- Starting April 1st, landlords in Dubai are mandated to seek rent re-evaluation exclusively through legal channels.
Dubai: Landlords in Dubai can still apply for a rent re-valuation with RERA if they believe they are entitled to a higher asking rent than the one suggested by the updated Rental Index.
But to do that, they will have to attach the judgement or legal order as per the new requirements put up by RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority). This is for all such rent revaluation requests from April 1.
As per the Ejari portal, landlords will have to go through the Rental Dispute Centre (RDC) and apply for a case to obtain the legal order.
Landlords earlier had the option to apply for a rental evaluation to adjust the current market benchmark set by the outdated calculator.
“This effectively reverses the trend in the last couple of years where a landlord has been able to pay a fee to the (Dubai) Land Department for rental valuations,” according to an update from Allsopp & Allsopp Group.
The updated RERA Rental Index calculator means ‘landlords can no longer increase rental prices above the benchmark provided’ on it. “While landlords still have the option to obtain re-evaluations, the process of obtaining a revaluation certificate has changed,” the Allsopp & Allsopp statement added.
The RERA calculator was updated on March 1. It thus becomes the ‘single source’ for calculating rental increases.
“Early figures show that as of Q1, 72,885 rental contracts have been renewed, which equates to 145,770 tenant and landlord decisions (in Dubai),” said Anisha Sagar, Director of Property Management at Allsopp & Allsopp Group.
“With that kind of volume, it makes sense for the RERA calculator to be used as the single source of truth. Adding this layer of legal requirements allows landlords and tenants alike to be sure that valuation changes are vetted fairly against the updated calculator.”
