Who pays for maintenance when the place is let.

Out of the box, Dubai law says the owner fixes things. You and your tenant are allowed to change that. Know how far the change can go and you'll dodge a row the day something breaks.

Updated 25 October 2026

Unless you and your tenant agree otherwise, Article 16 of Law No. 26 of 2007 makes you, the landlord, responsible for maintenance. That includes repairing defects or damage that affect the tenant's intended use of the place. Because the parties can agree otherwise, most contracts add a minor maintenance clause handing small repairs to the tenant, usually anything under AED 500 or AED 1,000. How far that clause goes comes down to the repair itself, as much as to the wording.

In short

By default it's on the owner. The law says outright that you can agree something else.
That AED 500 or AED 1,000 cut-off is just contract custom. You won't find a figure in the law.
Pushing major systems onto the tenant is shaky if the repair affects their use of the property.
Inside your front door, the service charge pays for nothing.

Where the line usually falls

Typical division in a Dubai residential tenancy

Item	Normally paid by
Light bulbs, filters, alarm batteries	Tenant
Blocked sink or shower trap	Tenant
Routine pest control	Tenant
Repairs under the contract threshold	Tenant, where the contract says so
Air conditioning repair and replacement	Owner
Plumbing and electrical faults	Owner
Water heater, major appliances supplied with the unit	Owner
Anything affecting use of the property	Owner, and hard to contract away
Common areas, lifts, facade, pool	Service charge, paid by the owner

Article 16 of Law No. 26 of 2007 regulating the relationship between landlords and tenants in the Emirate of Dubai, together with standard market practice in residential tenancy contracts. Read 18 September 2026. Your own contract governs, within the limits described below.

How far a clause reaches

Article 16 is a default, and it says so.
The article begins with unless otherwise agreed by the parties. That makes a minor maintenance clause a legitimate variation, and your tenant is bound by it. What's left to argue about is how far it stretches.
Reach is judged by the repair.
If a fault affects how the tenant can use the place, the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre looks at what broke and why, as well as at the contract. A clause about consumables and small call-outs is fine. Hand the tenant a structural repair or a failed major system and you're on thinner ice.
Silence means the default applies.
Without a clause there's no threshold. So if your contract says nothing about minor maintenance, your tenant doesn't have to pay for small repairs either. Get ready for calls about light fittings.
Write the threshold per incident.
Put a figure per repair in the contract, not some vague yearly allowance, and say who picks the contractor. Leave either one open and a small bill becomes a week of WhatsApps.

When the unit is new

For the first year after handover, a failed installation may be for the developer to fix, whatever your tenancy contract says about you and the tenant. The statutory periods come from Law No. 6 of 2019. Your sale agreement will usually add its own on top.

Developer liability after handover

What fails	How long	Running from
Mechanical, electrical and sanitary installations, sewerage	1 year	Handover of the unit
Structural parts	10 years	The project completion certificate
Finishing and workmanship	As the sale agreement says, commonly 12 months	Usually handover

Law No. 6 of 2019 concerning the ownership of jointly owned real property in the Emirate of Dubai, Article 40. Your sale agreement governs any contractual defects period.

Federal decennial liability runs alongside

Under the Civil Transactions Law, the contractor and the designer are liable for ten years if the building collapses, or has defects that threaten its stability or safety. You have three years from the collapse, or from finding the defect, to start proceedings. For how each clock runs, see the snagging guide.

Running it well

Over a whole tenancy, owners who just get things fixed tend to spend less than the ones who argue about who pays. An AC that’s serviced uses less power and breaks down less. And a tenant whose repairs get sorted usually renews. That’s worth more than you’ll ever claw back with a threshold clause.

Keep the tenancy contract with its clause, plus any maintenance contract, and log every repair against the unit with a date. If there’s ever a fight over the deposit, that log is your case. For the year’s total, see the real cost of owning, and the management cost calculator shows what handing it all over is worth.

What we’ve summarised here: Article 16 of Law No. 26 of 2007 (the Dubai landlord and tenant law), what residential tenancy contracts commonly say, as we read them on 18 September 2026, and Article 40 of Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly owned property. Remember Article 16 only bites where you haven’t agreed something else. A given clause gets treated according to the facts, and it’s your own tenancy contract that governs. This isn’t legal advice.

Questions

Who is responsible for maintenance in a Dubai rental?

You are, as the landlord, unless the tenancy contract says something different. Under Article 16 of Law No. 26 of 2007 the owner handles maintenance during the lease, along with repairing any defect or damage that gets in the way of the tenant using the place as intended. Look at how the article starts, though: unless otherwise agreed by the parties. It's a starting point, and a contract can shift it.

What is the AED 500 maintenance clause?

It's something written into the contract; the law doesn't mention it. The idea is that the tenant pays for repairs under a set amount and the landlord pays for anything above. AED 500 has been the usual figure for years, though you'll see AED 1,000 in plenty of contracts. No threshold in yours? Then there isn't one, and the Article 16 default applies.

Can I make the tenant responsible for the air conditioning?

You can put it in. Whether it'll stick is another matter. Article 16 lets the two of you agree a different split, so a clause like that isn't automatically void. But when the repair affects whether the flat can be used as intended, the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre looks at what the repair is, and at how the clause is drafted. Trying to make a tenant pay for a dead AC compressor puts you on weak ground.

What maintenance does a tenant normally handle?

Little things that keep coming round. Bulbs, cleaning the AC filters, the smoke alarm battery, a blocked sink, routine pest control. A minor maintenance clause is written for exactly these, and they're the last things worth falling out with a tenant over.

What happens if I refuse to carry out a repair?

Your tenant can take it to the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre, and if the repair affects their use of the property, owners usually lose. Compare that with what the repair costs. Once you count the filing fee, your time and the damage to the relationship, fixing it is normally cheaper.

Does the service charge cover repairs inside my apartment?

It doesn't. Your service charge pays for the building itself, so the lifts and common areas, the pool, security, the facade. Anything your side of the front door is your problem, and the two budgets are kept completely apart. If you're new to owning in a shared building, the first broken AC is often when you find this out.

Should I put a maintenance contract in place?

With a tenant in, it usually pays off. The price matters less than how fast someone turns up. With an annual contract, that panicked call at some awkward hour tends to become a visit in the diary. And there's a paper trail of what got serviced when, handy if your tenant ever says you ignored a fault.

Sunken seats by the pool in a Rukan townhouse garden

Mulki keeps the service history against the unit, with the contract and every repair dated.