What is the RERA Rent Index in Dubai?

How the RERA Rent Index Works in Dubai

If you're a tenant facing a renewal hike or a landlord wondering how much you can legally raise the rent, the RERA rent index is the only number that matters. Everything else is noise.

Quick answer

The RERA rent index (officially the Dubai Land Department's Rental Index, run by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency) sets the legal cap on how much a landlord can raise your rent at renewal. You check it through the Dubai REST app or the DLD website by entering your property details. If your current rent is more than 10% below the market average shown, the landlord can raise it — but only on a sliding scale capped at 20%, per Decree No. 43 of 2013. Below that 10% threshold, no increase is allowed.

What the RERA rent index actually is

The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) is the regulatory arm of the Dubai Land Department (DLD). The rent index is a database of average rental values across Dubai, broken down by area, building, property type, and bedroom count. It's updated periodically — sometimes annually, sometimes more frequently when the market moves hard.

You don't negotiate against the index. You apply it.

The index gives a "market average" for your specific property type in your specific community. That number is the anchor. Whether your landlord can raise the rent — and by how much — depends entirely on how your current rent compares to that average.

The 5-tier increase cap under Decree 43 of 2013

This is where most tenants and landlords get it wrong. The cap isn't a flat percentage. It's a sliding scale set out in Article 1 of Decree No. 43 of 2013 ^[1]:

• If current rent is up to 10% below market average → 0% increase allowed
• 11–20% below → up to 5% increase
• 21–30% below → up to 10% increase
• 31–40% below → up to 15% increase
• More than 40% below → up to 20% increase

So if the index says your 2-bed in JLT averages AED 120,000 and you're paying AED 110,000, you're roughly 8% below market — your landlord can't raise the rent at all this year. Frustrating for landlords, but that's the law.

How to check the rera rent index

Two official routes:

Dubai REST app. Download it, open the Rental Index calculator, enter your community, building, property type, and number of bedrooms. It returns the legal increase percentage for your specific contract.

DLD website. The Rental Index is published at dubailand.gov.ae under "Services." Same inputs, same output.

Honestly, the app is faster. Use it before any renewal conversation so you walk in with the number, not a guess.

Watch out: The index gives a range in some areas where data is thin. If your building isn't listed individually, the index pulls from the nearest comparable. Landlords sometimes argue the comparable is too low; tenants sometimes argue it's too high. The Rental Dispute Centre treats the official RERA calculator output as authoritative.

Notice rules — the 90-day trap

Even if the rera rent index permits an increase, your landlord can't spring it on you. Article 14 of Law No. 26 of 2007 (as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008) requires 90 days' written notice before the contract expiry date for any change to rent or other material terms ^[2].

No notice, no increase. The contract renews on the same terms.

This is the single most common landlord mistake I see. They send a WhatsApp message six weeks before renewal demanding 15% more, the tenant refuses, and the case lands at the Rental Dispute Settlement Centre (RDC) in Deira. The tenant wins, almost every time, because the notice wasn't proper or wasn't on time.

What if the landlord ignores the index?

File at the RDC. The filing fee is 3.5% of the annual rent (minimum AED 500, maximum AED 20,000). You'll need your tenancy contract, Ejari registration certificate (Ejari is the mandatory tenancy registration system in Dubai), Emirates ID, and the RERA rent index calculator output for your unit.

The RDC typically issues a first-instance judgment within 30–45 days. If the landlord raised rent above the index cap or skipped the 90-day notice, the tribunal will order the rent reset to the legal amount and may order a refund of any overpayment.

For broader context on tenant rights, see our tenancy law category.

Sources

^[1] Decree No. 43 of 2013 Concerning the Determination of Rent Increase in the Emirate of Dubai, Article 1. Dubai Land Department.

^[2] Law No. 26 of 2007 Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai, as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, Article 14.

^[3] Dubai Land Department, Rental Index — dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/rental-index/

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