How to Keep a Written Payment Demand and Proof of Service for Unpaid Dubai Rent

When rent on one Dubai unit is missed, keep a written demand that names the unit and the contract and asks for the unpaid rent or the unpaid part. Law No. 33 of 2008 gives thirty days from the date of the landlord's notice to pay, unless the parties agreed otherwise. For Article 25(1), serve that notice through a Notary Public or by registered mail, and keep the proof of the route you used. The Arabic text prevails.

That rule is the one Law No. 33 of 2008 put in place in Dubai on 1 December 2008. Article 1 replaced Article 25 of Law No. 26 of 2007. The English Legal Affairs page is a translation. Where it disagrees with the Arabic, the Arabic prevails.

Disclaimer: IziRento is operations software, not legal advice. Local tenancy rules vary; check a qualified adviser for binding decisions.

Law No. 33 of 2008 replaced the payment rule

The replaced Article 25(1)(a) is the payment ground. In the Arabic text, the tenant has thirty days from the date of the landlord's notice to pay the rent or any part of it, unless the parties agreed otherwise. The notice is a written request for that unpaid rent or that unpaid part.

Paragraph (1) also says how the landlord gives the notice. The landlord notifies the tenant through a Notary Public, الكاتب العدل, or by registered mail, البريد المسجل. The English text says the same thing in translation: a Notary Public or registered mail. The two are alternatives. The file keeps the proof of the one that was used.

A wider definition of Notice in the same law still allows a Notary Public, registered mail, delivery by hand, or a technological means approved by law. That definition does not name email or WhatsApp. Article 25(1) then limits this payment notice to the notary or to registered mail.

The English translation counts thirty days from the date of service of a notice requesting payment, unless otherwise agreed. The Arabic text, which prevails, counts thirty days from the date of the landlord's notification to pay, unless the parties agreed otherwise. That is one period, in the two languages.

Law No. 33 of 2008 does not set out a form for this notice. Replaced Article 4 says the lease describes the property so there is no uncertainty, and it states the rent and how it is paid. The demand therefore names the unit as the contract describes it, and it identifies the contract. A title deed, a no-objection certificate, and a cheque-number block are extras the article does not require. Contracts covered by the law, and amendments, are registered with RERA, the Real Estate Regulatory Agency. Ejari — Dubai's tenancy registration — is the usual record of that registration, and the papers for a new certificate are a different checklist from this demand.

The Legal Affairs page for Law No. 26 of 2007 still shows an Article 25 without "unless otherwise agreed" and without the notary-or-registered-mail sentence. On that page, Article 25(2) is still ninety days before expiry. Law No. 33 of 2008 superseded that article. That page is not the live payment rule.

The Dubai Land Department FAQ describes a payment notice through the notary public or by registered mail, with a deadline of no less than 30 days, and it also mentions an eviction allowance. Law No. 33 of 2008 gives thirty days from the date of the landlord's notice to pay, unless the parties agreed otherwise. The department's tenancy-guide PDF prints the amended service sentence and, later in the same file, the older article. The day count for this demand is the one in the Legal Affairs text of Law No. 33 of 2008.

Article 25(1)(h) asks the tenant to perform some other obligation, on its own thirty-day notice. A change of rent before renewal belongs in another file.

Set the other papers aside before the draft

Before the demand is written, separate it from the twelve-month notice and from the cheque register. A twelve-month notice under Article 25(2) is for the landlord's own use, a sale, or works, and it carries its own vacate date. The cheque register already has a row for the missed instalment.

File the demand and the proof of service

The sequence runs from the missed instalment to the proof of service. The period on the demand is the one written in the contract, or the thirty days in the article when the contract is silent.

The Rental Dispute Centre's first-instance page describes the eviction document as a notarised notice together with the notification officer's report, or as registered post together with the acknowledgement of receipt. Those are the two records to keep with the demand. The rest of that page belongs to a lawsuit at the Centre.