Commercial property in Dubai: the tenancy rules that bind a business tenant and its landlord

The first thing to know about commercial property law in Dubai is that there is no commercial property law. There is a tenancy law that covers business premises and homes alike, and a 2008 amending law that replaced eleven of its articles — which is where most of the confusion online comes from.

The short answer: Law No. 26 of 2007 regulates the relationship between landlords and tenants in Dubai and applies to property leased for "conducting a business activity, trade, profession, or any other lawful activity" as much as to accommodation. Law No. 33 of 2008 superseded its articles 2, 3, 4, 9, 13, 14, 15, 25, 26, 29 and 36. In the amended regime: every lease is registered with RERA; a party wanting to change the terms must give at least 90 days' notice before expiry; eviction at expiry requires notice stating the reasons at least twelve months beforehand, served through a notary public or by registered mail; and where premises are repossessed for the owner's or a first-degree relative's use, the landlord may not re-let non-residential property for three years. The law fixes no percentage for rent increases; it directs the Tribunal to take into account criteria set by RERA.

Everything below is read from the two laws on 9 November 2026.

The 2007 text alone is out of date, and the portal serves it separately

This is worth stating before anything else, because it is the trap. The Dubai legislation portal publishes Law 26 of 2007 on one page and Law 33 of 2008 — the law that amends it — on another, with no consolidated version. Article 1 of the 2008 law supersedes articles 2, 3, 4, 9, 13, 14, 15, 25, 26, 29 and 36 of the 2007 law.

The consequences are not cosmetic. Read the 2007 page alone and you will find a two-year bar on rent increases, a 90-day notice for eviction at expiry and a one-year bar on re-letting after repossession. All three sit in articles the 2008 law replaced. The operative rules are different, and the commercially important ones are longer.

So any guide to Dubai commercial leases that quotes "90 days" for an end-of-term eviction is quoting a superseded article. Both instruments are on our sources page with the date we read them: Law 26 of 2007 and Law 33 of 2008.

What the law covers, and what it leaves out

Article 2 of the 2007 law defines the property it governs as that leased for "accommodation or conducting a business activity, trade, profession, or any other lawful activity". Article 3, as amended, applies the law to property leased in the emirate, excluding accommodation provided free of charge by an employer to employees. In the original text, hotel establishments and vacant and agricultural land were addressed expressly; article 3 is among those the 2008 law replaced, and the copy of the amendment we read states the exclusion for employer-provided accommodation.

What the law does not do is distinguish a shop from a flat. There is one regime, and the differences that matter commercially appear inside individual articles — the three-year re-letting bar for non-residential property being the clearest.

Not covered on this page: who may own commercial freehold in Dubai. That is set by the regulation designating areas in which non-UAE nationals may own property, which we have not read, so this page is about occupying commercial premises rather than buying them. For the neighbouring emirate, where ownership is confined to designated investment areas by statute, see buying property in Abu Dhabi.

Every commercial lease is registered with RERA

Article 4(2), as amended, requires that "All Lease Contracts related to Real Property which is governed by the provisions of this Law" be registered with RERA, including later amendments to those contracts.

Two practical points follow. A lease amendment is itself a registrable event, so a rent review or an extension agreed by side letter is not outside the duty. And in the original 2007 article 4(2) the duty came with an express consequence — that courts and government bodies could not consider a dispute on an unregistered contract. Article 4 is one of the articles the 2008 law replaced, and the copy of the amended article we read does not carry that sentence. We therefore state the registration duty and do not assert the litigation bar as current law.

Rent increases: the law sets no percentage

Article 9, as amended, requires landlord and tenant to specify the rent in the lease, and where the rent cannot be proven it becomes the rental value of similar property. Article 9(2) has the Tribunal determine rental value "taking into account the criteria for determining the percentage of Rent increase prescribed by RERA". Article 13, as amended, lets the parties change the rent or the terms on renewal and, where they cannot agree, "the Tribunal may determine the fair Rent".

So the familiar tiered percentages — the ones every rental calculator applies — are not in the tenancy law. The law delegates them, and the instrument that sets them is a RERA decree we could not read on 9 November 2026. This site therefore publishes no percentage for a Dubai rent increase, commercial or residential, and a figure quoted from a calculator should be traced to the decree that sets it.

