Dubai rent increase calculator

In Dubai, a landlord cannot raise your rent by any amount they like. Under Decree 43 of 2013, the maximum increase at renewal is fixed by law and depends on a single comparison: how far your current rent sits below the average market rent for a similar unit, as measured by the RERA / Dubai Smart Rental Index. If your rent is within 10% of that average, no increase is allowed; the further below the average you are, the higher the permitted increase — capped at 20%. The 2025 Smart Rental Index changed how that benchmark average is worked out (now by building rating, not just area) but it did not change the caps. This calculator turns your two numbers into the exact figures that matter: the maximum percentage, the maximum dirham increase, and the highest new annual rent your landlord can ask for.

How Dubai caps your rent increase

Dubai’s rent-increase rule is one of the most tenant-protective in the region, and it is refreshingly mechanical: the maximum increase at renewal is decided entirely by how far your current rent is below the market average for a comparable unit. That average comes from the RERA rental index — since January 2025, the Dubai Smart Rental Index. Nothing else — not how long you have rented, not the landlord’s costs, not inflation — changes the ceiling.

The gap is calculated as (average − current) ÷ average. If your rent already sits within 10% of the index average, you are close to market and no increase is permitted. As the gap widens, the law allows the landlord to close it in steps, but never in one jump and never beyond 20%. The five bands below are set by Decree 43 of 2013 and are the exact bands this calculator applies:

The band is set by how far your current rent sits below the RERA / Dubai Smart Rental Index average for a comparable unit. If your rent is at or above the average, the permitted increase is 0%. Caps are fixed by Decree 43 of 2013 and were unchanged by the January 2025 Smart Rental Index.

A worked example makes it concrete. Say the Smart Rental Index puts the average annual rent for your apartment at AED 120,000 and you currently pay AED 90,000. Your rent is 25% below the average, which falls in the 21–30% band, so the maximum increase is 10% — about AED 9,000, taking your rent to at most AED 99,000 at renewal. Pay AED 115,000 against the same AED 120,000 average and you are only ~4% below the market, so no increase is allowed at all. The calculator does exactly this arithmetic for your own two figures.

The 2025 Dubai Smart Rental Index

The single input that decides your cap is the market average rent, so it matters how that average is measured. In January 2025 the Dubai Land Department launched the Smart Rental Index, an upgrade to the older RERA rental index. The headline change is that the index now benchmarks rents by a building’s star rating — a quality classification based on the building’s age, facilities, management and location — rather than lumping every building in an area into one broad average.

In practice this means the “average” the law compares your rent against is now much closer to your actual building, not a whole neighbourhood. A well-rated tower and a tired older block on the same street can have very different index averages, which changes the gap — and therefore the permitted increase — for tenants in each. That is a good thing for accuracy, but it means you should always pull the index value for your specific building, not a rough area figure.

You can look up the official figure in the DLD Dubai REST app or the Smart Rental Index calculator on the Dubai Land Department website. Enter that number as the “market average rent” here to get the legally correct cap. The important limitation to remember: this tool computes the maximum permitted increase from the two figures you provide — the accuracy of the answer depends entirely on using the correct, current index average for your unit.

90-day notice, and what to do if it is wrong

The cap is only half of your protection; the other half is notice. Under Law No. 26 of 2007 (as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008), a landlord who wants to change any term at renewal — including raising the rent — must give the tenant at least 90 days’ written notice before the tenancy contract expires. A rent increase sprung on you at renewal without that notice period is not valid, regardless of whether the amount is within the cap.

Two further points are worth being clear about. First, the cap and the notice apply only at renewal — a landlord cannot raise the rent partway through a running contract. Second, the percentage is fixed by Decree 43 of 2013: the only variable that changes it is your rent versus the official index average, so a landlord cannot negotiate a higher band by pointing to their own costs or to what a new tenant might pay.

If you receive an increase that exceeds the legal cap, or one without proper notice, you do not have to simply accept it. The Rental Dispute Settlement Centre (RDSC) — the judicial arm of the Dubai Land Department for tenancy disputes — adjudicates disagreements between tenants and landlords, and you can file a case there. Bringing the correct Smart Rental Index figure and this calculator’s band to that process is exactly the evidence the rule is built around.

Method, sources & honest limits

The calculator applies the increase bands set by Decree 43 of 2013: a rent within 10% of the index average allows 0%; 11–20% below allows 5%; 21–30% below allows 10%; 31–40% below allows 15%; and more than 40% below allows 20%. The gap is computed as (market average − current rent) ÷ market average, and if your current rent is at or above the average the permitted increase is 0%. From the band it derives the maximum increase in dirhams (current rent × the band percentage) and the maximum new annual rent (current rent + that increase).

The bands are unchanged by the 2025 Smart Rental Index — that reform changed how the benchmark average is derived (building star-rating benchmarks rather than area-wide averages), not the caps themselves. The result is only as accurate as the index average you enter: pull it for your specific building from the DLD Dubai REST app or the Smart Rental Index for a legally reliable figure.

This is a planning tool, not legal advice. The rent-cap and notice rules described here are Dubai (DLD/RERA) instruments; other emirates handle rental increases differently. For a formal position on a specific tenancy, confirm the index value with the DLD and, if a dispute arises, refer to the Rental Dispute Settlement Centre. Content last verified August 2026.

Dubai rent increases — frequently asked questions