Ejari: how a Dubai tenancy contract is registered, what it costs, and what the law actually requires

Legal information, not legal advice. Mohamy.ai is not a law firm and is not licensed to practise law or to provide legal consultancy in the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Egypt. This page describes the law of Dubai, United Arab Emirates in general terms as it stood on 16 August 2026. It is not advice about your situation, and reading it does not create a lawyer and client relationship. Before you act, and especially if a deadline may be running, consult a lawyer licensed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Ejari is the Dubai Land Department system used to register a tenancy contract for property in the Emirate of Dubai, and registering is required by Article 4(2) of Dubai Law No. 26 of 2007, as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008. It costs AED 177.75 through the Dubai REST app or the Department's website and AED 220 at a Real Estate Services Trustee Centre, and the Department publishes no deadline for doing it.

Two things on this page are not on the law firm pages that rank for this question, and both come straight from the instruments:

1. The sentence everyone quotes, that a court will not hear a dispute on an unregistered lease, is from the 2007 text of Article 4, which was replaced in 2008. It is not in the law in force. What replaced it is a bare obligation to register, with no stated consequence. Section 2 quotes both.
2. The fee is a stack of four separate charges, not one fee, and the two published totals differ by exactly the service partner's cut. Section 5 shows the arithmetic.

Scope, stated once and meant. Ejari is Dubai only. There is no federal UAE tenancy registration system and no federal UAE tenancy law. Abu Dhabi runs a different regime under a different law with a different forum. See section 12. If your property is not in Dubai, nothing on this page applies to you.

1. What Ejari actually is

Ejari is an administrative system, not a statute. FACT: the word "Ejari" appears zero times in Dubai Law No. 26 of 2007 and zero times in Law No. 33 of 2008. I searched both official English texts and both Arabic originals (S1, S2, S3, S4).

What the law does is impose the obligation and name the registrar. Article 4(2), as amended, requires every lease contract governed by the law, and every amendment to one, to be registered with RERA, the Real Estate Regulatory Agency. Ejari is the system through which the Dubai Land Department and RERA take that registration, and the Department publishes the procedure, the fee and the required documents as a government service (S5).

UNVERIFIED: I could not locate any Dubai legislative instrument that names the Ejari system. Its statutory hook is Article 4(2) as amended, and the power to issue implementing regulations sits with the Chairman of the Executive Council under Article 36 as amended by Law 33/2008. If you need the instrument that constitutes Ejari itself, ask a licensed lawyer to trace it. We do not have it.

What you receive at the end is a document the Department calls the e-Contract Registration Certificate (S5). In Arabic it is شهادة تسجيل العقد الإلكترونية.

2. The registration obligation, quoted, and the sentence that is no longer there

This is the part that matters most, so it is quoted rather than summarised.

FACT. Article 4 of Law No. 26 of 2007 was superseded in full. Article 1 of Law No. 33 of 2008 reads: "Articles (2), (3), (4), (9), (13), (14), (15), (25), (26), (29), and (36) of the Original Law are hereby superseded by the following". Eleven articles, and Article 4 is one of them (S2).

The text in force today

Article 4 of Law No. 26 of 2007, as replaced by Law No. 33 of 2008, official English (S2):

1. The contractual relationship between a Landlord and a Tenant will be regulated by a Lease Contract which includes a description of the leased Real Property that leaves no room for uncertainty; the purpose of the lease; the term of the Lease Contract; the Rent and its payment method; and the name of the Real Property owner if the Landlord is not the owner.

2. All Lease Contracts related to Real Property which is governed by the provisions of this Law, and any amendments thereto, will be registered with RERA.

The governing Arabic of the same clause (S4), because the Arabic prevails over the English translation:

2. تسجل لدى المؤسسة كافة عقود الإيجار المتعلقة بالعقارات الخاضعة لأحكام هذا القانون وأية تعديلات تطرأ على تلك العقود.

That is the whole of the obligation. It says contracts will be registered. It does not name which party must do it, it sets no time limit, and it states no penalty.

