We manage rented property in Dubai on the owner's behalf: finding and screening tenants, the tenancy contract and Ejari, collecting rent, handling maintenance, negotiating renewals and running the move-out. You keep the asset and the decisions. We do the work and the chasing.
| Task | Managed by us | If you self-manage |
|---|---|---|
| Finding and screening tenants | We do it | You, or a letting agent per let |
| Tenancy contract and Ejari | We do it | You |
| Collecting rent and banking cheques | We do it | You |
| Maintenance | We do it, to an agreed spend limit | You, at any hour |
| Renewal and the rental index | We negotiate it | You |
| Move-out inspection and deposit | We do it | You |
In Dubai the market norm is around 5 percent of the annual rent, often with a minimum fee, with letting commission charged separately when a new tenant is found. Maintenance is at cost, with a limit above which we ask you first. Our guide to what property management costs sets out the market position in full. For what it would cost on your property, ask us.
The owner does. Service charges are separate from the management fee, so both belong in your net return. Our guide to service charges explains how they are set, and rental yields by community shows what is left after costs.
Rent on a renewal is not a free negotiation in Dubai. What you may ask for is set against RERA's rental index, which compares your unit with what comparable units in the same area actually let for. The 2026 version of the index reads at sub-community level and separates furnished from unfurnished stock, so two buildings on the same street no longer share one benchmark.
Rather than quote percentages that move, check the figure itself: the calculator is free, it is on the Dubai Land Department site and in the Dubai REST app, and it takes a couple of minutes. The rule that does not move is the notice — any change to the rent or to the terms has to reach the tenant 90 days before the contract ends, in writing, unless you have agreed something else with them. Miss that window and the contract renews on its existing terms.
Wanting the property back is not, by itself, grounds to end a tenancy. The recognised grounds are narrow — you are selling, you or a first-degree relative will live in it, or the building needs work that cannot be done around a tenant — and each one requires 12 months' notice, served through a notary public or by registered post. A message, an email or a conversation at renewal does not count, and a notice served the wrong way is the single most common reason a landlord loses at the disputes centre.
That is also why the sale of a tenanted unit needs planning: the tenancy survives the sale, and the buyer inherits both the tenant and the notice clock.
A bounced cheque is not the end of the matter, and it is not a police case either — it is a claim at the Rental Disputes Centre, part of the Land Department. What decides those claims is paperwork: a registered Ejari, the signed contract, the cheques, and proof that you gave the notice you say you gave. The centre charges a filing fee calculated from the annual rent, subject to a cap, and it expects you to have asked the tenant first.
Most cases that go badly for an owner go badly for one of two reasons: the tenancy was never registered, or the notices were sent by WhatsApp. Both are avoidable on day one.
Owning from abroad works, and most of our landlords do. Three things are worth settling before you leave rather than after. Someone in the country needs authority to sign a tenancy contract and register Ejari on your behalf, which means a power of attorney — and if it is signed outside the UAE it has to be notarised and attested, which takes weeks, not days. Rent needs somewhere to land: a UAE account in your name is simplest, and keeping one open is easier than opening one later. And someone has to be able to reach your tenant in an hour when a pipe goes, which is the part distance makes hardest.
Handing a property over should be dull and documented. We photograph and inventory the unit, take meter readings, collect the keys, access cards and warranties, and check what the developer or owners' association still owes you. Where there is a sitting tenant, we write to them with the new payment details and the number to call, confirm the Ejari is registered and current, and diary the renewal date and the 90-day notice deadline against it. Where the unit is empty, marketing starts once the photographs are done, not once the snag list is.
The tenant decides how the next year goes, and the decision is made on paperwork rather than on a good viewing. We ask for passport and visa, Emirates ID, and evidence that the rent is affordable — an employment letter or salary certificate for a salaried tenant, trade licence and bank statements for a self-employed one. We check the cheques are drawn on an account in the name of the person signing the contract, which sounds obvious and is the detail most often wrong.
