Tools · Dubai
RERA rent increase calculator
A Dubai landlord may not raise the rent as far as they like at renewal. Decree 43 of 2013 permits an increase only in proportion to how far the rent has fallen behind what similar homes let for — nothing at all until it is more than a tenth behind, then five, ten, fifteen and twenty per cent as the gap widens. The whole sum therefore turns on one figure most tenants do not have: the average. This works the bands for you, seeds that figure from what tenants in your area actually paid, and gives you the second half of the rule that decides most disagreements — the ninety days’ notice.
Your tenancy
What similar homes let for
5%
The most it may rise
Your rent sits 14.3% below it — the 11% to 20% below band.
AED 63,000
Most the rent may become
The ceiling for the coming year, not an amount that is owed.
AED 3,000
The increase, in money
About AED 250 a month more than you pay today.
90 days
Ninety days’ notice
Add the contract end date above and this becomes the date the notice is due by.
| Up to 10% below | No increase |
| ▸11% to 20% below | Up to 5% |
| 21% to 30% below | Up to 10% |
| 31% to 40% below | Up to 15% |
| More than 40% below | Up to 20% |
It opens on the area most of Dubai’s tenancies are registered in and a round rent, as an example to type over. The bands and the ninety days are the law. The average your rent is measured against is RERA’s own, and it is not ours to publish — the figure above is the Ejari register’s recorded median for your area, read to 2026-09-10, which is why you can type over it. For the binding number, the Land Department’s calculator is free on its site and in the Dubai REST app.
The method
What is regulation here, and what is ours
The rule is a ladder, not a percentage. Decree No. 43 of 2013 sets five bands, and the rung you land on depends entirely on how far your current rent sits *below* the average for a similar property. A rent within a tenth of that average cannot be raised at all. Past that the permitted increase steps up through five, ten, fifteen and twenty per cent, and twenty is the ceiling however far behind the rent has fallen. That is deliberate: a tenant who signed in a cheap year climbs back towards the market in stages rather than being handed the whole difference in one renewal.
Which means everything depends on the average, and that is the figure the tenant is never holding. The Land Department has its own — since 2 January 2025 the Smart Rental Index, which rates each building one to five stars for its construction, finishing and upkeep, so two towers on the same street can carry different ceilings. That index is the binding one, its calculator is free on the department’s site and in the Dubai REST app, and the figure it returns is what the Rental Dispute Centre will apply. We do not have it, and this page does not pretend to.
What we do have is the register. Every tenancy in Dubai is filed with Ejari, and the median annual rent for each layout in each area is a measured fact rather than an opinion — the same shelf that ranks the cheapest areas on this site. Choose your area and that median fills the market field, with the number of contracts behind it and the date the register was read. Then type over it, because it is your figure to set: the register knows the area, it does not know whether your building is a five-star tower or a tired one. Treat what comes out as the shape of the answer and the department’s calculator as the answer.
The other half of the rule is the one that actually decides arguments. Law No. 33 of 2008 requires ninety days’ written notice before the contract expires of any change to its terms, the rent included. A landlord who serves it late, or not at all, has no increase that year and the tenancy renews unchanged. Give the calculator your contract end date and it names the last day that notice can be served. Tenants lose this argument by not knowing it exists and landlords lose it by leaving the email until the last fortnight, so whichever side you are on, put the date in a diary the day the contract is signed.
Decree 43 of 2013
The five bands, in full
How far the current rent sits below the average for a similar property, against the increase the decree permits. This is regulation, not convention — the same table the department’s own calculator applies.
| Your rent against the average | Permitted increase |
|---|---|
| Up to 10% below | None |
| 11% to 20% below | Up to 5% |
| 21% to 30% below | Up to 10% |
| 31% to 40% below | Up to 15% |
| More than 40% below | Up to 20% |
- A rent already at the average, or above it, cannot be raised at renewal at all.
- The decree governs the step from one term to the next for the same tenant. It is not rent control on a new letting: a landlord signing a new tenant asks what the market bears, and Ejari records it.
- Nothing here applies inside a term. The contract fixes the rent for its year, and neither the index nor a notice changes that.
- The bands are written in whole percentages, so a shortfall lands on the rung its ceiling covers; this page reads a shortfall of exactly 10% as the band that permits nothing.
The rule in full — the index, the notice, the Smart Rental Index of 2025 and the dispute centre →
Questions
Rent increases in Dubai
How much can my landlord increase the rent in Dubai?
Only as far as Decree 43 of 2013 allows, and that depends on how far your rent has fallen behind the average for a similar property: nothing up to 10% below, 5% from 11% to 20% below, 10% from 21% to 30%, 15% from 31% to 40%, and 20% where the gap is wider than 40%. A rent at or above the average cannot be raised.
Is this the official RERA calculator?
No. The bands and the notice period on this page are the law as written, but the average your rent is measured against is RERA’s own Smart Rental Index, which we do not hold. This page seeds that figure from the Ejari register’s recorded median for your area and lets you change it. For the binding number, use the Dubai Land Department’s calculator on its website or in the Dubai REST app — it is free and needs no login.
Can my landlord raise the rent without notice?
No. Law No. 33 of 2008 requires ninety days’ written notice before the contract expires of any change to its terms, including the rent. An increase served later than that is not due for the coming year, and the tenancy renews on the same terms unless both sides agree otherwise.
Can the rent go up in the middle of my contract?
No. The contract fixes the rent for its term. The index governs renewal, which is the step from one term to the next, and it does not run in the first year at all.
What if we cannot agree?
Either side may take it to the Rental Dispute Centre, the tribunal at the Land Department that hears tenancy cases. It rules on the index and on the notice, and it will not hear a case on a tenancy that was never registered with Ejari. Filing costs a percentage of the annual rent — currently 3.5%, with a floor and a ceiling — and most disagreements end once the department’s calculator figure is on the table.
Where does the market figure on this page come from?
From Ejari itself. Every tenancy in Dubai is registered, and this page reads the median annual rent for your layout across the DLD area your community sits in, with the number of contracts behind it and the date the register was last read printed beside it. It is a measured median for an area, not a valuation of your building, which is exactly why the field can be typed over.
What tenants actually paid, community by community and building by building, is in the rent reports, which keep a new lease and a renewal apart. If the increase has you looking elsewhere, the cheapest areas rank every area by what a one-bedroom really lets for, and Rent is what we have today. If it has you wondering whether to buy instead, the rent vs buy calculator costs out both paths, and Ejari is the registration all of this rests on.