In short
- Ejari registration costs AED 220 at a trustee centre and AED 177.75 in the Dubai REST app.
- A mainland license needs premises of 100 square feet or more under a lease registered in Ejari.
- Cancelling a registration is free online and costs AED 40 plus VAT at a trustee centre.
- A free-zone company leases from its zone, and DEWA accepts that tenancy contract in place of Ejari.
In this guide
What is Ejari? Meaning, law and who runs it
Ejari is Arabic for "my rent". It is the online register that records tenancy contracts for property in Dubai: homes, offices, shops and warehouses. The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) built it under Law No. 26 of 2007, and the Dubai Land Department (DLD) runs the service.
Article 4 of that law, as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, has every tenancy contract and every amendment to it registered with RERA. In its 2007 wording the same article barred courts and government departments from considering any dispute or claim, or taking any other action, on a lease that was not registered. The unified tenancy contract carries a clause of its own: the landlord undertakes to register the contract in Ejari.
A registered lease produces the e-Contract Registration Certificate with its Ejari number, and that number is what other offices ask for. The Ejari contract number stands at the top of the contract. A founder meets it first when opening a mainland company: the steps around it are on business setup in Dubai mainland.
When a company needs Ejari: the trade license, visas and utilities
A company in Dubai shows its lease in the places below. The lease that counts is the one on the register.
| Where | For what | What is asked |
|---|---|---|
| DET, the licensing authority | Issuing a trade license | A site lease; an Instant License starts on a virtual site for its first year |
| DET | Renewing the license | A valid tenancy contract; in 2026 a license renews without one when the lease is renewed within three months of the license renewal date |
| DEWA, the utility | Electricity and water | A valid Ejari number; the account opens by itself when the certificate is issued |
| GDRFA, Dubai immigration | Sponsoring your family | An attested lease contract issued by Ejari, or a title deed |
| The visa quota | Staff visas of a mainland company | No fixed ceiling: the count follows the size of the premises and the activity |
| DMCC, for a unit leased in its zone | Renewing the zone license | The number of the Ejari certificate |
| Rental Disputes Center | Filing a rental claim | A copy of the latest lease (Ejari); a cancellation statement from Ejari is not needed |
The Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) asks a mainland business for a physical workspace of 100 square feet or more and sets no rule on where in the city it stands. The license types and their renewal are on trade license in Dubai.
To sponsor a family you show a lease of your own. GDRFA Dubai opens the sponsor file within 48 hours for AED 200 plus 5% VAT and two fees of AED 10. The other papers are on investor visa in Dubai and the UAE.
Ejari registration: where and how, online and at a trustee centre
The DLD offers three channels, and the right one follows from who the landlord and the tenant are.
| Channel | Who can use it | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Real Estate Services Trustee Centre | The tenant, the owner or a representative with a power of attorney | The original contract and an Emirates ID; 25 minutes at the counter, waiting aside |
| Dubai REST app | Leases where landlord and tenant are both individuals | A copy of the contract; the certificate arrives by email |
| Ejari system on the DLD website | Licensed property managers and owners who manage their own property | A user account, which the DLD opens free of charge |
The landlord and the tenant share the duty to register, and in most cases the tenant or the real estate agent completes it. A trustee centre does not take a property that a management company runs: that company registers the lease itself. A tenant may start a registration, and it goes through once the landlord approves. The system cancels a request that the landlord has left unanswered for 5 days.
The steps at a trustee centre
- Sign the unified tenancy contract with the landlord. For a new company the trade name and DET's initial approval come first.
- Bring the original contract and your Emirates ID to a centre, with a power of attorney when you act for someone else. A tenant adds the owner's no-objection letter.
- The clerk checks the file and enters it in the system.
- Pay AED 220 and keep the receipt.
- Receive the e-Contract Registration Certificate with the Ejari number.
- Pay DEWA's deposit from the email that brings the new account number. DEWA connects the supply within 15 working hours of the payment.
The steps in the Dubai REST app or the Ejari system
- Log in to the app or the system and choose the service Register or Renew Tenancy Contract.
- Enter the data of the contract and upload a copy of the unified tenancy contract.
- Pay AED 177.75. The DLD takes a credit card, cash and the Noqodi wallet.
- A DLD employee reviews the request and approves it.
- Receive the e-Contract Registration Certificate by email.
Ejari documents and certificate: what to bring, how to download and check it
The DLD's list is short: the unified tenancy contract and the applicant's Emirates ID. The contract itself carries the data the clerk checks.
- the owner and the lessor, with the lessor's Emirates ID
- the tenant, and for a company its license number and licensing authority
- the plot number, the Makani number, the building and the unit with its area
- DEWA's 9-digit premises number, shown on the door of the unit
- the use of the unit: residential, commercial or industrial
- the term, the yearly rent, the security deposit and the way the rent is paid
The DLD's tenancy guide adds what is matched against the contract. For the unit it is the title deed or the land map. For a company it is the trade license with its number, expiry date and address, and for a person the passport and residence details. A power of attorney issued in Dubai is entered by its number, and one from another emirate is attached. Tenants register with an Emirates ID: the DLD accepts a passport from embassies and consulates, and from GCC nationals who hold no Emirates ID.
Read the use of the unit before you sign. The DLD registers no commercial activity in a unit listed as residential.
Download or print the Ejari certificate
On the DLD website open the service Download Rental Certificate (Ejari). Fill in four fields: the Ejari contract number, DEWA's 9-digit premises number, the municipality number and the sub number. Solve the captcha and press Download file. If the numbers match no record, the page says it found no data, so check each one. The Dubai REST app gives the same certificate in the contract details of the property.