The text that was replaced, and why you keep reading it online

Article 4(2) as originally enacted in 2007, official English (S1):

2. All Lease Contracts related to Real Property which is subject to the provisions of this Law and any amendments thereto will be registered with RERA. Judicial authorities and Government departments, authorities, and corporations may not consider any dispute or claim or otherwise take any action relating to a Lease Contract unless such Contract is registered with RERA in accordance with the relevant rules and regulations.

The Arabic original of that repealed clause (S3):

وعلى جميع الجهات القضائية والدوائر والهيئات والمؤسسات الحكومية عدم النظر في أية دعوى أو مطالبة أو تنفيذ أي إجراء يستند فيه لعقد إيجار ما لم يكن ذلك العقد مسجلاً لدى المؤسسة وفق الأحكام والضوابط التي توضع لهذا الغرض.

The bolded sentence is not in the law in force. It was in the 2007 text, Law 33/2008 replaced Article 4 in full, and the replacement omits it. FACT, verified in all four documents, English and Arabic, both hashed.

What this does and does not mean. It does not mean registration is optional: Article 4(2) as amended still requires it, and it is still the law. It means that the specific consequence people repeat, that no authority may look at your claim, no longer appears in the statute. Whether the Rental Disputes Centre will register a claim on an unregistered contract is a separate question, decided by that Centre's own filing requirements and by the facts. Section 9 sets out what the Centre publishes and what we do not know.

A rule for reading anything else you find on this topic. Dubai does not publish a consolidated version of this law. Anyone quoting Article 4 has to consolidate the 2007 law with the 2008 amending law by hand, and most do not. If a page quotes Article 4 with the bar sentence in it, it is quoting a repealed text.

3. Which contracts are covered, and which are outside the law

Article 3, as replaced by Law No. 33 of 2008, official English (S2):

The provisions of this Law will apply to land and Real Property leased out in the Emirate, excluding Real Property provided free of Rent by natural or legal persons as accommodation for their employees.

FACT. So on the face of the current text, the law reaches land and real property let in Dubai, whatever the use, and carves out only one thing: accommodation an employer provides to its staff at no rent. If your employer charges you rent, the carve out does not apply on its terms.

FACT, and worth knowing because it changes the answer for one group: the 2007 version of Article 3 also excluded hotel establishments and expressly named vacant and agricultural land. The 2008 replacement drops the hotel establishments exclusion. UNVERIFIED: how that omission is treated in practice for hotel apartments and serviced units. This is a real question with money attached and it is one to put to a licensed lawyer, not to a blog.

4. What your contract must contain before you try to register it

Article 4(1) as amended gives you a five item checklist, and the registration will be taken against the contract you present, so this is worth doing before you queue.

The Arabic of the same clause uses the phrase وصفاً نافياً للجهالة for item 1, which is the standard formulation in Emirati contract drafting and is stronger than "a description": it means a description that removes uncertainty as to the thing itself (S4).

FACT, and it changed in 2008: the 2007 text required a written contract signed by both parties, and required the name of the owner unconditionally, plus the number and type of the land and the area where the property is located. The 2008 replacement does not use the words written or signed, drops the land number and type and the area, and narrows the owner's name to the case where the landlord is not the owner (S1, S2). Do not read that as permission to have an unwritten tenancy. As a matter of process, the Department's own service requires you to produce the Unified Tenancy Contract, on paper at a trustee centre or as a copy through the app (S5), so in practice a signed written contract is what the system consumes.

The Department publishes the Unified Ejari Tenancy Contract template itself, as a PDF dated 07 September 2022, at dubailand.gov.ae under Services, Ejari Templates (S9). If your landlord hands you a bespoke contract, the unified form is the one the system is built around.

5. The fee, with the arithmetic

FACT, from the Dubai Land Department's own service page for Register / Renew Tenancy Contract, retrieved 2026-08-16 (S5). The page footer records the site as last updated 05 August 2026.

Route A. Dubai REST app or the Department's website

Check: 100 + 10 + 10 + 55 + 2.75 = 177.75. The components sum exactly to the total the Department prints.

Route B. Real Estate Services Trustee Centre

FACT: the Department publishes the four components above and the total of AED 220. It prints the trustee service partner fee as "AED 95 + VAT" and does not print the VAT figure on the English page.

