Ejari Download: How to Get Your Tenancy Certificate in Dubai

If you're a tenant in Dubai and someone — DEWA, your employer's PRO, the school admissions office, the visa typing centre — has just asked for your Ejari certificate, you need the PDF, and you need it today. Good news: an Ejari download takes about three minutes if your contract is registered. The bad news is what trips most tenants up: the contract was never properly registered in the first place, or the landlord registered it under their own login and now won't share it.

Quick answer

You can do an Ejari download in three places: the Dubai REST app (the official Dubai Land Department app), the DLD website at dubailand.gov.ae, or the Dubai Now app. You'll need your Ejari contract number or your tenancy contract number plus your Emirates ID. The certificate comes as a PDF with a QR code — that QR is what government counters and DEWA actually verify. There's no fee to download an existing certificate. Registration of a new contract costs AED 220 (AED 120 fee + AED 100 knowledge and innovation fees, 2024).

What Ejari actually is, and why everyone wants it

Ejari — Arabic for "my rent" — is the tenancy registration system run by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), which sits under the Dubai Land Department (DLD). It's mandated by Dubai Law No. 26 of 2007 on Regulating the Relationship Between Landlords and Tenants, and the registration requirement is reinforced by Decree No. 26 of 2013. Without a registered Ejari, your tenancy contract is technically not enforceable at the Rental Disputes Centre. [1][2]

That last sentence is the one most tenants ignore until they need it.

In practice, you'll be asked for an Ejari certificate to:

• Open a DEWA account or transfer one
• Apply for or renew a residence visa for a spouse, child, or domestic worker
• Register kids in a Dubai school (KHDA requirement)
• Get a liquor licence
• Open certain bank accounts
• Park permits in some communities

If you don't have it, the counter just sends you home. No exceptions.

How to do an Ejari download via Dubai REST

The Dubai REST app is the fastest route. It's free on iOS and Android, published by the Dubai Land Department.

1. Download Dubai REST and log in with UAE Pass (you'll need a verified UAE Pass — the basic version won't work).
2. Tap Services → Real Estate Services → My Contracts (or "Tenant" depending on the app version).
3. Your registered tenancy contracts appear automatically, pulled from your Emirates ID.
4. Tap the contract → Download Ejari Certificate. The PDF saves to your phone.

If nothing shows up, your contract isn't registered under your Emirates ID. That's a separate problem — see below.

The certificate is a single page with a QR code, the Ejari contract number (starts with the year, e.g. 2024…), property details, annual rent, and contract dates. Government desks scan the QR rather than reading the document, so a screenshot is fine in most situations. Frankly, I still print one — Dubai counters love paper.

Watch out: The Ejari "registration receipt" you sometimes get from a typing centre is not the certificate. Receipt is white with a stamp; certificate is the formatted PDF with the QR. DEWA wants the certificate.

Doing the Ejari download from the DLD website

If you're on a laptop, dubailand.gov.ae works fine. Go to Services → Real Estate Services → Ejari Services → Tenancy Contract Inquiry. You'll need either:

• The Ejari contract number, or
• The Makani number of the property plus contract details

You can also use the older eppm.dubailand.gov.ae portal, but the new site is cleaner. The PDF you get is identical to the one from Dubai REST.

For older contracts registered before 2020, the system sometimes can't find them through Emirates ID lookup — you'll need to enter the Ejari number manually. Dig through your emails for the original registration confirmation; the number is usually in there.

What to do if your Ejari isn't registered (or you can't find it)

This is where most of the friction lives. Three common scenarios:

Scenario 1: The landlord never registered it. Under Article 4 of Law No. 26/2007, registration is the landlord's legal obligation, not yours. In reality, half of small individual landlords push it onto the tenant. You have two options: register it yourself (you'll need the signed tenancy contract, title deed copy, landlord's Emirates ID/passport, your Emirates ID and passport, and a recent DEWA bill), or file a complaint with the Rental Disputes Centre. The self-registration route through a typing centre or the Dubai REST app costs AED 220 and takes 24-48 hours.

Scenario 2: The landlord registered it but won't share the certificate. Annoying but solvable. Once your Emirates ID is linked to the contract, you can pull the Ejari download yourself from Dubai REST. If your ID isn't linked, you'll need to call DLD on 8004488 with the property Makani number and your contract — they can tell you whether registration exists.

Scenario 3: The Ejari was registered under an old contract and you renewed. Renewals require an updated Ejari. The old certificate stops being valid the day the new contract starts. If your landlord didn't update it, DEWA renewal will fail. This catches people every August/September.

For disputes, see our guide on tenancy disputes in Dubai.

Costs (2024):
- New Ejari registration: AED 220 total
- Ejari renewal: AED 220 total
- Ejari download (existing certificate): Free
- Typing centre service charge: AED 50-150 on top, varies

Common errors during Ejari download and how to fix them

A few that come up constantly in my practice:

"Contract not found" on Dubai REST. Usually means the contract was registered using a different ID number — old Emirates ID, passport number, or under a spouse. Try the spouse's login, or go to the DLD customer happiness centre at the Dubai Land Department building on Baniyas Road with your tenancy contract.

QR code not scanning at DEWA. The PDF got compressed somewhere — WhatsApp does this. Re-download directly from Dubai REST and email it to yourself, don't forward.

Wrong rent amount on the certificate. This one matters. Ejari rent figures feed into the RERA Rental Index, which caps how much your landlord can hike rent at renewal under Decree No. 43 of 2013. If the registered figure is wrong (lower or higher than actual), you need to amend it — there's an Ejari amendment service for AED 220. Don't sit on this; the wrong figure can cost you thousands at renewal.

Multiple Ejaris on the same property. Sometimes a landlord re-registers without cancelling the old one. Both show as "active" until DLD reconciles. Flag it through Dubai REST's complaint feature; otherwise the system gets confused at renewal time.

For the rent cap calculation itself, the RERA calculator at dubailand.gov.ae is the only authoritative one — landlords love to quote made-up percentages. Always check before accepting a renewal notice. More on this in our rent increase rules breakdown.

When you'll need a printed copy versus digital

Honestly, in 2024 most counters accept digital. DEWA, Dubai Police, and federal authority desks all scan QR codes off your phone screen. Where you'll still want paper:

• Some school registrars (especially older British curriculum ones)
• Dubai Courts when filing certain civil claims
• A handful of mainland banks for personal account opening
• Older landlords for their own files at renewal

Print on plain A4. No need for colour. Don't laminate it — counters sometimes want to stamp it.

One final thing worth saying plainly: keep your Ejari PDF backed up to cloud storage the moment you download it. When your visa medical centre asks for it at 7am on a Friday and Dubai REST is having one of its days, you'll thank yourself.

---

Sources

[1] Dubai Law No. 26 of 2007 on Regulating the Relationship Between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai — Dubai Land Department, dubailand.gov.ae/en/legislation/

[2] Dubai Decree No. 26 of 2013 on the Rental Disputes Centre — Government of Dubai Legal Affairs Department, dlad.gov.ae

[3] Dubai Land Department — Ejari Services, dubailand.gov.ae/en/services/real-estate-services/ejari/

[4] Dubai REST application — official DLD listing, App Store and Google Play

[5] Dubai Decree No. 43 of 2013 Determining Rent Increases for Real Property in the Emirate of Dubai

Need this checked for your situation? Talk to a UAE-licensed lawyer →