary or registered mail, or the full 12 months hadn't passed.
- Most of the rest came down to proof. A typical example is an own-use claim with no certificate showing the landlord owns no other suitable property.
Source: Rental Disputes Centre first-instance verdicts in cases brought by landlords, 1 January 2024 to 30 September 2026. Grounds and outcomes were extracted from the published Arabic verdicts; a sample of refusal reasons was checked against the original text. Refused: the claim was denied; cases dismissed are counted apart, in the table. Left out: 5,354 no ground identified and 687 other grounds (6,041 cases whose ground could not be matched to one of these). Demolition (43 cases) is in the table: grounds with fewer than 100 cases are not charted. Rentinit analysis.
Show the numbers(8 grounds)
| Ground | Law 33/2008 | Cases | Granted | Refused | Dismissed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| During the lease | |||||
| Unpaid rent | Art. 25(1)(a) | 31,983 | 98.7% | 1.2% | 0.0% |
| Subletting without approval | Art. 25(1)(b) | 1,211 | 84.1% | 15.3% | 0.6% |
| At the lease end, on 12 months’ notice | |||||
| Restoration | Art. 25(2)(b) | 117 | 59.0% | 41.0% | 0.0% |
| DemolitionNot charted: under 100 cases | Art. 25(2)(a) | 43 | 83.7% | 16.3% | 0.0% |
| Own or family use | Art. 25(2)(c) | 601 | 88.0% | 11.5% | 0.5% |
| Sale | Art. 25(2)(d) | 941 | 90.0% | 9.0% | 0.7% |
| All four together | 1,702 | 12.3% | |||
| No ground identified, left out | 5,354 | The ground could not be matched to one above | |||
| Other grounds, left out | 687 | The ground could not be matched to one above | |||
The three notices at a glance
| Notice | When | How to serve it | What it should state |
|---|---|---|---|
| New rent or terms at renewal | At least 90 days before expiry | Writing you can prove was received; a notary or registered mail is safest | The proposed rent or terms, and the date they start |
| Demand for unpaid rent | As soon as rent is overdue | Notary public or registered mail | The amount owed, the period, and that the tenant has 30 days to pay |
| Notice to end the tenancy | At least 12 months before the eviction date | Notary public or registered mail | The legal reason, the eviction date, and the property and contract details |
Notices that end a tenancy are worth getting right the first time. If one fails, the 12 months start again.
How Hazel helps
I track the lease dates on the units you link to me, so the 12-month and 90-day lines don't sneak up on you. When you need a notice, I draft it with the right reason, dates and contract details, and remind you how it has to be served.
Add your property, and I'll reach out on WhatsApp to track every deadline on it, from the 90-day line to the 12-month notice.
Sources, and how Hazel checked them
- Law:
- Dubai Law No. 26 of 2007, Article 6 (automatic renewal).
- Law No. 33 of 2008:
- Articles 13–14: renewal terms and the 90-day notice.
- Article 25: eviction grounds, 30-day and 12-month notices, and the method of service.
- Article 26: two years before re-letting after an own-use eviction.
- Decree No. 43 of 2013: rent increase caps.
- Texts read on 27 October 2026.
- Case data: first-instance Rental Disputes Centre verdicts in cases brought by landlords, January 2024 to September 2026.
- Grounds and outcomes were extracted from the published Arabic verdicts.
- A sample of refusal reasons was checked against the original text.
General information about Dubai residential tenancies, not legal advice. For a specific dispute, speak to a lawyer.