How to File Written Consent or a Refusal When a Dubai Tenant Asks to Sublet

Unless the signed lease already settled subletting, the later yes or no is a written page. Article 24 of Law No. 26 of 2007 still requires the landlord’s written consent before the tenant assigns the use of the property or sub-leases it, and Law No. 33 of 2008 did not replace that article. Read the contract, write a consent or a refusal that names the property, the tenant, and the proposed subtenant, and keep a copy with the head lease.

The tenant’s message and the landlord’s reply in the same chat are the request, and the folder still has only the head lease, the signed contract with the current tenant. That missing page is not an addendum of extra terms signed with the original contract, and it is not the twelve-month notice used to recover the flat. A written refusal is not an eviction notice.

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

The later written yes or no

Article 24 of Law No. 26 of 2007, issued in Dubai on 26 November 2007, is still the consent rule. Unless the parties already agreed otherwise in the lease, the tenant may not assign the use of the property or sub-lease it to a third party without the landlord’s written consent. The legislation portal says the Arabic text prevails over the English.

Assigning the use means the tenant hands the right to occupy to someone else. A sub-lease is a further letting, of the whole property or of a part, such as one room. Article 24 covers both, unless this signed lease already settled the point.

Law No. 33 of 2008, issued in Dubai on 1 December 2008, replaced Articles 2, 3, 4, 9, 13, 14, 15, 25, 26, 29, and 36 of the 2007 law. Article 24 is not in that list. Article 8 and Article 30 were left in place as well. Written consent is still Article 24.

The 2008 wording describes a subtenant as a person entitled to use the property, or any part of it, under a contract with the tenant. Letting one room is a sub-lease of part of the property. A landlord, in that wording, includes a tenant whom the landlord has permitted to sublet.

A chat reply, a spoken no-objection, and silence on the thread are the request. The statute does not name a messaging app, and it does not say that every email is void. What the folder needs is a signed, dated writing. A legal review dated 5 September 2026 describes that writing as one that identifies the property and the person. A guide dated 14 August 2026 says a useful consent identifies the property, the original tenant, and the proposed person.

If this lease already permits a sublet, sets a condition, or forbids the request, the later page points at that clause. Extra terms signed with the original contract remain in that earlier document. The twelve-month notice is the paper used to recover the property for the owner’s own use, a sale, demolition, or works. A written refusal records that this named request was declined. It is not that recovery notice, and it is not an eviction notice.

Article 8 of the same law says the sub-lease ends when the head lease ends, unless the landlord expressly agrees to extend it. A consent that says nothing about time does not, by itself, run past the head lease. Write the term on the page if you have agreed one. If the sub-lease is to continue after the head lease, the page has to say so.

Article 30 applies after a tribunal has ended the head lease and a subtenant is already in occupation under a contract the landlord approved. That subtenant may continue on the sub-lease terms. A consent or a refusal for a new request is not that situation.

The Dubai Land Department’s unified tenancy contract covers assignment and subletting in Arabic at clause 2: no transfer or assignment of the contract without the owner’s written approval, whether or not anything is given in return, and no sublease of the premises or any part unless the law permits it. Clause 13 says that where the Arabic and another language differ, Arabic prevails. Read the Arabic of the contract you signed. A Khaleej Times legal answer puts the consent rule in ordinary language: written consent, unless the rent agreement already agrees otherwise.

Write the page in this order

Read the signed contract before you answer. The message thread stays the request, and the signed page is either a consent or a refusal for this person. Both sit with the head lease. They are two answers on one page.

A new contract registration, when one is actually required, uses a separate document list. The Ejari registration papers are that list.

The decision stays on this page

Once the signed page is beside the head lease, the request has been answered. A refusal means this named request was declined.

Subletting the property, or any part of it, without written approval is a ground on which a landlord may later ask for the tenancy to end before it expires. That later request is the replacement text of Article 25(1)(b) in Law No. 33 of 2008. It is a different paper, and eviction on that ground applies to the tenant and the subtenant. The refusal on this page only records that this named request was declined.

A yes is the same page with the other answer. It names the person. If you agreed a part or a term, those are written on the page too. It does not approve the unit as a holiday home, and it does not licence shared housing. The holiday-home permit file is a different set of papers. Extra terms signed when the original contract was made remain in that earlier document.

Stop when the tenancy folder holds the written consent or the written refusal, naming the property, the tenant, and the proposed subtenant, kept with the head lease. The chat stays the request. IziRento can store a copy beside that tenancy. It does not consent, refuse, register the contract, draft the page, or sign. The signed originals stay with the parties. Open a workspace if you want that copy next to the lease.