Navigating the RERA Rental Index: A Guide to Legal Rent Increases

If you own rental property in Dubai, you already know that you can't just raise the rent to whatever you like at renewal time. Dubai's rental market is regulated through the RERA Rental Index (now delivered via the Dubai Land Department's Smart Rental Index), and any increase has to pass two separate legal tests: a timing test and a percentage test. Fail either one, and the increase doesn't hold up — even if the other one is perfectly correct.

Here's a clear, fact-checked breakdown of how the rules actually work in 2026.

What the RERA Rental Index is

The Rental Index compares the rent on your tenant's Ejari contract against the average rent for similar units in the same building or area — matched by property type and bedroom count. That gap between what a tenant is currently paying and what the index says is "market rate" is the only factor that decides whether an increase is allowed, and by how much.

You can check the current index for any building through the Dubai Land Department's Rental Index page or the Dubai REST app.

One rule that catches people out: rent can only be changed at renewal. It cannot be adjusted mid-contract, no matter how much the market has moved.

The 90-day notice rule

This is the part of the law landlords most often get wrong — not the math, the timing.

Under Article 14 of Law No. 33 of 2008 (which amended Law No. 26 of 2007), a landlord who wants to increase the rent must give the tenant written notice at least 90 days before the lease expiry date. A few points worth being precise about:

• It must be written. A phone call, a verbal conversation, or a WhatsApp message does not count as legal notice.
• It's counted from the contract expiry date — not the next rent payment date, and not the date the landlord first raises the topic.
• The notice needs to state specifics: the property, the current rent, the new rent or percentage increase being proposed, the renewal date, and the basis for the change (in practice, the Rental Index figure).
• If the deadline is missed, the increase is void for that renewal — the lease simply continues at the existing rent for another year.

Because this is a separate requirement from the percentage cap below, a technically correct rent increase can still be thrown out entirely if it arrives late.

Legal rent increase percentages

Once the timing is sorted, the amount is governed by Decree No. 43 of 2013, which sets five fixed bands based on how far below the index average the current rent sits:

• Within 10% of the index (i.e., rent is at or near market rate) — 0% increase allowed
• 11%–20% below the index — maximum 5% increase
• 21%–30% below the index — maximum 10% increase
• 31%–40% below the index — maximum 15% increase
• More than 40% below the index — maximum 20% increase

If the current rent is already at or above the index average, no increase is permitted at all.

Example: A 2-bedroom apartment is rented at AED 90,000/year, and the index average for comparable 2-bedroom units in the area is AED 115,000. That's roughly 22% below the index, which falls into the 21–30% band — so the maximum legal increase is 10%, bringing the rent to AED 99,000. That figure is only enforceable if 90 days' written notice was also served on time.

Where landlords actually lose disputes

Cases at the Rental Dispute Settlement Centre (RDSC) rarely turn on the percentage calculation — that part is usually straightforward. What tends to sink a landlord's case is process:

• Notice sent late, or the 90-day count started from the wrong date
• Notice given verbally or through an informal channel with no paper trail
• Rent increased mid-contract instead of at renewal
• Using an outdated or mismatched index figure (wrong area, unit type, or bedroom count)
• A missed deadline somewhere in a larger portfolio, simply because it wasn't being tracked

None of these are legal grey areas. They're avoidable process failures — which is exactly why compliance tends to come down to good systems, not legal interpretation.

The BSO connection

This is really the core problem for most landlords: it's not that the RERA rules are unclear, it's that keeping track of a 90-day deadline for every single lease — on time, in writing, backed by the correct index figure — is a logistics challenge, and it only gets harder as a portfolio grows.

This is exactly where BSO's property management service is designed to step in. Instead of landlords tracking renewal dates manually, BSO calendars each lease's 90-day notice window the moment the tenancy is registered, prepares increase notices against the correct, up-to-date Rental Index figures, and sends them through channels that create a proper written record — so there's no ambiguity if a renewal is ever disputed. Across a full portfolio, that means no landlord is relying on memory or a spreadsheet to catch a deadline that, if missed, forfeits the increase entirely.

In short: BSO acts as the compliance layer between the law and the landlord — making sure every renewal is both correctly calculated and correctly timed.

Quick FAQ

Can I increase rent without checking the Rental Index?

‍No. Every increase has to be justified against the official index for that specific area, property type, and bedroom count.

Is a verbal agreement to raise rent valid?

‍No — written notice is required by law, regardless of what was discussed verbally.

Can I raise rent mid-lease if the market jumps?

‍No. Increases are only permitted at renewal, never during an active contract term.

What can a tenant do if I get it wrong?

‍They can file a dispute with the RDSC, which consistently rules against landlords who exceed the legal band or fail to give proper notice.

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