UAE | Housing & Property

Dubai freezes rents for contracts signed in 2008

Rents for Dubai tenants whose contracts were signed in 2008 cannot be raised this year so long as the rent in 2008 is equal to or up to 25 per cent lower than the average market rate, according to a decree issued on Monday.

  • WAM
  • Published: 23:09 January 19, 2009
  • Gulf News

  • Rents for Dubai tenants whose contracts were signed in 2008 cannot be raised this year so long as the rent in 2008 is equal to or up to 25 per cent lower than the average market rate, according to a decree issued on Monday.
  • Image Credit: Gulf News Archive

Dubai: Rents for Dubai tenants whose contracts were signed in 2008 cannot be raised this year so long as the rent in 2008 is equal to or up to 25 per cent lower than the average market rate, according to a decree issued on Monday.

According to decree No 1 for 2009 issued by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, rents for both residential and non-residential properties in Dubai whose contracts were signed in 2008 cannot be increased in 2009 so long as the rent in 2008 is equal to or up to 25 per cent lower than the average market rate.

The new decree includes a mechanism to deal with low rents, where rents for the current year can be raised as long as the rent for 2008 was up to 25 per cent less than the average market rate.

Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaibani, Director of the Dubai Ruler's Court, said Shaikh Mohammad's decree aims to curb the soaring rents in Dubai and bring them to reasonable levels.


Your comments


It is about time!
Fadi Zoubian
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 10:51

Our landlord has already increased rent last January, 2008 by 25 per cent, so this law is useless to us.
Muskan
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 10:49

Villas near my residence have had the to let sign up since October, and no one has leased them. Now lots of projects are completed in the area and are available. I believe the landlords should be grateful that someone wants to renew, rather than risk having the property empty. Current market forces and economic downturn should mean that rents should go down. The fact that they escalated out of control is a major contributor to the economic problem.
Margarita Bligh
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 10:45

what is the use of issuing a decree after 18th of january , when all my rent cheques were already issued to my landlord with 25 per cent increase every year ?
Rajesh
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 10:24

it is a good move and is timely with the current financial situations.
Prakash
Dubai,uae
Posted: January 20, 2009, 10:24

The pragmatic decision to freeze rents will not only benefit the landlords but also the tenants. Rents were on an upward trend and now some control will be initialised. In the current scenario of recession there was a probability of rents going down. This new decree will bring about a balance in rents, and is in favour of the economy of Dubai.
Naina Nair
sharjah,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 09:42

In this present scenario, raising rents is only the Landlord's dream. However there should not have been a cap like as the rents are sure to go way below that.
Vijay Anand
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 09:37

I cannot understand this. What's the base of calculation? Any one can explain this any way they want. This time we will be squeezed by our land lords.
Rohitha
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 09:29

This is good news for all residents in Dubai.
Michelle
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 09:28

What timing?? this will again go in favour of landlords as it was expected that rents would go down. The landlords will keep the rent at the same levels. What a bomber!
Vinod Kewalramani
Dubai,United ARab Emirates
Posted: January 20, 2009, 09:26

The news headline of rent freeze is mis-leading. Everyone will be under the impression that there is no rental increase when on the contrary there is an increase. The increase will affect only the old tenants (the majority lot in Dubai) in the building whose rentals are very less as compared to the existing new rentals. Further how can one quantify the right existing rental of a property? Rentals were sharply increased during the last four years because of lack of supply. Now that vacancies are increasing and rentals dropping, what then is the average rental? One cannot also say that for a given area a certain rental amount is the average rent because one property differs from the other property in terms of facilities and amenities offered, maintenance levels of the property and whether the property is economically classed or accommodation for a single family only. A clear picture of an average rental for similar properties will only appear next year once the details of all rental contracts are logged during this year in the central data base of Rera. Also, as per today's news article it is not clear how much per cent can a landlord increase his tenants rental to bring it in par to the 'less than 25 % of the average rental'. The bigger question is will a tenant be able to afford the new rental hike demanded by the landlord?
Jose Fernandes
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 09:23

Rents in Dubai is still very high compared to other cities in the world.
Expat14
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 09:04

It will certainly a nice move to freeze the rents or to cut them further looking at the current market scene. I really hope that rent is seriously monitored.
From A Reader
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 09:04

It should be a great relief to all Dubai residents. Though the current market conditions do not provide for increase in rents, some landlords were all set to harass the tenants who were living comfortably.
Kishore
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 08:52

Rent freeze is very beneficial for all tenants.
Aldrin
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 08:45

It is appreciated. This will do in earlier stages, however, we welcome this.
Haisari
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 08:21

May God bless him with good health, wealth, long life and happiness.
Vinita P
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 08:10

The rents were coming down due to the current economic condition. This decree does not help the tenants and instead will help the landlords to raise the rents.
RK
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 08:01

Great News!
u.satta
dubai,uae
Posted: January 20, 2009, 07:35

Good News for Dubai residents.
zippik
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 07:35

While appreciating this move I feel that housing contracts need more specific regulations and more stringent monitoring of implementations of the same. It is high time when the authorities must fix house rents according to quality, size, locality, utility and age of the building.
Syed Qaisar Mehdi
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 20, 2009, 06:56

Best decision of the year.
shahidhussain
karachi,sindh, pak.,Pakistan
Posted: January 20, 2009, 06:53

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