Dubai Rental Deposits: What the Law Says About Refunds and Deductions

When a Dubai lease ends and the keys go back, many tenants still have money sitting with the landlord: the security deposit paid on signing. On 1 November 2026 Emarat Al Youm reported a wave of tenant complaints about deposits that take weeks to come back, and about deductions for painting, cleaning and maintenance that tenants say they cannot check. Brokers interviewed by the paper explained how the process usually works. For landlords, tenants and the agents who manage move-outs, it is a good moment to separate what the law says from what is simply market habit.

Primary sources: Dubai Law No. 26 of 2007 regulating landlords and tenants, Articles 20 and 21 (Dubai Legislation Portal). Arabic market report: Emarat Al Youm, 1 November 2026.

First, the words

• Security deposit: money the tenant pays at signing so the landlord can cover the cost of putting the property right at the end of the lease. It is held for the tenant, and it is a guarantee rather than extra rent.
• Ordinary wear and tear: the normal marks of living in a home, such as light scuffs on walls or faded paint after years of use. The law keeps this on the landlord's side.
• Handover (move-out) inspection: the check of the unit when the tenant leaves, usually by the landlord's or the management company's technical team, which lists any damage and its repair cost.
• Rental Disputes Centre (RDC): the Dubai body that rules on disputes between landlords and tenants, including disputes over deposits.

What the law actually says

Article 20: the deposit has to come back

A landlord may take a security deposit "to ensure maintenance of the Real Property upon the expiry of the Lease Contract", provided the landlord "undertakes to refund such deposit or remainder thereof to the Tenant upon the expiry of the Lease Contract". In plain words, the deposit belongs to the tenant, and only the part needed for legitimate repairs can be kept.

Article 21: the property goes back as it was received, minus normal wear

The tenant must return the property "in the same condition in which the Tenant received it", except for ordinary wear and tear or damage due to reasons beyond the tenant's control. If the two sides disagree, the law sends the matter to the rental tribunal, which in Dubai means the RDC.

Two things follow. Freshly repainting a flat for the next tenant is not automatically the outgoing tenant's cost after years of normal use. And a deduction needs a reason the tenant can see: a real damage, with a real cost.

What is market practice, and only practice

The brokers quoted by Emarat Al Youm described common habits in the market. These are useful benchmarks, but none of them is a figure fixed in Articles 20 or 21:

• Amount: deposits usually run at about 5% of the annual rent for apartments and about 10% for shops and commercial units, according to the brokers interviewed.
• Timing: one broker said the balance is usually returned within seven working days of vacating the unit, or of the tenant handing in the final electricity bill. Another said a week to ten days is reasonable when there is no dispute.
• Typical deductions: repair costs quoted ranged from AED 500 to AED 1,500 depending on the damage, calculated from the maintenance company's invoices.
• Disputes: when the damage is large or the two sides disagree on the cost, the brokers recommend a neutral technical report, and said the competent authorities can send an expert to inspect the unit.

Tenants interviewed by the paper also proposed an independent fund that would hold all deposits during the lease. That is a suggestion from tenants, and no authority has announced such a scheme.

What to do, depending on your side

If you are the landlord (or the investor behind the unit)

• Photograph and date the unit at move-in, and get the tenant to sign the condition report.
• At move-out, give the tenant an itemised list of any deductions with the maintenance invoice behind each line.
• Pay back the undisputed part quickly. As one broker told the paper, holding the full amount over a dispute about one part of it only escalates the conflict.

If you are the tenant

• Keep the deposit receipt, the tenancy contract and its Ejari registration, and your own move-in photos.
• Ask for a joint inspection before you hand back the keys, take dated photos of every room, and keep proof of the key return and the final utility bill.
• If the refund does not arrive or a deduction looks unjustified, ask in writing for an itemised explanation. If you still cannot agree, the RDC is the route (our guide to the RDC's amicable settlement route).

If you are the agent

The end of a lease is where clients remember you, for good or bad. A clean move-in report, a clear deposit clause in the contract and a calendar reminder for the refund are small things, and they are exactly what avoids a dispute that lands back on your desk. If you manage the unit, the paper's quoted broker put it simply: the quality of property management is also judged by how a lease ends.

What we did not claim

Dubai's tenancy law does not set a deposit percentage or a fixed refund deadline in Articles 20 and 21. The 5% and 10% levels, the seven working days and the repair costs above are what brokers described to Emarat Al Youm on 1 November 2026, and they are reported as market practice. This is general orientation, not legal advice; for a specific dispute, check your tenancy contract and the Rental Disputes Centre, or speak to a lawyer.