RERA Index Calculator Dubai: How Rent Hikes Actually Work

If you're a tenant who just got a renewal notice with a 20% increase, or a landlord wondering how much you can legally raise the rent next year, the RERA index calculator Dubai is the tool that decides the answer. Not your landlord. Not the agent. The calculator.

Most clients get this wrong on the first try because they assume any rent hike is allowed if the contract is up. It isn't.

Quick Answer

The RERA index calculator Dubai is the official rent index published by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA, the regulatory arm of Dubai Land Department). It tells you whether your current rent is below market and, if so, by how much your landlord can legally increase it at renewal. The cap is set by Decree No. 43 of 2013: 0% if your rent is within 10% of market, rising to 20% if you're more than 40% below market. You access it free on the Dubai REST app or dubailand.gov.ae.

What the RERA index calculator actually does

The calculator compares your current annual rent against the average rent for similar units in your area. That's it. It doesn't care about inflation, your landlord's mortgage, or the fact that the neighbour's flat just rented for double.

You enter the property type, location, number of bedrooms, and current annual rent. The system spits out the average market rate for that segment. Then it applies the Decree No. 43 of 2013 sliding scale.

The output isn't a suggestion. It's the legal ceiling on any increase. If a landlord pushes past it, the Rental Disputes Centre (RDC) will roll the increase back — and in my experience, they do it quickly.

One catch worth knowing: the index uses averages from registered Ejari contracts. Ejari is the Dubai government system that registers tenancy contracts. If your building is full of unregistered deals (it shouldn't be, but it happens), the index data may lag the real market.

The Decree 43 sliding scale, in plain numbers

This is the part landlords love to forget. Article (1) of Decree No. 43 of 2013 sets five brackets:

Rent is less than 10% below market: no increase allowed
11–20% below market: up to 5% increase
21–30% below market: up to 10% increase
31–40% below market: up to 15% increase
More than 40% below market: up to 20% increase

That's the whole framework. There is no sixth bracket. There is no "but the market went up" exception. A landlord who claims otherwise is bluffing or badly advised.

Watch out: The percentage is calculated against your current rent, not the market rate. If you pay AED 80,000 and you're in the 10% bracket, the max new rent is AED 88,000 — not 10% of the market average.

How to actually run the calculation

Open the Dubai REST app (free, available on iOS and Android) or go to dubailand.gov.ae and find the Rental Index / Rent Calculator service. You'll need:

Property type (apartment, villa, etc.)
Exact area (Marina, JVC, Downtown — the dropdown is specific)
Number of bedrooms
Current annual rent in AED

The result page shows the market range and the permitted increase percentage. Screenshot it. Honestly, screenshot everything in a tenancy dispute — the RDC takes documentary evidence seriously and "the app said so last week" is not a defence.

The service itself is free. If you end up filing a case at the Rental Disputes Centre, the filing fee is 3.5% of the annual rent (minimum AED 500, capped at AED 20,000) per the RDC schedule.

The 90-day notice rule everyone misses

Even if the RERA index calculator Dubai says a 20% increase is permitted, your landlord cannot impose it on you mid-cycle. Article (14) of Law No. 26 of 2007 (as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008) requires 90 days' written notice before the renewal date for any change to the rent or material terms.

Miss the 90 days? The contract auto-renews on the same terms. Same rent. Same everything.

I've seen landlords lose 12 months of increase because they sent a WhatsApp message 60 days out instead of a notarised letter at 91 days. The RDC reads the timeline strictly.

Key dates to track: Mark your contract expiry. Count back 90 days. If no formal notice has landed by then, your renewal terms are locked.

When the index says zero — and the landlord still pushes

This is the most common scenario walking into my office. The calculator returns 0% (because your rent is already at or above market), and the landlord wants to raise anyway, sometimes by 30–40%, citing "market conditions" or a new owner.

Your options, ranked by what actually works:

Send the calculator result in writing. Email, not WhatsApp. Reference Decree 43 of 2013 and the specific percentage bracket. Many landlords back off here.
Refuse to sign a new contract at the inflated rate. Under Article (6) of Law No. 26 of 2007, if neither party serves valid notice, the existing contract auto-renews.
File at the RDC. Located in Deira (Al Manara Building) and now mostly digital via the DLD portal. Cases are typically decided within 30–45 days.

A landlord cannot evict you for refusing an illegal increase. Eviction grounds are exhaustively listed in Article (25) of Law No. 33 of 2008 — they include 12-month notarised notice for owner-occupation or sale, but "tenant wouldn't pay 25% more" is not on the list.

If you want a deeper read on eviction grounds and notice formalities, see our tenancy law category for related guides.

What the calculator does not cover

Three blind spots worth knowing:

Free zones and special developments. Some master communities (DIFC for office leases, certain free zone residential blocks) have their own rules. The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC, Dubai's English-language financial free zone) runs under DIFC Leasing Law No. 1 of 2020, not Decree 43. Check your jurisdiction before relying on the RERA tool.

Commercial leases with bespoke terms. If your commercial lease has a contractual escalation clause (say, 5% annually), the RDC will generally enforce what you signed. The index is a backstop for residential and standard-form commercial, not a rewrite of negotiated commercial terms.

Short-term holiday rentals. Properties licensed under the holiday home regime are outside the rental index entirely. Different regulator, different rules.

A worked example

Take a 1-bedroom in JVC. Current rent: AED 55,000. You run the calculator and the market average for similar units is AED 75,000.

Your rent is 26.6% below market. That puts you in the 21–30% bracket, which permits up to a 10% increase.

Maximum legal new rent: AED 60,500.

If the landlord serves proper 90-day notice asking for AED 65,000, they're AED 4,500 over the legal cap. You can either negotiate down to AED 60,500, or let it go to the RDC and have it imposed at AED 60,500 anyway. Same outcome, different speed.

This is why I tell clients: run the calculator before the conversation, not after.

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

Citations

[1] Dubai Decree No. 43 of 2013 Concerning Determination of Rent Increase for Real Estate in the Emirate of Dubai — dubailand.gov.ae [2] Dubai Law No. 26 of 2007 Regulating the Relationship Between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai — dubailand.gov.ae [3] Dubai Law No. 33 of 2008 Amending Law No. 26 of 2007 — dubailand.gov.ae [4] Rental Disputes Centre fees and procedures — dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/rental-disputes-settlement-centre/ [5] Dubai REST application — Dubai Land Department official channels [6] DIFC Leasing Law, DIFC Law No. 1 of 2020 — difc.ae