ESTIMATE, my arithmetic and not a published figure: at the standard rate of 5%, VAT on AED 95 is AED 4.75, which makes the components sum to AED 219.75, and the Department prints AED 220. The 5% is the standard rate of value added tax in the UAE under Article 3 of Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on Value Added Tax, as consolidated with Federal Decree-Law No. 18 of 2022. It is also consistent with the Department's own AED 2.75 on AED 55 on the online route, which is exactly 5%.

What the difference between the two routes actually is

It is entirely the service partner's cut. The government components are identical in both routes: AED 100 plus AED 10 plus AED 10 in each. Only the partner fee moves, from AED 55 to AED 95, and the VAT moves with it.

• On the published totals, which is the FACT: 220 minus 177.75 = AED 42.25.
• ESTIMATE, my arithmetic on the components: (95 minus 55) plus (4.75 minus 2.75) = AED 42.00.

The 25 fils between those two answers is the Department printing AED 219.75 as AED 220 on the trustee route. It is not a separate charge.

One divergence between the Department's own two pages, recorded because you may see it. The English page prints the trustee service partner fee as "AED 95 + VAT" and does not quantify the VAT. The Arabic page prints the same line with the VAT quantified as AED 2.75, the same figure it uses for the online route, and still prints the total as AED 220. On the Arabic figures the components sum to AED 217.75, which is AED 2.25 short of the printed total; on the English figures plus VAT at 5% they sum to AED 219.75, which the Department prints as AED 220. FACT as to what both pages print, verified 2026-08-16 by two people independently. Treat the printed total of AED 220 as the number you will be charged, and ask for an itemised receipt.

Fees are indicative. Government fees change without notice and this page is only as current as its verification date. The Department publishes the fee on the service page for Register / Renew Tenancy Contract at dubailand.gov.ae. Check it there before you budget.

6. The three channels, and which one you are actually allowed to use

This is the part that decides your afternoon, and the Department states it as service terms rather than as advice (S5). Read the middle column first, because the channel is chosen for you by the facts.

Three consequences that are not obvious from that table:

• If your building is managed by an agency, you are not going to the trustee centre. The Department's first service term for the trustee route excludes property managed by a real estate company or by an owner with Ejari access. In that case registration runs through the manager's own Ejari access.
• If your landlord is a company, the app route is closed to you. The app requires both parties to be individuals.

The Department's own page is not internally consistent on this point. The Service Terms for the app say the tenant and landlord must be individuals. The Required Documents for the app say the copy of the Unified Tenancy Contract is "for individuals and companies only". FACT as to what the page prints, verified 2026-08-16. We have not been able to reconcile the two. If your landlord is a company, try the app, and expect to be sent to the Ejari system or a trustee centre if the Service Terms are what the system enforces.

• A power of attorney issued in Dubai can be entered by number. One issued in another emirate must be attached (S5). That single line saves a second trip.

Steps, as the Department publishes them. Trustee centre: visit the nearest Real Estate Trustee Centre or the property management company if the property is managed by one; submit the required documents; an employee reviews and approves the request in the system; pay and collect the receipt; receive the e-Contract Registration Certificate. App or Ejari system: log in and select the service; fill in the information and upload the documents; pay; an employee reviews and approves; the certificate arrives by email (S5).

Payment methods accepted: credit card, cash, Noqodi wallet (S5).

7. Getting a copy of the certificate later

The Department runs a public Download Rental Certificate (Ejari) service. FACT, from the form itself, retrieved 2026-08-16 (S7): it asks for the Ejari contract number plus either the DEWA premise number or the municipality number and sub number, behind a captcha.

Practical consequence: keep the Ejari contract number where you can find it, because the alternative identifier is a utility or municipality reference you may not have to hand when you need the certificate at short notice.

8. Renewal, and cancellation

Renewal is the same service. The Department's service is titled Register / Renew Tenancy Contract, and the fee table above is the fee table for a renewal too (S5). A renewal is a new registration, not an amendment to the old one. Note separately that Article 4(2) as amended requires amendments to a lease contract to be registered as well, not only the original contract.

