Letting: Ejari, the RERA index and rent increases
How much the law allows a rent to rise and on what scale, how 90 days’ notice differs from 12 months, what you acquire along with a tenanted flat, and where disputes are heard.
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What to know before you download
Short answers to what this guide is usually downloaded for. Every figure states the period it belongs to — rates, visa thresholds and yields move.
What is Ejari and why does a landlord need it
Ejari is the compulsory registration of a tenancy contract with the Land Department. Without it a tenant cannot connect electricity and water, cannot sponsor a family visa and cannot file at the rental tribunal, and a landlord cannot rely on the contract in a dispute. It is normally registered by the landlord or their agent and renewed each year with the tenancy. An unregistered contract is not a grey scheme — it is simply paper that is hard for either side to stand on in court.
How much can the rent be increased
Not by as much as you would like, but on a scale in force since 2013 and tied to the average market rate for that property type in that district. If the current rent is no more than 10% below market, no increase is permitted at all. A gap of 11–20% allows 5%, 21–30% allows 10%, 31–40% allows 15%, and above 40% allows 20%. The Land Department’s official calculator applies the scale, and its output is not a suggestion — it is what the tribunal will look at.
How to serve notice of an increase or an eviction
Two different periods, and they are confused more than anything else. Changing the terms of the contract, rent included, requires at least 90 days’ notice before the end of the term. Evicting a tenant on grounds such as a sale, the owner’s own occupation or major renovation requires 12 months’ notice served through a notary or by registered post. A missed deadline means the contract renews on its existing terms, and no verbal understanding changes that.
What happens if I buy a flat with a tenant in it
You buy the contract too. A change of owner does not by itself end the tenancy or allow you to evict tomorrow: the running contract sees out its term, and evicting for your own occupation still needs that twelve-month notice. So a tenanted flat has two prices — the one in the listing, and the one adjusted for how long you are bound by somebody else’s rate. If that rate is below market, you cannot lift it to market at once: the scale will not allow it.
Where do disputes go
To the Rental Disputes Centre at the Land Department — a specialist forum rather than the general courts, and faster for it. The fee is a percentage of the annual rent with a floor and a ceiling. A practical note from experience: nearly everything that reaches a dispute is lost on the paperwork — no Ejari, a notice with no proof of service, no inventory at handover. Order in the documents is cheaper than any lawyer.
How much deposit, and what happens to it
Market practice is 5% of the annual rent unfurnished and 10% furnished. That is custom rather than statute, which makes the amount less important than the record of condition: a handover inventory with dated photographs at move-in and move-out. The deposit covers damage beyond fair wear and tear, not the fact that a flat needs cleaning after a year of living in it. Deposit arguments are the most common small dispute on this market and are almost always won by whoever has the dated photographs.
This material is provided for information purposes and does not constitute individual investment advice. Property returns depend on many factors and are not guaranteed.