Buying a tenanted property in Dubai

The lease passes to you

Article 28 of Law No. 26 of 2007 says that a transfer of ownership does not affect the tenant's right to stay in the home under the lease signed with the previous owner, provided the lease has a fixed date: in the Arabic text, which prevails, a date that can be proven. A lease registered in Ejari has its date on the Dubai Land Department's record.

The law's definition of landlord, in Article 2 as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, includes a person to whom ownership passes during the lease. From transfer you are the landlord, on the terms the seller agreed: the rent, the payment schedule and the end date stay as they are. Under Article 7, neither side can end a valid lease early on its own; it ends early only by mutual consent or on a ground the law allows.

If the lease expires and the tenant stays on without objection from the landlord, Article 6 renews it on the same terms, for the same period or one year, whichever is shorter.

When you can take the home back

During the lease, an owner can seek eviction only for the tenant's breach, such as rent still unpaid 30 days after a notice to pay, or subletting without written consent (Article 25(1)). Buying the home is not a reason. When the lease ends, Article 25(2), as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, allows four reasons:

For each of them, the landlord must give the tenant at least 12 months' notice before the eviction date, stating the reason, through a notary public or by registered mail. The 12 months run from the notice, not from your purchase: if the lease has four months left when you buy, the tenant still has at least 12 months from the day your notice is served.

If you take the home back to live in, Article 26 bars you from letting it to anyone else for at least two years from the date you recover it, or three years for non-residential property. If you do, the tenant can ask the Rental Dispute Centre for compensation.

Whether you can rely on a 12-month notice the seller has already served is not settled. Lawyers have reported Rental Dispute Centre decisions since 2023 that let a new owner rely on the seller's notice, but these decisions are not binding precedent, and in a case reported in November 2023 the claim failed because the buyer wanted the home for a different reason from the seller's.

If you need the home yourself, ask for a copy of any notice already served, and take legal advice on serving your own once you are the registered owner.

The deposit, the rent and Ejari at transfer

The seller collected the deposit and the rent; from transfer, you owe the deposit back and you are owed the rent. The law does not set out how this is handed over, so write it into Form F.

1. The security deposit.Under Article 20, the landlord refunds the deposit, or what is left of it, when the lease ends. That duty becomes yours, so the seller should hand the deposit over at transfer or credit it against the price.
2. Rent already paid.If the tenant has paid ahead, the seller passes on the rent for the days after transfer, worked out pro rata from the transfer date.
3. Cheques still to come.Post-dated rent cheques are made out to the seller. Agree whether the tenant replaces them with cheques to you, with the old ones returned, or the seller passes on what is paid. Get the tenant's agreement in writing.
4. Ejari.The seller's Ejari registration is cancelled and the tenancy registered again with you as landlord, using your new title deed. Registering online through Dubai REST or the DLD website costs AED 177.75.
5. A letter to the tenant.Introduce yourself with a copy of your title deed, and say where the rent is to be paid from now on.

What you can do about the rent

Nothing changes during the lease. To change the rent or any other term at renewal, the landlord must tell the tenant at least 90 days before the lease ends, unless the contract says otherwise (Article 14). Any increase must also fit Decree No. 43 of 2013, measured against the average rent for similar homes in the Dubai Land Department's Smart Rental Index, in use since January 2025.

Under the decree, a rent up to 10% below that average cannot rise at all, and the most it can rise is 5%, 10%, 15% or 20%, depending on how far below the average it sits. A lease 25% below the average can rise by at most 10% at the next renewal, so a below-market rent catches up slowly. Renting out your Dubai property has the full table and the rest of the landlord's rules.

Check the lease before you sign Form F

1. The tenancy contract and Ejari certificate.Copies of both, with the unit, the parties and the dates matching each other and the title deed.
2. The rent and payment schedule.The annual rent, the number of cheques and the dates of those still to come.
3. The expiry date and renewal history.When the lease ends, how long the tenant has lived there, and how the rent has moved at each renewal.
4. The security deposit.The amount the tenant paid, as the contract records it.
5. Notices and disputes.Any notice served by either side, with its date, method and reason, and any case at the Rental Dispute Centre.
6. The payment record.Whether the tenant has paid on time; ask the seller to confirm it in writing.
7. Form F.Record that the home is tenanted and how the deposit, the rent and the cheques pass to you.

Compare the rent with the Smart Rental Index average for the building. The gap tells you how far the rent could rise at renewal, and how slowly.

For and against

For:

• Rent is yours from the transfer date, with no empty months and no search for a tenant
• The registered lease shows what the home actually earns, so you know the yield before you buy
• A tenant with a good payment record lowers the risk of gaps in income

Against:

• You cannot move in until the lease has ended and a valid 12-month notice has run
• The rent may be below market, and Decree No. 43 of 2013 lets it catch up only in steps at renewal
• You take on a tenant you did not choose, with their payment habits and any dispute
• Viewings depend on the tenant, so you may see less of the home before you buy

Borrowing to buy? Tell the bank the home is tenanted, and ask how it treats the rent when it works out what you can borrow.

Vacant on transfer instead

If you want to live in the home, buy it vacant: the seller hands it over empty at transfer. The tenancy has to end first, either by agreement with the tenant, since Article 7 lets a lease end by mutual consent, or by a 12-month notice the seller served long enough ago.

Make vacant possession a condition in Form F, with a date, and say what happens if the tenant has not left by then, for example that you can withdraw and recover your deposit without penalty. Before you sign, see the tenant's signed agreement to leave or the notice itself.

Ready and resale homes lists homes for sale, and checks before buying a ready property covers the rest of what to look at.

Questions buyers ask

Sources

• Dubai Legislation Portal: Law No. 26 of 2007 on landlords and tenants
• Dubai Legislation Portal: Law No. 26 of 2007, Arabic text (Article 28)
• Dubai Legislation Portal: Law No. 33 of 2008 amending Law No. 26 of 2007
• Dubai Land Department: register or renew an Ejari contract
• Dubai Legislation Portal: Decree No. 43 of 2013 on rent increases
• Dubai Media Office: the Smart Rental Index (January 2025)
• Khaleej Times: can a landlord in Dubai evict a tenant to sell? (September 2026)
• Khaleej Times: reclaiming a rented home for personal use (September 2026)
• Mondaq: eviction notices passing to a new owner in Dubai (February 2024)
• fäm Properties: update on transferring eviction notices (November 2023)
• fäm Properties: managing tenanted properties when buying and selling (October 2024)
• Engel & Völkers: cancelling an Ejari registration (October 2025)
• Bayut: the Ejari cancellation procedure (October 2026)
• Meraas: guide to Form F (April 2026)