A buyer sees a well-priced apartment in Dubai with a tenant already living in it. The agent says “the tenant will leave in 90 days”. The seller says “it will be vacant at handover”. Both statements can be wrong, and the cost of finding out later is a year of lost use of the property you thought you were buying.
The rule that decides it is the eviction notice Dubai landlords must serve: 12 months’ written notice, served through a Notary Public or by registered mail, and only on one of four grounds at the end of the lease. A sale does not cancel the lease, and a buyer does not automatically receive an empty unit.
This guide sets out what the official text of the law says, what is only commentary, and where well-known guides contradict each other. It covers both sides of the deal, because a seller’s timeline and a buyer’s yield are two halves of the same question.
Published: 26 October 2026
One note on method. We read the amended wording of Law No. 26 of 2007 as reproduced on the Dubai Legislation Portal (Law No. 33 of 2008) and in the Dubai Land Department’s own Tenancy Guide. We also read the original 2007 text. Everything about fees, deposits and market discounts comes from secondary sources and is labelled that way. This is a property guide, not legal advice; for a live dispute, take advice from a Dubai-licensed lawyer.
The Short Answer: Does a Tenant Have to Leave When a Dubai Property Is Sold?
No. Under Article 28 of Law No. 26 of 2007, transferring ownership to a new owner does not affect the tenant’s right to keep occupying the property under the lease signed with the previous owner, provided the lease has a fixed term.
That wording is in the original 2007 law and is repeated in the Dubai Land Department’s Tenancy Guide. In practice:
- The buyer takes the property with the lease attached. The same rent, the same end date.
- The buyer cannot ask the tenant to leave early just because the building changed hands.
- To get vacant possession, the owner must wait for the lease to end and have served a valid 12-month notice on a permitted ground.
The law also defines “Landlord” broadly. It includes “a person to whom ownership of the Real Property is transferred during the term of a Lease Contract”, so the new owner steps into the landlord’s role, with its obligations as well as its rights.
The 12-Month Eviction Notice Rule in Dubai Explained
A landlord may ask for eviction at the end of a lease only on four grounds, and for each of them must give at least 12 months’ notice before the date set for eviction, served through a Notary Public or by registered mail.
This is Article 25(2) as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008. The four grounds, as the Dubai Land Department’s guide sets them out:
- The owner wants to demolish the property to rebuild it, or to add construction that would stop the tenant using it, and has the permits from the competent entities.
- The property needs restoration or comprehensive maintenance that cannot be done with the tenant inside, verified by a technical report issued by or attested to by Dubai Municipality.
- The owner wants the property for personal use or for a first-degree relative, and proves he does not own another suitable property.
- The owner wishes to sell the leased property.
The amended Law No. 33 of 2008 text on the Dubai Legislation Portal says the landlord “must notify the Tenant of the eviction reasons at least twelve (12) months before the date of eviction, and the notice must be served through a Notary Public or by registered mail.”
What the original 2007 law said
The original 2007 version of Article 25(2) did not list sale as a ground at all, and it set the notice at ninety days before the lease expired. The 2008 amendment added the sale ground and raised the notice to twelve months. That history explains why you still find the “90 days” figure in older articles and in agent conversations.
The 90-day myth
The 90 days in Article 14 is a notice period for changing terms such as the rent; it is not an eviction notice. Article 14 says a party who wishes to amend any term must notify the other no less than ninety days before the lease expires. Dubai’s rent increase process runs on that clock. We cover it in our Dubai rent increase calculator and Smart Rental Index guide.
Some websites still say a landlord who wants to sell must give 90 days. A law-firm guide we checked says plainly that this “is simply not in the Law”. The Dubai Land Department’s own text, which we read, supports the 12-month figure.