Fewer cheques means a lower risk and usually a better price; more cheques widens the pool of tenants who can afford the property. That trade-off is yours, and it is worth making before the property is advertised rather than while an offer is on the table.
Every tenancy in Dubai has to be registered with the Land Department through Ejari, and it is not paperwork you can skip. Without it the tenant cannot put DEWA in their own name or sponsor a family member at the address, and neither of you can bring a case at the Rental Disputes Centre. It is renewed with the contract, which is the part that slips when nobody owns the calendar. We register it at the start and again at each renewal; our guide to Ejari and tenancy contracts explains the process and how to download the certificate yourself.
The management fee is the easy number. What decides your net return is the rest of it, and most of it lands whether or not the property is let. The service charge is billed by the owners' association against a rate per square foot and is payable on an empty unit exactly as on a full one. Where a building is on district cooling, the capacity charge is the owner's and continues through a void. DEWA has to go back into your name between tenants, with a deposit and a reconnection fee each time.
Then there is the wear: an annual air-conditioning service, the repairs a handover inspection turns up, and repainting between tenancies on anything that has been lived in for a few years. Fees for agency and management carry 5 percent VAT — residential rent itself does not. None of this is unusual and none of it is large on its own, but a budget built on rent minus the management fee will be wrong every year.
They are two different businesses. A holiday home is licensed separately by Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism, permit by permit, and the unit is let furnished and nightly with bills, cleaning and linen included and marketed continuously. The headline rate looks far better than an annual rent; occupancy is seasonal, and the running costs come out of the same number.
A long let is one tenant, one contract, one set of cheques, and the notice and rent-increase rules above apply to it. The properties we manage are long lets. If nightly letting is what you have in mind, what you need is a licensed holiday-homes operator — better to know that now than a year into the wrong arrangement.
Finds and screens tenants, prepares the tenancy contract and registers Ejari, collects rent, handles maintenance within an agreed spend limit, negotiates renewals, and runs the move-out inspection and deposit return.
The market norm is around 5 percent of the annual rent, often with a minimum fee, and letting commission is usually charged separately when a new tenant is found. Ask us for our own terms for your property.
The owner. Service charges are an owner cost in Dubai and are separate from the management fee, so budget for both when you work out your net return.
Not necessarily. If you live here and own one property it is a genuine choice. If you live abroad, or own more than one tenancy with different renewal dates, it stops being administration you can do in spare time.
No. What you can ask for at renewal is set against RERA’s rental index for comparable units in the same area, and any change has to reach the tenant 90 days before the contract ends. Check the figure on the Land Department’s calculator or in the Dubai REST app before you write to anyone.
Twelve months, served through a notary public or by registered post, and only on recognised grounds — you are selling, you or a first-degree relative will live in it, or the building needs work that cannot be done around a tenant. A notice served any other way tends not to survive the disputes centre.
Yes, and most of our landlords do. You will need someone here with a power of attorney to sign the tenancy and register Ejari, a UAE account for the rent to land in, and someone reachable when a tenant has a problem. Arrange the power of attorney before you leave: attesting one from abroad takes weeks.
No — the properties we manage are long lets on annual contracts. Nightly letting is a separately licensed activity under Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism and needs an operator set up for it.
The service charge, the district cooling capacity charge where there is one, DEWA between tenancies, the annual air-conditioning service and structural repairs. Rent itself is exempt from VAT; agency and management fees carry 5 percent.
A managing agent negotiates the increase within the Land Department rental index rather than letting the tenancy roll on unchanged, and serves the notice periods the law requires.
Tell us where the property is and whether it is let today. We will come back to you with what we would do with it and what that costs.
Landlord next steps: the letting process step by step or list your property with us.
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TRPE Real Estate is a company registered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Trade License No. 999314 · RERA ORN 28357 · Office 1201, Ascott Park Place, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai. Regulated by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA).
