Property manager or self-managing: what each costs on a Dubai rental.
Dubai owners choose between full management, a letting-only agent and doing it themselves. The fees are only half the comparison. The other half is what you still have to do under each.
Updated
Full property management in Dubai costs 5 to 8% of the annual rent plus VAT, and placement, renewal fees and markups on repairs usually come on top. A letting-only agent charges once per tenancy, often 5% of the rent or one month, and leaves the rest of the year to you. Managing it yourself costs nothing in fees and means handling Ejari, rent, repairs and the renewal rules. For an owner in Dubai with one or two units, letting-only for the tenant search plus Mulki for the rest of the year is the cheapest complete setup. Mulki keeps the renewal calendar and the rent ceiling, books fixed-quote contractors and logs every visit, free for owners.
In short
Compare the full annual cost, never the headline percentage. Two 6% quotes can be thousands apart.
Letting-only covers the hardest part, finding a good tenant, for a one-off fee.
Self-managing means owning the legal calendar: Ejari, 90 days' notice for changes, the rent index, twelve months to end a tenancy.
A manager earns the fee by cutting vacancy. Measure the fee in weeks of rent.
Mulki covers the parts managers are paid to remember, renewals, the rent ceiling and reliable contractors, for free.
The three routes
| Full management | Letting-only | Self-managing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | 5 to 8% of annual rent plus VAT, plus extras | About 5% of annual rent or one month, per tenancy | No fee. Your time, and contractors at cost |
| Finds the tenant | Yes, often for a separate placement fee | Yes | You, or a letting agent you hire per job |
| Ejari | Yes | Yes, at the start | You, about AED 155 to 180 in the Dubai REST app |
| Rent collection | Yes | No | You |
| Repairs | Yes, often with a markup of 10 to 20% | No | You book and pay contractors |
| Renewal and rent increase | Yes, sometimes for a renewal fee | No | You, inside the 90-day and rent index rules |
Fee ranges compiled from published Dubai management agreements and fee guides, as used in our property management cost calculator. VAT of 5% applies to service fees. Legal timings from Law No. 33 of 2008, Article 14, and Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended. Read 27 October 2026. Your own agreement is the figure that counts.
Who each suits
Letting-only: one or two units, owner in Dubai.
Most of a landlord's risk sits in choosing the tenant. A good letting agent screens properly and gets the Ejari right, and after that a well-chosen tenant in a sound flat generates very little work. Paying a full mandate for eleven quiet months is where owners overspend.
Full management: abroad, or several units.
The fee buys a local presence. When the owner is in London or Mumbai, someone has to let the plumber in, chase a bounced cheque and walk the flat at handback. Across five or more units, a manager's relationships with contractors and their speed at re-letting begin to pay for themselves.
Self-managing: in Dubai, organised, a few units.
Owners who already keep their documents and dates in order lose little by doing it themselves. The work is predictable: an Ejari each year, the rent index check before renewal, and a handful of repair calls. The risk is missing a legal deadline, and every one of them is known in advance.
Holiday homes are a different trade.
Short-let operators take 15 to 25% of revenue because they run cleaning, guests and pricing every week. It is a separate business decision, covered in our guide to short lets against a long lease.
Self-managing with Mulki
Most of what an owner pays a manager for is remembering things and finding a reliable contractor. Mulki does both for free, which moves the line where self-managing makes sense a long way out.
The legal calendar, kept for you.
Every renewal date, the Decree 43 rent bracket for that contract and the 90-day notice window, flagged in time to act. Missing that window is the most expensive mistake a self-managing landlord makes, and it is the one a manager is most often paid to prevent.
Contractors with a fixed quote and a checked licence.
Maintenance, cleaning and handover companies whose trade licence is verified against the Department of Economy and Tourism register and whose liability insurance must be current. You see the price before anyone starts, it cannot move without your approval, and repeated complaints take a company off. No 15% markup on the invoice.
Every visit logged against the unit.
Photos and receipts after each job, recorded against the property, so the service history is there when you re-let or sell. That record is usually what an owner loses when they change managers.
What the unit earns after costs.
Mollak service charges by quarter, maintenance and voids, netted off the rent into one yield figure, with a year-end summary for your accountant. From abroad it shows in your own currency and reports arrive in your time zone.
| Full management | Self-managing with Mulki | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | About AED 14,760 | No fee |
| Renewal and 90-day window | The manager's job | Flagged in the app |
| Repairs | Markup of 10 to 20% common | Fixed quote, no markup |
| Service history | Held by the manager | Held in your name |
| Tenant search | Included or charged extra | A letting agent when you need one |
Management cost from the worked example below. Mulki is free for owners. Providers booked through Mulki are paid at their quoted price.
Doing the sum
Take a one-bedroom let at AED 120,000 a year. At 6% plus VAT the management fee is AED 7,560. Add a placement fee of 5%, another AED 6,300 with VAT in a year when the tenant changes, and a 15% markup on AED 6,000 of repairs, which is AED 900. The year costs about AED 14,760, around 12% of the rent, against a headline of 6%.
A week of that rent is about AED 2,300, so the manager has to save you six or seven weeks of vacancy, or an equivalent in a better tenant or a higher rent, before you are ahead. Put your own agreement through the property management cost calculator to see the figure for your unit, and the rental yield calculator to see what is left after it.
If you manage it yourself, the rules worth having to hand are in our guides to rent increases, who pays for maintenance and a tenant who stops paying.
The worked example uses the midpoint of published fee ranges and is illustrative. Agreements vary widely, and some managers bundle placement or renewal into the headline fee. Mulki is our own product, free for owners and open from the waiting list below. General information for property owners, not legal advice.
Questions
How much does a property management company charge in Dubai?
What is letting-only, and is it cheaper?
What does a landlord have to do when self-managing in Dubai?
Can I manage my Dubai property from abroad?
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Is there a cheaper alternative to a property management company?
What should I check in a management agreement?
Mulki books local trades at a fixed quote, so self-managing stays manageable.
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