Eviction Notice Dubai: Mid-Lease vs End-of-Lease Grounds
Mid-lease eviction (Article 25(1)) is for tenant fault only. A sale or a landlord’s own use is an end-of-lease ground, never a mid-lease one.
| Situation | Notice | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Landlord wants to sell, move in, or relative to move in (at lease expiry) | At least 12 months before the eviction date, by Notary Public or registered mail | Legislation Portal text of Law 33/2008 and DLD Tenancy Guide |
| Demolition, rebuild, or major maintenance (at lease expiry) | At least 12 months, same service method | Legislation Portal text of Law 33/2008 and DLD Tenancy Guide |
| Tenant has not paid rent | Eviction can be sought if unpaid 30 days after a notice to pay, unless the parties agreed otherwise | DLD Tenancy Guide, Article 25(1) |
| Tenant breaches another term or the law | 30 days from a notice to perform | DLD Tenancy Guide, Article 25(1)(g) |
| Change of rent or other lease terms at renewal | At least 90 days before expiry | Article 14, DLD Tenancy Guide |
The mid-lease grounds in Article 25(1) also include unapproved sub-letting, illegal use, dangerous alterations, use outside the permitted purpose, a condemned building, and a government requirement to demolish or reconstruct. In every one of those cases the landlord gives notice through a Notary Public or by registered post.
What counts as valid service
Article 25 asks for a notice served through a Notary Public or by registered mail. A WhatsApp message or an ordinary email is not that.
The wording of the law is the guide here. A law-firm explainer puts it bluntly: WhatsApp is evidence, not service. Keep the notary’s record or the registered-mail receipt. A notice that fails on service can mean the clock never started, which is why sellers who plan to hand over vacant need to get this step right early.
What Does a Buyer of a Tenanted Property Actually Get?
A buyer gets a property with an income stream, a known end date, and no right to vacant possession before that date plus a valid 12-month notice.
Consider the earliest possible timeline. Suppose the lease ends on 30 June 2027. For the owner to recover the unit on that date for sale, own use or a relative, a valid notice had to be served by 30 June 2026. If you buy in October 2026 with that lease running, the notice date for a 30 June 2027 handover has already passed unless the seller served it.
Which leads to the question that guides do not agree on.
Does the seller’s notice pass to the buyer?
This is genuinely unsettled in published commentary. We found two positions:
- One law-firm guide says the new owner “must serve a fresh Notice if they want possession”, and a consumer guide makes the same point.
- Commentary summarised on Lexology describes the long-standing position as the same (buyer serves fresh notice), but notes more recent Rental Disputes Centre reasoning suggesting a valid notice may pass with the property. We could not open the Lexology page itself, so treat that as a lead to verify rather than as a confirmed ruling.
The statute text we read does not answer the point either way. Buyers should not price a deal on the assumption that the seller’s notice carries over. Ask the seller for a copy of any notice served, check the service method, and have your lawyer confirm in the sale contract who is responsible.
Own use after you buy
If you buy to live in the unit yourself, the relevant ground is the personal-use ground, not the sale ground. Per the DLD guide, the owner must prove he does not own another suitable property.
Article 26 then limits what you can do afterwards. If the Tribunal awards possession for personal or first-degree-relative use and you later let the unit to a third party, you cannot do so for at least two years for residential property and three years for non-residential property, unless the Tribunal sets a shorter period. Otherwise the tenant may ask for fair compensation. The old 2007 text gave one year; the amended text is the one that applies today.
Selling a Tenanted Unit: Your Real Options
A seller has three routes: sell with the tenant in place, serve a 12-month notice first and sell vacant, or agree a negotiated early exit with the tenant.
| Route | What it needs | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Sell with tenant in place | Valid lease, Ejari registration, disclosure of lease terms | Buyer pool is mostly investors; price is judged on yield |
| Serve 12-month notice, then sell vacant | Notice by Notary Public or registered mail, lease end date at least 12 months away | Slowest; a defect in service can reset the timeline |
| Negotiated early exit | Written agreement with the tenant, often with a payment or relocation help | Terms are a private deal; get it signed and in writing |
Selling with the tenant in place is often the fastest route, and it can suit investors who want income from day one. Stake, an investment platform, said in its Q2 2026 report that it shifted its buying toward properties with tenants already in place as the rental market softened. That is one firm’s strategy, not a market-wide rule, but it shows the buyer pool exists.