Ending a commercial lease at expiry takes twelve months' notice

Article 25(2), as amended, is the provision a business tenant should read first. Eviction on expiry is available on four grounds: demolition or reconstruction; restoration or maintenance requiring the property to be vacant, verified by a Dubai Municipality report; the owner's own use, or a first-degree relative's, where the owner has no suitable alternative property; and sale of the property.

And the notice: the landlord must state the reasons and serve notice at least twelve months before the date of eviction, through a notary public or by registered mail.

For a business that fits out premises, that twelve-month floor is the planning number. It is also why the separate 90-day rule is so often misapplied: article 14 requires 90 days' notice before expiry from a party that wants to change the terms of the lease, which is a different act from ending it.

After repossessing for its own use, a landlord cannot re-let commercial premises for three years

Article 26, as amended, is the commercial-specific number in this statute. Where the Tribunal permits repossession for the owner's or a first-degree relative's use under article 25(2)(c), the landlord may not rent the property to a third party before at least two years for residential property and three years for non-residential property. If it does, the tenant may seek fair compensation from the Tribunal.

That asymmetry is the rule to quote when a landlord claims it needs the shop or office for itself. The claim carries a three-year cost if it is not true, and the remedy belongs to the displaced tenant.

Eviction during the term, and the ground written for business premises

Article 25(1), as amended, lists the grounds for eviction before expiry, and they include non-payment of rent, unauthorised subletting, illegal or unauthorised use, business premises left unoccupied without reasonable cause, damage, breach of use or planning rules, structural collapse and government-mandated demolition.

On procedure: for non-payment the landlord may seek eviction where the rent is unpaid within thirty days of a payment notice, unless otherwise agreed, and most other breach grounds require a 30-day notice to cure. Notice must be served through a notary public or by registered mail — not by email or by hand.

The unoccupied-premises ground has no residential equivalent in substance: a shell unit held empty for speculation is exposed under it in a way an unused flat is not.

The tenant's right to come back after reconstruction

Article 29, as amended, gives a tenant a 30-day right of first refusal to return after demolition, reconstruction or renovation, with the rent set under article 9.

So the demolition ground in article 25(2)(a) is not a clean exit from a tenant: the tenant who leaves for the works has a statutory window to take the rebuilt premises back, at a rent determined on the article 9 basis rather than at whatever the market has become.

Where a commercial tenancy dispute goes

The 2007 law assigns disputes to the Special Tribunal for the Settlement of Disputes between Landlords and Tenants (article 2), while article 32 lets the parties agree to arbitration instead, and article 33 has the Tribunal appoint arbitrators where the parties cannot agree. Article 36, as amended, leaves implementing regulations to the Chairman of the Executive Council.

What we could not establish about commercial property in Dubai

• The rent-increase percentages. Article 9(2) sends them to criteria prescribed by RERA; we could not read that instrument, and the Dubai legislation portal returned no page for it under the address pattern its other instruments use. No percentage appears on this page.
• Who may own commercial freehold, and where. The regulation designating areas for ownership by non-UAE nationals was not read.
• A consolidated text of the tenancy law. The portal serves the 2007 law and the 2008 amendment separately, so the operative wording of each amended article here comes from the amending law rather than from a consolidated version.
• The publication dates. The 2007 law takes effect 60 days after publication in the Official Gazette and the 2008 law on the day it is published; neither copy we read gives the publication date, so this page gives no effective date for either.
• Whether the litigation bar on unregistered contracts survives. It is in the 2007 article 4(2); article 4 was replaced, and the amended text we read does not repeat it.

Frequently asked questions about commercial property and leases in Dubai

More on property in the UAE

The broker rules, the permit number every advertisement must carry and the commission provisions are in real estate brokers in Dubai. Off-plan purchase and the registration rule that decides when a sale binds anyone are in buying off-plan in Dubai. What happens when a lender enforces, and why a private "distress sale" needs the bank, is in distressed property sales in Dubai. Who may own property in the other emirate, and the licence conditions there, are in buying property in Abu Dhabi. Every instrument named here, with the date we read it, is on the sources page: the tenancy law at Law 26 of 2007 and the amendment at Law 33 of 2008.