Cancellation. FACT, from the Department's Cancel Tenancy Contract service page, retrieved 2026-08-16 (S6):

ESTIMATE, my arithmetic and not a published total: at the standard rate of 5%, AED 40 plus VAT is AED 42. The 5% is the standard rate of value added tax in the UAE under Article 3 of Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on Value Added Tax, as consolidated with Federal Decree-Law No. 18 of 2022. The Department prints "AED 40 + VAT" and prints no total, so treat AED 42 as indicative.

The service is described as being for a tenancy contract that has expired, for a property that has been vacated. Documents at a trustee centre: the original Unified Tenancy Contract, which is cancelled unless the contract is still active, in which case it must be presented; the applicant's Emirates ID presented; an official power of attorney presented if the applicant is a representative; and, if the contract is still active, a letter from the property owner requesting cancellation (S6). That last requirement is the one that catches people who are leaving early.

Any earlier figure you may have seen from us for a cancellation, including AED 110, was unsourced and has been removed.

9. Is there a deadline? And what happens if the contract is not registered?

These are the two questions this page gets asked, and the honest answers are shorter than you want.

The deadline

Registration is required. We have not been able to verify a statutory deadline or a specific late registration penalty from a primary source, so register as soon as the contract is signed and check the current position with the Dubai Land Department.

For transparency about how hard we looked, because absence of evidence is worth showing: Article 4(2) as amended sets no period; I searched both official English texts and both Arabic originals of Law 26/2007 and Law 33/2008 and found no registration deadline and no registration penalty; and the Department's own service page for Register / Renew Tenancy Contract publishes procedures, documents, fees, service time and service terms, and no deadline (S1 to S5). The widely repeated "30 days from signing" has no primary source we can find. We are not going to print it, and you should be sceptical of any page that does without naming the instrument.

Non registration

Registration is required, and many government and utility services ask for the certificate. We have not verified a specific penalty from a primary source. The effect of non registration on a dispute depends on the facts and on the Rental Disputes Centre's view.

What we can state, sourced, is what the Centre publishes about filing. FACT, from the Rental Disputes Centre's own service page for Register First Instance Lawsuit (Rental), retrieved 2026-08-16 (S8), the required documents begin:

1. A copy of latest lease (Ejari).

The rest of the published list is: a copy of the Emirates ID for individuals, or for a company the commercial licence and photo ID of the manager or owner; a bank letter or statement showing the claimant's IBAN; and, in an eviction claim, a copy of the notarised notice with the notification officer's report, or registered post with the acknowledgement receipt. Every document must be submitted in Arabic or legally translated into Arabic, and uploaded through the Centre's website, because no hard copies are accepted (S8).

Read that as what it is: a filing requirement published by the forum, and item 1 on it is the registered lease. It is not a statement that an unregistered tenant has no rights, and we are not making that claim. What the Centre does with a claim filed without item 1 is not something we can source, and it is exactly the point at which you want a licensed lawyer rather than a web page.

Recall from section 2 that the statutory sentence which used to bar authorities from considering an unregistered lease was replaced in 2008. So the current position is a published filing requirement plus an unpublished practice, not a statutory bar. That distinction matters if you are already in a dispute.

What it costs to be in that forum, since the question follows immediately

FACT, fees published by the Centre (S8): 3.5% of the annual rent or lease value for eviction, lease renewal, rent claims, termination of a lease in force, and return to premises previously evicted for demolition and reconstruction, subject to a floor of AED 500 and a ceiling of AED 20,000. For monetary claims, 3.5% of the amount claimed, floor AED 500, ceiling AED 15,000. Plus AED 100 process service, AED 10 knowledge, AED 10 innovation, and AED 25 to register a power of attorney if you use one. If you file through a trustee centre instead of the website, add a partner fee of AED 130 plus VAT.

Worked example, annual rent AED 90,000, filing an eviction claim through the Centre's website:

• 3.5% of 90,000 = AED 3,150. Inside the AED 500 to AED 20,000 band, so it stands unadjusted.
• Process service AED 100, knowledge AED 10, innovation AED 10.
• Total AED 3,270.
• Filed through a trustee centre instead, add AED 130 plus 5% VAT of AED 6.50, so AED 3,406.50.
• No power of attorney assumed. Add AED 25 if you use one.