If you plan to sell vacant, remember the lease is a contract with your tenant, not with the buyer. Our general guide to selling property in Dubai covers the wider sale process, and our guide for owners abroad, selling as a non-resident or overseas owner, covers the paperwork if you are not in Dubai to sign.
Do Tenanted Units Sell at a Discount?
Usually yes, but there is no official figure. One agency guide we found says tenanted units typically sell at a 3-8% discount to comparable vacant units, with a below-market rent widening the gap and a problematic tenant widening it further. That figure comes from a single agency blog, not from transaction data, so use it as a starting point for a conversation, not a rule.
A second agency guide makes a softer point: a tenanted unit at market rent attracts a much smaller discount than an under-let one.
Think about why. An investor buying a tenanted unit pays for rent already in place. A vacant unit might earn more, but it can sit empty. The same Stake report says a vacant unit now takes longer to lease and earns less when it does, though that is one platform’s view of one quarter.
Illustrative yield maths
The arithmetic below is an illustration of how a price follows from rent and a target yield. The numbers are examples we chose to show the method; they are not market data.
| Annual rent (example) | Target gross yield (example) | Implied price |
|---|---|---|
| AED 120,000 | 6% | AED 2,000,000 |
| AED 120,000 | 7% | about AED 1,714,000 |
| AED 120,000 | 8% | AED 1,500,000 |
Gross yield is rent divided by price. Net yield is lower once service charges, management, vacancy and maintenance come out; our service charges guide shows how big that gap can be. For area-level yields, see our rental yield by area guide.
If the rent in the lease is far below what similar units in the building now earn, a buyer may later be able to renew at a higher rent, but only within the rent increase rules and the Smart Rental Index bands described in our rent increase guide, and never before the lease ends.
Security Deposits: Why Guides Disagree
The law text says a landlord may take a security deposit and must refund it, or what remains of it, when the lease ends. It does not set a percentage or a refund deadline.
Article 20 of Law No. 26 of 2007 says the landlord may obtain a deposit “to ensure maintenance of the Real Property upon the expiry of the Lease Contract”, provided he undertakes to refund it or the remainder. Article 21 requires the tenant to return the property in the condition received, apart from ordinary wear and tear.
| Claim you will read online | What we found |
|---|---|
| “The legal cap is 5% (unfurnished) and 10% (furnished)” | Stated by some guides; other guides, including one from a legal-information site and one from a real estate platform, say these are market norms with no cap in the statute. The Article 20 text we read contains no percentage. |
| “The landlord must refund within 30 days” | Stated by some guides; others say the law sets no number of days. Article 20 says only “upon the expiry” of the lease. |
| “Decree 26 of 2013 regulates deposits” | Sources describe that decree as establishing the Rental Disputes Centre, not as a deposit rule. |
Our reading: 5% and 10% are common market practice. Treat them as a negotiating norm, not as a statutory limit, and rely on the figure in the signed contract.
Who holds the deposit after a sale?
The statute is silent on how a deposit moves between seller and buyer. Because the new owner becomes the landlord, a tenant may claim the deposit back from the new owner at lease end, whatever the seller did with it. So the sale contract should say, in writing, that the seller transfers the deposit amount to the buyer at completion, or that the price is reduced by that amount. Do the same for any post-dated rent cheques held by the seller.
The Rental Disputes Centre: What a Dispute Costs
If a notice is contested, the case goes to the Rental Disputes Centre (RDC). Secondary sources agree the filing fee for rent-based cases is 3.5% of annual rent, with a minimum of AED 500 and a maximum of AED 20,000.
We could not open the RDC’s own fee page, so these figures come from law-firm and property guides that all quote the same numbers. Per those guides, monetary claims (such as a deposit recovery) are charged at 3.5% of the amount claimed with a cap of AED 15,000, and small additional charges apply for process service and the knowledge and innovation fees. Confirm the current schedule on the RDC’s official site before you file.
A worked example using the stated percentage: on a lease with annual rent of AED 80,000, 3.5% is AED 2,800. The AED 20,000 cap would bite at an annual rent of roughly AED 571,000 (20,000 divided by 0.035).
