Article 16 of Dubai's tenancy law makes the landlord responsible for maintenance works and for repairing any defect or damage that affects the tenant's intended use of the property — but only "unless otherwise agreed by the parties." A Dubai tenancy contract can move that responsibility onto the tenant, so the contract is where the real answer lives.
Here is the conversation nobody enjoys. The AC has been blowing warm since Thursday, it is 44 degrees outside, and the agent replies that maintenance is the tenant's responsibility because "that is standard in Dubai." You have no idea whether that is true. You do not want to start a fight in month three of a twelve-month contract. So you pay the technician, and you pay him again in November, and by the time the lease renews you have quietly funded a year of somebody else's asset maintenance.
"Standard in Dubai" is not a legal position. Dubai's tenancy law sets a default, your contract can override that default, and the only way to know which one governs your flat is to read the clause. The clause on that single page is what settles the argument.
Who is responsible for repairs in a Dubai rental?
The landlord is responsible by default. Article 16 of Law No. (26) of 2007 states that "Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the Landlord will, during the term of the Lease Contract, be responsible for the Real Property maintenance works and for repairing any defect or damage that may affect the Tenant's intended use of the Real Property."
The opening words carry the whole clause. Article 16 is a default rule, not a protected right, and the parties are free to agree something else. A Dubai tenancy contract that says the tenant handles maintenance up to a stated value, or handles AC servicing, or handles everything except structural work, has done exactly what Article 16 permits.
Article 17 of Law No. (26) of 2007 adds a second landlord obligation. The landlord "will be responsible for any defect, damage, deficiency, and wear and tear occurring to the Real Property for reasons not attributable to the fault of the Tenant." Fault is the pivot: a compressor that fails after eight years of service is deterioration, and a compressor that fails because the condenser was never cleaned by the tenant who agreed to clean it is not.
What does Dubai's tenancy law assign to each side?
The table sets out the maintenance-related obligations Law No. (26) of 2007 places on each party during a Dubai tenancy, with the article each one comes from.
How do you work out who pays for a repair in a Dubai rental?
Who pays for any individual repair in a Dubai rental is decided by a short sequence of questions, and reading them in order is how you settle it.
- What does the contract say? A clause that allocates maintenance to the tenant, or splits it at a stated value, overrides the Article 16 default because Article 16 allows it to.
- Is the fault yours? Article 17 keeps deterioration and wear and tear with the landlord where the cause is not attributable to the tenant. A blocked drain caused by wipes is a different conversation to a drain that was laid to the wrong fall.
- Is it maintenance or an improvement? Restoring the property to working order is maintenance. Upgrading a working item to a better one is a change, and Article 19 says a tenant may not carry out changes without the landlord's permission.
Servicing sits in the gap between repairing a defect and preventing one. Routine AC servicing is preventive rather than corrective, so a contract that intends servicing to sit with the tenant has to say so. A contract that is silent on servicing leaves you arguing about whether a clean is "maintenance works" under Article 16 — an argument worth having before you sign, not in August.
Can a tenant arrange repairs themselves in a Dubai rental?
Article 19 sets a firm limit here. A tenant "may not make any changes or carry out any restoration or maintenance works to the Real Property unless so permitted by the Landlord and after obtaining required licences from the competent official entities." Permission first, then the licensed contractor — in that order.
Article 19 opens that limit with a carve-out, and the carve-out is the part that matters to a tenant: the prohibition applies without prejudice to the tenant's obligation to carry out the restorations that have been agreed upon, or which are customary for tenants to undertake. Where the contract has handed maintenance to you, the licence requirement still applies, so the company you call needs a trade licence carrying the activity for the work being done.
Preparation decides the outcome long before any escalation. A dated record of the fault, the emails asking for the repair, the clause you are relying on, and an invoice from a licensed contractor if you paid for the work yourself are the documents worth keeping. A WhatsApp thread and a memory of a phone call are not the same thing.
The end of the tenancy is where unpaid repairs come back around, because the deposit is the money in reach. Our guide to what a Dubai landlord can legally deduct from a security deposit covers what happens to that money and how wear and tear is treated at move-out.
Read the clause, then get the AC fixed properly
Once you know where the maintenance clause lands, the next problem is smaller but more immediate: finding an AC company that turns up, charges what it quoted, and does not sell you a gas top-up every visit. That search is where a tenant loses a weekend, and then the argument about whether the work was needed at all.
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Frequently asked questions about maintenance in a Dubai rental
Can a Dubai tenancy contract make the tenant responsible for all maintenance?
A Dubai tenancy contract can allocate maintenance to the tenant, because Article 16 applies only "unless otherwise agreed by the parties." Read the maintenance clause before signing and ask for the split to be written in figures or categories, so that neither side is later arguing about what the word maintenance was meant to cover.
Is wear and tear the landlord's responsibility in a Dubai rental?
Article 17 of Dubai's tenancy law makes the landlord responsible for any defect, damage, deficiency and wear and tear occurring to the property for reasons not attributable to the tenant's fault. The test written into the law is fault, so the question to answer about any specific item is what caused it rather than how old it is.
Does a Dubai tenant need permission before calling a contractor?
Article 19 states that a tenant may not carry out changes, restoration or maintenance works without the landlord's permission and the required licences from the competent official entities. Get permission in writing first, then use a company whose trade licence carries the activity for the work, and keep both records together.
Who pays for AC servicing in a Dubai apartment?
Whoever the Dubai tenancy contract says pays. Routine servicing is preventive work rather than the repair of a defect, so a Dubai contract that intends to place it on the tenant has to say so. Where the contract is silent, Article 16 leaves maintenance works with the landlord, which is why the clause is worth negotiating before you sign.
Can a Dubai tenant deduct a repair cost from the rent?
Article 19 of Law No. (26) of 2007 requires a tenant to pay the rent on the due dates, and that article grants no set-off for repair spending. Withholding rent to fund a repair is therefore not a step Article 19 supports. Raise the repair with the landlord in writing, keep the invoice, and pursue reimbursement separately.
Which repairs count as the tenant's fault in a Dubai rental?
Dubai's tenancy law does not list them. Article 19 sets the standard as maintaining the property as an ordinary person would maintain his own, and Article 17 keeps everything not attributable to the tenant's fault with the landlord. Damage traced to how the property was used sits on one side of that line, and deterioration sits on the other.
Related reading:
Dubai legislation is summarised here for general information only, and nothing above is legal advice. Read your own tenancy contract, and take advice on your own circumstances.
Last updated: September 2026