A printout of an old Ejari contract, or of the documents attached to a registration, comes from the DLD on a request with your details, sent by email or WhatsApp: the contacts stand in the DLD's frequently asked questions. A co-occupant gets no certificate of their own.
Check an Ejari number and the status of a contract
The Ejari contract number stands at the top of the contract, and it is the number the download form asks for. To see where a contract stands, log in to the Dubai REST app or the DLD website, open the property wallet and select the property: the status of the contract shows there.
Ejari cost and fees, line by line
| Line | At a trustee centre | In the app or on the website |
|---|---|---|
| Registration of the tenancy contract | AED 100 | AED 100 |
| Knowledge fee | AED 10 | AED 10 |
| Innovation fee | AED 10 | AED 10 |
| Service partner fee | AED 95 | AED 55 |
| VAT on the partner fee | AED 4.75 | AED 2.75 |
| Total, new contract or renewal | AED 220 | AED 177.75 |
| Cancellation | AED 40 plus VAT | AED 0 |
The lines of the first column add up to AED 219.75, and the DLD prints the total as AED 220. A renewal is charged like a new registration.
The lease brings one more bill, from DEWA. Connecting electricity and water costs AED 125 on a small meter and AED 300 on a large one, plus three fees of AED 10. The refundable deposit is AED 2,000 for a flat and AED 4,000 for a villa. For an office or a shop DEWA sets it by the consumption of the premises.
A company that registers its first office at a trustee centre pays AED 220 for Ejari and AED 155 to DEWA for a small meter. That makes AED 375 before the deposit and the rent.
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Ejari renewal and cancellation
Renewal
Ejari follows the lease, so it is renewed each time the lease is: the same service, the same fee, the same channels, and it ends with the same e-Contract Registration Certificate. A term runs from under a year to 10 years. The DLD lets you renew before the old term ends. An active registration cannot be edited, so a new rent or term goes into the renewal, or the owner cancels the record and registers a new one.
Law No. 26 of 2007 gives the timing. A party that wants to change the rent or another term tells the other 90 days or more before the contract ends, unless they agreed otherwise. A year that was never registered blocks the next one: the DLD asks for the earlier contracts first.
Cancellation
When you leave, the old record has to go, or the next tenant cannot register. The owner cancels in the app or in the Ejari system at no charge. A tenant cancels in the app or at a trustee centre, where the partner fee is AED 40 plus VAT. For an expired lease the tenant needs no approval from the landlord.
A commercial lease ends before its term in the cases the DLD lists: the trade license is cancelled or frozen, the company moves, or the Rental Disputes Center orders it. The DLD issues no certificate of cancellation: the lease stops counting once the request is approved.
A rental claim at the Rental Disputes Center does not wait for the cancellation. The Center asks for a copy of the latest lease (Ejari) and says a cancellation statement from Ejari is not needed to register a claim.
DEWA closes the account on your request, for AED 125 on a small meter and two fees of AED 10. The final bill comes within 24 working hours, and a clearance certificate follows once it is paid. A company that is closing takes these steps inside its company liquidation in Dubai.
Ejari and a free-zone company: the zone keeps its own lease
Ejari covers property on the DLD's register. A free-zone company that takes its desk or office from the zone signs the lease with the zone authority, and the zone holds it on the license file. DET states the rule for Dubai's zones: no office is compulsory, a virtual desk or a flexi-desk serves the license, and a leased office stands inside the zone.
| Where the company sits | Where the lease is recorded |
|---|---|
| A flexi-desk or an office let by the zone | With the zone, in the license file |
| A leased unit in the DMCC free zone | In Ejari: DMCC takes the certificate number at each license renewal |
| A DMCC business centre, shared unit or plot | No Ejari: the lease documents stand in |
| DIFC | With the DIFC Registrar of Real Property, through the DIFC portal |
| The founder's own flat in Dubai | In Ejari, like any home on the DLD's register |
DEWA follows the same split. A tenant outside the zones opens the account with an Ejari number, and a tenant in a zone that is exempt from Ejari applies on DEWA's site with a valid tenancy contract. What each zone charges for its desk is in Dubai free zone license cost, and the choice between the two routes in free zone vs mainland in the UAE.
Ejari is Dubai's register alone: Abu Dhabi records leases in its own, Tawtheeq.
Why an Ejari registration is returned
The system returns a contract that breaks one of the DLD's conditions. These are the ones a company runs into.
- The last tenant's record is still open. A unit carries one registration at a time, and the old one is cancelled first.
- An earlier year of the same lease was never registered.
- The unit is listed as residential, and the license is commercial.
- The landlord did not approve the tenant's request within 5 days.
- A management company runs the building, so a trustee centre cannot take the file.
- The names, the license number or the plot differ from the title deed and the trade license.
- The tenant applied with a passport. The DLD takes an Emirates ID.
An office in a business centre gets its Ejari through the centre. The DLD registers a centre of 5,000 square feet or more, divided into units of 100 square feet or more, on a five-year lease from the owner and with the municipality's approval. Only one contract can be registered for each unit within 365 days.
Ejari when you open a company with us
A mainland company shows its lease twice: when DET issues the license and at every renewal. We find the office when you have none, register the lease in Ejari and keep its date beside the license date in your account. Our Ejari service is AED 7,350 before VAT. For a mainland company DET's license fee is paid at cost and our fee is one of three packages from AED 2,150 before VAT: the steps and DET's fees are on business setup in Dubai mainland. The rest of the company is set up on business setup in Dubai.
