What you can change in a rented home in Dubai

What the law actually says about changing a rented home

Article 19 of Dubai Law No. 26 of 2007 sets two conditions at once. A tenant may not make any changes, or carry out restoration or maintenance works, unless the landlord permits it and the required licences have been obtained from the competent official entities. A landlord's yes does not remove the licence requirement, and a permit does not cure a missing yes.

That law is still current. Law No. 26 of 2007, as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, governs the relationship. The 2008 amendment replaced Articles 2, 3, 4, 9, 13, 14, 15, 25, 26, 29 and 36 only, so Articles 16, 19, 21 and 23 stand as enacted. As at September 2026 we found no law replacing them.

Most reporting of Article 19 adds a word that is not in it. The statute does not require the landlord's permission to be in writing, and the drafter used written consent expressly in Article 24 on subletting. The writing requirement comes from the contract instead: clause 3 of the Land Department's Unified Tenancy Contract, the form used for Ejari, has the tenant undertake not to make amendments, modifications or addendums to the premises without written approval.

Reversible, restorable, or a permit job

The useful question is not whether a change is allowed but what has to happen to the building when you leave, because that decides the cost and the argument. A rug leaves with you. A gypsum wall leaves a scar on the ceiling, the skirting and the floor.

No source draws that line for you: Article 19 never says where a change begins. Classify the work with your landlord in writing before anyone buys anything.

Unauthorised work can cost the tenancy, not just the deposit. Article 25, as substituted by Law No. 33 of 2008, gives two routes. Article 25(1)(e) allows eviction for a change that endangers the property's safety in a way that makes restoring it impossible, a high bar a gypsum divider rarely meets. Article 25(1)(h) is the realistic risk: eviction where a tenant fails to remedy a breach of a lease term within thirty days of a notice served through a notary public or by registered mail.

What the landlord's approval should actually say

An email saying "no problem" is not the document you want three years later. Four things belong in it.

1. Start from clause 3 of your own contractIf your tenancy is on Ejari it uses the Unified Tenancy Contract, so clause 3 applies to you. Registration is not optional: Article 4, as replaced by Law No. 33 of 2008, requires lease contracts and their amendments to be registered with RERA.
2. Describe the work, not the intentionAsk for approval of a defined scope: this partition, in this position, in this material, fixed in this way, drawings attached. Approval of "some changes to the second bedroom" is worth little once the argument starts.
3. Write down what happens at the endArticle 23 is the default, and the default is that the work stays and you get nothing for it. The only way out is the words "unless otherwise agreed", so agree otherwise in the same letter.
4. Fix the reinstatement standardFilling one wall is not the same job as removing a partition, repairing the ceiling line, the skirting and the floor beneath it, then repainting the room. The difference is most of the money.

Which permit, and who is allowed to apply for it

In practice neither you nor your landlord files the application, though the instruments disagree on paper. Local Order No. 3 of 1999 still defines the applicant as the owner or their legal representative, but the later rules govern the submission itself: under Administrative Resolution No. 85 of 2019, a decoration works permit application must be submitted by a contractor approved by Dubai Municipality. Under Administrative Resolution No. 109 of 2022, a maintenance works application must come from a consulting engineer or contractor pre-qualified by the Municipality through the Dubai Building Permit System, now branded Build in Dubai. Ask for proof of that standing before you sign, as our guide to choosing and paying a contractor sets out.

Contractor pages say Dubai Civil Defence approval is mandatory for every fit-out. The Municipality's own villa permit procedure says a Civil Defence task is generated if required only, including for adjustments, additions and decoration work. In DDA districts the certificate is tied to completion instead. Which authority owns your address is in our guide to which approval your renovation needs.

Who pays for repairs while you are living there

Article 16 makes the landlord responsible for maintenance works and for repairing any defect or damage affecting the tenant's intended use of the property. It opens with the words "unless otherwise agreed by the parties", so it is a default your contract is free to change.

Two claims that travel with it deserve suspicion. That AED 1,000 is the 2026 market standard has no survey, dataset or authority behind it. That major-system repairs can never be shifted by contract contradicts the opening words of Article 16. Garden and pool upkeep works the same way: no article of the law names them, so who pays for pool service and irrigation is whatever the tenancy contract says.

What happens at move-out

Article 21 requires the tenant, at the end of the lease, to hand the property back in the condition in which it was received, except for ordinary wear and tear and damage due to reasons beyond the tenant's control. Where the parties disagree, the article sends the matter to the rent disputes body, now the Rent Disputes Settlement Centre, renamed by Article 4(b) of Decree No. 26 of 2013.

Dated photographs of every wall on the day you take the keys are worth more than any clause.

Can you get the money back for what you built?

Usually not, and the law is blunter than people expect. Article 23 provides that, unless the parties agree otherwise, a tenant who vacates may not remove any leasehold improvements they made, and it gives no right to compensation. A fitted kitchen, a run of wardrobes or a pool in a rented villa becomes part of the property.

That is an argument for settling the treatment of the works in writing, not against improving a rented home. Three outcomes are sensible: the work stays and the landlord contributes, in cash or rent-free months; the work stays and nobody pays, which is the default; or the work is removable by agreement and you carry the reinstatement cost. Our guide to pool costs, approvals and running costs gives the number to weigh against the years left on a lease.

What we ask a tenant to have before we quote

HST is a design-and-build practice, so the team that draws the work also builds it. For a tenant's project we ask for three things before pricing: the tenancy contract, the landlord's written approval of a described scope rather than of an idea, and a statement of what has to come out at the end.

Reinstatement is a real line of cost, and design choices made months earlier decide it. A partition on a floating track with a scribed head detail comes out cleanly. The same partition bonded into the ceiling and chased for power does not, and both look identical in a visual. That is settled in interior design, before any renovation and fit-out pricing, and much of our fit-out work is tenant work in leased space such as the Springfield Office fit-out.

For a second opinion on what your contract allows, send us the scope and the clause. We cannot settle a dispute: a lawyer advises on your contract and the Rent Disputes Settlement Centre decides it. For a change inside a tower, read our guide to apartment renovation in Dubai.