How to price a rental listing in Dubai: a guide for agents

Because the landlord is looking at other adverts, and you are offering an opinion. Adverts show what other landlords hope to get. Last year’s rent and a neighbour’s story add to that hope.

Records change the conversation: it is no longer your view against theirs.

Registered leases for the same building and the same number of bedrooms. Dubai Land Department (DLD) publishes registered tenancy contracts in its open data, with the start date, the yearly rent, the size, the number of rooms and whether the contract is new or a renewal.

Our Rent Check uses them like this:

• New leases only. A renewal follows the rent-increase limits of Decree No. (43) of 2013, so it shows an older agreement.
• Recent. Leases that started in the last six months.
• Similar size. Within 15% of the flat’s size, when there are five of them.
• The middle one of five. Not the highest and not the average, so one unusual lease cannot move it.

From our free Rent Check, with no sign-up. Pick the building, the bedrooms, the size and the asking rent. It shows:

• the five leases it used, each with its start date, yearly rent and size;
• the middle rent of the five;
• whether the asking rent is above it, and by how much.

If the building has fewer than five new leases for that flat type in six months, it says so and gives no figure.

You can also search DLD’s open data yourself. The Rent Check works from the same records.

Use the rent evidence sheet. Download the one-page rent evidence sheet (PDF). It has room for:

• the flat: building, bedrooms, size and asking rent;
• the five leases, with their dates, rents and sizes;
• the middle figure and the gap to the asking rent;
• what one empty week costs;
• the date of the records.

Fill it in from the Rent Check result and leave a copy with the landlord. The sheet lists registered leases. It is not a valuation.

Turn the gap into empty weeks. One week of rent is the yearly rent divided by 52.

Example with made-up figures. A landlord asks AED 95,000 a year for a two-bedroom flat. The five leases are AED 88,000, AED 86,000, AED 85,000, AED 84,000 and AED 80,000, so the middle one is AED 85,000.

• The gap: AED 95,000 − AED 85,000 = AED 10,000 a year.
• One week at the asking rent: AED 95,000 ÷ 52 = AED 1,827.
• AED 10,000 ÷ AED 1,827 = about five and a half weeks.

So in this example, waiting for the higher rent only pays if it adds less than five and a half weeks to the time the flat stands empty.

Agree, and point out the difference. An advert is an offer. A registered lease is a result.

Ask how long those adverts have been up, then put the five leases beside them. If the landlord still wants to test a higher rent, agree a date to review it and write it down.

Sometimes that is true, and the records cannot show it. DLD’s lease records give the size, but not the floor, the view, the furnishing or the condition.

Compare the sizes on the sheet first. Then name the flat’s real advantages. What they are worth is a judgement, not a record, and it is fair to say so.

Say so. Do not stretch the evidence. The Rent Check needs five new leases for the same number of bedrooms in six months. Without them it gives no figure, and the flat cannot be listed in our For rent section yet.

You can still show the landlord the leases that exist, and leases from nearby buildings, as weaker evidence.

After you and the landlord agree the rent. The Real Estate Regulatory Agency’s Brokerage Practice Guide says brokerages must obtain a permit for any property advertisement through the Trakheesi system, and the permit number must be displayed on the advert.

DLD’s Real Estate Ad Permit terms also ask a broker for a copy of the marketing agreement with the owner. Agreeing the rent first keeps the agreement, the permit and the advert in step.

Yes, if the rent is at or below the Rent Check figure. Our For rent section is for agents only, and listing is free.

• The form runs the Rent Check for you.
• It asks for the permit number and its expiry date, and at least five photos.
• We approve each flat before tenants see it.
• After approval, confirm every 14 days that the flat is still available, or it stops showing.

Start from Post a listing and choose For rent.

A short message with the figures, and a page written for landlords. Copy and adapt:

“Thank you for your time today. The latest five new leases registered for [bedrooms] in [building] were AED [1], AED [2], AED [3], AED [4] and AED [5]. The middle one is AED [figure]. Your asking rent is AED [asking], which is AED [gap] higher. Each week the flat stays empty costs about AED [weekly] in rent. I recommend listing at AED [figure]. The figures are Dubai Land Department lease records, checked on [date].”

For the landlord’s side of the same question, send our guide: Apartment not renting in Dubai? What to change first.