Downtown Dubai Rent Increases: The RERA Index, the 90-Day Rule, and What Actually Happens at Renewal

At renewal time, the question every Downtown Dubai tenant actually wants answered is: how much can my rent legally go up? Dubai has a specific, formula-based answer to this, not a vague "market rate" negotiation, and it's worth knowing precisely before your landlord's renewal notice arrives.

The RERA rental index bands

Dubai's rent-increase framework, under the regulatory structure built on Law No. 26 of 2007 and Law No. 33 of 2008, sets increase percentages based on how far your current rent sits below the RERA rental index value for a comparable unit in your area:

Your rent vs the RERA index	Maximum increase allowed
Within 10% of index	No increase permitted
11–20% below index	Up to 5%
21–30% below index	Up to 10%
31–40% below index	Up to 15%
More than 40% below index	Up to 20%

This means the increase your landlord can apply depends entirely on where your current rent sits relative to the published index for your specific building and unit type, not on what your landlord feels the market has done, and not on inflation generally.

The 90-day notice rule

Your landlord must give you at least 90 days' written notice before your lease expires if they intend to increase the rent. If you don't receive that notice within the required window, the increase cannot be legally enforced for that renewal, it would need to wait until the following renewal cycle, with proper notice given in time.

How to check your own number

The Dubai Land Department publishes a RERA rental index calculator that lets you check the current index value for your specific area and unit type. Because the index itself is updated periodically, always check the live calculator at the time of your renewal rather than relying on a percentage you saw quoted elsewhere, including in this article, the bands above are stable, but the underlying index values they're applied to change over time.

What this looks like in practice for a Downtown tenant

Say your current Downtown one-bedroom rent is AED 140,000, and the RERA index for a comparable unit in your building is AED 165,000. Your rent sits roughly 15% below the index, putting you in the 11–20% band, your landlord could legally apply up to a 5% increase, bringing your rent to AED 147,000. If your rent were instead AED 100,000 against the same AED 165,000 index (about 39% below), you'd fall in the 31–40% band, allowing up to a 15% increase. The gap between your current rent and the index, not the raw percentage your landlord proposes, is what determines the legal ceiling.

What to do if the numbers don't add up

If your landlord proposes an increase larger than the band your rent falls into supports, or if you didn't receive 90 days' written notice, you're not obligated to accept it. Check the current index yourself, and if there's a genuine dispute, Dubai's Rental Disputes Settlement Centre handles exactly this kind of disagreement. Most disputes get resolved once both sides check the same index figure, miscommunication about the actual index value is a more common cause of disputes than genuine bad faith.

Beyond the increase itself

A rent increase notice is also the natural moment to weigh renewing against moving, see our decision framework for that specific question, and, if you're the landlord rather than the tenant, our landlord guide covers positioning your unit and getting an accurate rental appraisal before you set your renewal figure.

Related analysis

• the full Downtown Dubai rental guide