Article 31 also matters for owners: filing a claim to evict does not release the tenant from paying rent for the whole period the claim is being considered.
Buyer’s Checklist for a Tenanted Property in Dubai
Before you pay a deposit on a rented unit, collect these seven items and check them against each other.
- The tenancy contract and Ejari certificate. The law requires leases to be registered, and our Ejari registration guide explains how. Check the names, unit number, rent and dates match.
- The lease end date. This sets your earliest realistic vacancy date.
- Any notice already served. Ask for the document and the proof of service (notary record or registered-mail receipt).
- Rent against the benchmark. Compare the lease rent with the Smart Rental Index range for that building.
- Deposit and cheques. Agree in the sale contract exactly what transfers and when.
- Total purchase cost. The DLD transfer fee is 4% of the price on a resale, plus the other costs in our buying costs guide.
- The paperwork trail. Make sure the seller can prove ownership and authority to sell; see our guide to verifying a property listing and our document checklist.
If you manage the unit from abroad after buying, our guide to property management for overseas landlords covers who serves notices and collects rent when you are not in the country. If the tenant plans to share the unit, note the newer rules in our shared housing law guide.
Frequently Asked Questions About Eviction Notice Dubai Rules
How much notice must a landlord give to evict a tenant in Dubai to sell?
At least 12 months before the date set for eviction, served through a Notary Public or by registered mail. This is Article 25(2) of Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, and it applies at the end of the lease.
Is the eviction notice 90 days or 12 months?
12 months for the four end-of-lease grounds, including sale. The 90 days in Article 14 is the notice for changing lease terms such as rent, not for eviction.
Can a landlord evict a tenant mid-lease because the property is being sold?
No. Mid-lease eviction under Article 25(1) is limited to listed tenant-fault or safety grounds such as unpaid rent after a 30-day notice. Sale is an end-of-lease ground.
If I buy a rented property, can I make the tenant leave?
Not before the lease ends. Article 28 says a change of owner does not affect the tenant’s right to stay under a fixed-term lease. After the lease ends you need a valid 12-month notice on one of the four grounds.
Does the seller’s eviction notice transfer to the buyer?
Published commentary disagrees, and the statute text does not say. The cautious approach is to assume you may need to serve your own notice, and to settle the point in the sale contract.
Can I send an eviction notice by WhatsApp or email?
Article 25 asks for service through a Notary Public or by registered mail. Chat messages and email are evidence of communication, not the service method the law names.
How long must I wait before renting out a unit I evicted the tenant from for personal use?
At least two years for residential property and three years for non-residential property, unless the Tribunal sets a shorter period (Article 26 as amended). Otherwise the tenant may ask for fair compensation.
Is the Dubai security deposit capped at 5% or 10%?
The Article 20 text we read sets no percentage. Many guides quote 5% for unfurnished and 10% for furnished units, but others say that is market practice, not law. Follow the signed contract.
Is a tenanted property cheaper than a vacant one?
Often, but there is no official discount. One agency guide suggests 3-8%, from a single source. The price depends mainly on the rent against market and the lease end date.
How much does it cost to file an eviction case at the RDC?
Secondary sources give 3.5% of annual rent, minimum AED 500 and maximum AED 20,000, plus small fees. Check the RDC’s official fee page before filing.
Talk to Sanaya Before You Sign
Buying or selling a rented unit changes your timeline, your yield and your risk. Sanaya Real Estate helps buyers, sellers and landlords with property buying and selling, rentals and property management, and can help you check the lease, the Ejari record and the sale terms before you commit. Use our contact page or message us directly.
Message Sanaya on WhatsApp: +971 50 436 5316
This article is general information about Dubai property and tenancy rules, not legal advice. Laws, fees and procedures change; confirm current requirements with the Dubai Land Department, the Rental Disputes Centre or a licensed Dubai lawyer before acting.
If a disagreement with your tenant or landlord ends up needing a formal ruling, this guide to the Dubai Rental Dispute Centre, including how to file a case, fees and timeline explains the process.
For the financing side of a deal with a sitting tenant, see buying a tenanted apartment in Dubai with a mortgage and the 12-month notice trap.