The arithmetic is mine; every rate and cap in it is from S8. That is roughly 3.6% of a year's rent to walk through the door, which is usually the number that decides whether a dispute is worth having.

10. If the landlord will not register, or the registration is stuck

Two factual points first, because they change what the problem is.

Article 4(2) as amended says lease contracts "will be registered with RERA". FACT: it does not say by whom. I found no provision in Law 26/2007 as amended that allocates the duty to the landlord or to the tenant. UNVERIFIED: whether any DLD or RERA administrative instrument allocates it. Anyone telling you flatly that it is the landlord's legal obligation should be asked for the article.

Second, the trustee centre route is expressly framed around the tenant as applicant. FACT (S5): the service terms for registration through a Real Estate Trustee Office require that "the applicant must be the tenant or a legal representative with an official power of attorney", that the landlord must be the owner or a representative with a power of attorney, and that the property must not be managed by a real estate company or by an owner who has Ejari system access. So in the ordinary case of an individual owner who does not use Ejari himself, the channel design contemplates the tenant walking in with the original Unified Tenancy Contract and an Emirates ID.

And then, on the dispute itself:

Registration disputes between a landlord and a tenant are handled by the Dubai Land Department and, if unresolved, the Rental Disputes Centre. What applies to you depends on your contract and the facts. Speak to a licensed lawyer.

For completeness on the forum: the law as amended refers throughout to "the Tribunal", defined in Article 2 as amended as the Special Tribunal to Determine Disputes between Landlords and Tenants (S2), in Arabic اللجنة القضائية الخاصة للفصل في المنازعات بين المؤجرين والمستأجرين (S4). Rental claims in Dubai are today filed at the Rental Disputes Centre, which publishes its own procedures and fees (S8). UNVERIFIED: the instrument that established the Centre. It is reported to be Dubai Decree No. 26 of 2013, which we have not obtained, and we do not cite instruments we have not read.

11. What Ejari is not

• Not proof of ownership. The title deed is a Land Department instrument of a different kind. An Ejari certificate records a tenancy.
• Not a rent cap ruling. Registration does not decide whether an increase your landlord proposes is lawful. Increase caps in Dubai sit in Decree No. (43) of 2013, which we reference here but do not quote, because we have not verified its text against a primary source on this page. That is a different question with a different answer and this page does not answer it. Do not assume the answer from anything on this page.
• Not a visa, and not a residence permit. Immigration is federal and a different regime entirely.
• Not a substitute for reading your own contract. Registration records what you signed. It does not improve it.

12. If your property is not in Dubai

There is no federal UAE tenancy law and no federal registration system, so "UAE tenancy registration" is not a thing that exists. Each emirate has its own regime.

Abu Dhabi. ESTIMATE, recorded from the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department's published page as noted in our internal source pack on 2026-08-16 and not verified by us against a pinned primary source: rental disputes between landlord and tenant in Abu Dhabi are reported to go to rental dispute settlement committees and to be decided under Abu Dhabi Law No. 20 of 2006 regulating the relationship between lessors and lessees in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi's registration system is separate from Ejari and is commonly called Tawtheeq. ESTIMATE on the name and UNVERIFIED as to its current rules, fees and requirements: we have not obtained a primary source for Abu Dhabi registration, and we do not have an official published text of Law 20/2006. We will not state Abu Dhabi rules until we do.

Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, Umm Al Quwain. Each administers its own registration, generally at municipality level. UNVERIFIED across the board. We hold no primary sources and state nothing.

Do not transplant a figure from this page to another emirate. The fee, the forum and the form are all different.

13. When to stop reading and get a licensed lawyer

Specifically, and not as a formality:

• You are already in a dispute, or you have been served with a notice, or you have sent one.
• Your tenancy is not registered and you need to file, or defend, a claim.
• You are being asked to vacate, whether during the term under Article 25(1) as amended or at expiry under Article 25(2) as amended, where the notice requirement is twelve months before eviction.
• Your landlord is not the owner, or the property has changed hands during your tenancy.
• The property is a hotel apartment, serviced unit or staff accommodation, where the scope carve out in Article 3 as amended is doing real work.
• Any deadline may be running. Time limits extinguish good claims and no web page can tell you whether one is running against you.

