Apartments for rent in Dubai: Can real estate agents insist on 4 cheques for payment?

Apartments for rent in Dubai: Can real estate agents insist on 4 cheques for payment?

Landlord and tenant may agree to the number of tranches and amount of each for rent payment

By Ashish Mehta Published: Sun 25 Sep 2022, 11:13 AM Last updated: Sun 25 Sep 2022, 11:37 AM

Question: I am looking for an apartment to rent in Dubai. All of the agents I have met are demanding four-cheque payments for the annual rent, but I won't be able to afford three months of rent at a stretch. Is there a law that stipulates that annual rent must be paid in four instalments? Is there any way I can get the authorities to intervene and make agents accept payment terms that are affordable to me?

Response: Pursuant to your queries, as you are looking for a rented apartment in Dubai, the provisions of Law No. 26 of 2007 Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai (the ‘Dubai Rent Law’) are applicable.

In Dubai, the landlord and tenant may mutually agree to the number of tranches and amount of each for rent payment. In the event there is no consensus on the dates of payment of rent, it may be paid in four equal instalments. In this case, the rents are payable once