Ejari and Tenancy Contracts in Dubai Explained

Ejari is the official registration of a tenancy contract with Dubai Land Department. Without it you cannot connect DEWA, sponsor a family visa, or take a dispute to the rental committee.

It costs about AED 220 and takes minutes. It is also the single document tenants most often fail to insist on.

What Ejari is for

Who registers it

In practice the landlord or the managing agent does it, and the cost is usually passed to the tenant. What matters is that it happens: an unregistered tenancy leaves you without the protections the law gives you.

Ask for the Ejari certificate before you hand over cheques, or make it a written condition of the contract.

What you need to register

• The signed tenancy contract
• Tenant's passport, visa and Emirates ID
• Landlord's passport copy and the title deed
• A recent DEWA bill or the premises number

Reading your tenancy contract

The cheque schedule

The number of cheques and their dates are the commercial heart of the contract. A bounced cheque is a serious matter in the UAE, so agree a schedule you are sure of.

Maintenance

The contract should say who pays for what. The common split is major repairs to the landlord, minor ones to the tenant, but the threshold should be written down rather than assumed.

Early termination

Leaving before the end of the term usually costs one to two months rent, but only if the contract says so. Read this clause before signing rather than when you need it.

Renewal and notice

Any change to rent or terms requires 90 days written notice before the contract ends. Without that notice, the tenancy renews on the same terms.

Downloading your Ejari certificate

Once the contract is registered, the certificate is a PDF with a QR code on it, and you can pull your own copy whenever you need one. You do not have to go back to whoever registered it.

The official route is Dubai REST, the Land Department's own app. Sign in with a verified UAE Pass and your registered contracts appear against your Emirates ID; open the tenancy and download the certificate. The same contracts are reachable through the Dubai Now app and the Land Department's website. Menu names move between app versions, so look for your contracts rather than for a button with a particular label.

There is no fee for downloading a certificate that already exists, and either party named on the contract can do it. The QR code is what a counter scans to check it, so a printed PDF is enough — you do not need a stamped original.

If nothing appears at all, the registration was probably never completed. That is a question for whoever handled it, and worth asking before you need the certificate for DEWA.

If something goes wrong

Disputes go to the Rental Dispute Centre, filed for a fee of 3.5 percent of the annual rent. A registered Ejari is required, which is the practical reason to insist on one at the start rather than argue about it later.

More on renting

Our complete tenant guide covers costs, cheques and your rights end to end. Browse current apartments for rent or talk to an adviser.