Parking in Dubai Buildings: What to Check

Before you buy or rent a Dubai apartment, check how many parking spaces come with it, whether they are registered with the unit, where they are and what visitors use. Under Dubai's jointly owned property law, a space designated to a unit is part of that unit and cannot be sold separately.

Parking is a frequent complaint about apartment living in Dubai and one of the easiest things to check before you commit. It also affects both rent and resale more than buyers expect, because a flat without a space competes badly against the identical flat with one.

What types of parking arrangement are there?

The question is not just "is there parking". There are several different arrangements, and they are not equivalent:

Does a parking space come with the title in Dubai?

For spaces designated to a unit, yes. Article 10 of Law No. 6 of 2019 says car parks allocated or designated to a unit are an integral part of that unit. They may not be separated from it or sold on their own, the developer must register them in the owner's name, and a unit may not be sold without its designated car parks.

So when you buy, ask the seller or developer to show what the DLD record says about the unit's spaces, and get the space numbers in writing rather than taking them from a floor plan or a brochure. Our guide to title deeds and Oqood explains the registration documents.

Can you buy an extra parking space in a Dubai building?

Sometimes. The same article lets an owner buy additional car parks, but only spaces in excess of those designated for all units in the building, and the DLD Director General can set the cases where this is allowed. Ask the developer or management company whether any surplus spaces exist and on what terms. Renting a second space from another owner or the management is a separate arrangement, so get its terms in writing too.

What should you ask before buying?

• How many spaces, and are they registered with the unit? Get this in writing rather than from a floor plan.
• Where the space physically is. A basement space three levels down beside a ramp is not the same asset as one by the lift.
• Whether it is a tandem space, where two cars park in line and one blocks the other. Common, and a genuine daily irritation.
• Whether a second space can be bought or rented in the building, and what that costs.
• What visitors do. If the answer is a shrug, check what the street is actually like on a weekday evening.

What should you ask before renting?

• Is parking included, and is it written into the contract rather than mentioned? The tenancy contract is what gets registered in Ejari, so that is where it belongs. See Ejari and tenancy contracts.
• How many cars, if your household has two.
• Is the space numbered and yours, or shared.
• What happens at renewal if the landlord decides to charge for it.

Who looks after the car park and visitor parking?

Unless the site plan says otherwise, parking aisles, and car parks designated for the management, the owners committee or visitors, are common parts of the building under Article 7 of the same law. They are run by the management company and paid for from the service charges, which RERA approves. That means visitor parking rules are a building matter: ask for the building's rules, and if the car park is badly maintained, raise it with the owners committee. See owners committees and service charges.

Why does parking affect rent and resale prices?

Two identical apartments where one has a space and one does not are not the same product. The one without takes longer to let, attracts a narrower set of tenants, and gives a buyer a reason to negotiate. In a building where spaces are scarce, that gap widens.

It runs the other way too. A studio with two spaces in a tower where parking is tight has something genuinely scarce, and it is worth knowing that before you sell.

Where in Dubai does parking matter most?

Density decides it. In the older central districts, where buildings predate the number of cars around them, parking is the constraint on daily life rather than a detail. Our guides to Al Karama, Hor Al Anz and Muhaisnah all flag it for that reason. In the newer master planned communities it is usually designed in, and worth confirming anyway.

If you are weighing two properties and parking is the difference, tell us and we will find out exactly what each one includes.