UAE: the roll of lawyers and legal consultants held by the Ministry of Justice. In Dubai, advocacy and legal consultancy firms are licensed by the Government of Dubai Legal Affairs Department.

14. Before you register: check your contract against Article 4(1)

The five items in section 4 are what the law requires your lease contract to contain, and a contract missing one of them is the most common reason a registration turns into a second trip.

Mohamy.ai document analysis reads your signed tenancy contract and shows you, clause by clause, where each of the five Article 4(1) items appears and where it does not, with the statutory wording next to your wording so you can see the gap yourself. It works on the contract you actually have, in Arabic or in English. It does not tell you what to do about a gap, and it is not a substitute for a licensed lawyer if you are in a dispute.

Bring the contract. Get the checklist. Then go to the right channel from section 6 with the right documents.

About this guide

What we are. Mohamy.ai publishes general legal information. We are not a law firm. We are not entered on the roll of lawyers or legal consultants held by the UAE Ministry of Justice under Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2022. We are not registered under the Saudi Code of Law Practice. We are not members of the Egyptian Bar Association under Law No. 17 of 1983. We do not give legal consultations within the meaning of Article 54 of French Law No. 71-1130 of 31 December 1971, and we are not registered on any French list of authorised legal professionals. Nothing on this page is legal advice, an opinion on your case, or a prediction of any outcome. No lawyer and client relationship is created and no duty of care is owed to you.

What this page covers. This page covers the registration of tenancy contracts for real property in the Emirate of Dubai under Dubai Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, and the procedures, fees and requirements published by the Dubai Land Department and the Rental Disputes Centre. It does not cover the DIFC or the ADGM, which are separate common law jurisdictions with their own legislation, limitation periods and courts, and it does not cover any free zone or economic zone that applies its own rules. Where a rule differs between an emirate, a region or a zone, this page states the position for the jurisdiction named above only.

How current this is. The law changes, and in this region it changes quickly. Every legal statement on this page was checked against the primary sources below on 16 August 2026. Amendments made after that date are not reflected here. Government fees and charges change without notice and any figure given is indicative, not authoritative.

Deadlines. Limitation periods and filing deadlines can extinguish an otherwise valid claim permanently. Do not rely on any period stated on this page. Confirm it with a licensed lawyer without delay.

Sources. Dubai Law No. (26) of 2007 Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai, official English and Arabic texts published by the Government of Dubai Legal Affairs Department at dlp.dubai.gov.ae, retrieved 16 August 2026, English PDF SHA-256 746bdf4d...b84d77b. Dubai Law No. (33) of 2008 Amending Law No. (26) of 2007, official English and Arabic texts, same source, retrieved 16 August 2026, English PDF SHA-256 3405f6b2...2604ef7893. Dubai Land Department service pages for Register / Renew Tenancy Contract, Cancel Tenancy Contract, Download Rental Certificate (Ejari) and the Unified Ejari Tenancy Contract template, English and Arabic, dubailand.gov.ae, retrieved 16 August 2026. Rental Disputes Centre service page for Register First Instance Lawsuit (Rental), rdc.gov.ae, retrieved 16 August 2026. Dubai Decree No. (43) of 2013 on rent increase, named only and not quoted, because we have not verified its text against a primary source on this page. The Abu Dhabi position in section 12 is recorded from our internal source pack, is labelled ESTIMATE, and is not verified against a pinned primary source. Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on Value Added Tax, as consolidated with Federal Decree-Law No. 18 of 2022, published by the Federal Tax Authority, pinned SHA-256 cc6f6a3a...945c4e23, cited for Article 3 and the standard rate of 5% only. Both Dubai laws carry the Supreme Legislation Committee note that reference must be made to the original Arabic text and that the Arabic prevails in case of conflict.

How this was produced. Drafted with the assistance of AI and reviewed against the primary legislation cited above before publication. If you believe anything here is wrong or out of date, write to contact@mohamy.ai and we will correct or withdraw it.

Finding a licensed lawyer. UAE: the roll of lawyers and legal consultants held by the Ministry of Justice. Saudi Arabia: the register of licensed lawyers held by the Ministry of Justice. Egypt: the Egyptian Bar Association.