Lease Under the New UAE Civil Code
Articles 685 to 811, and where they yield to the emirate rent regimes

Almost every UAE tenancy argument is run on emirate law — the Dubai rental regime under Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, Decree No. 43 of 2013 and the Rental Index, or the Abu Dhabi regime and its tenancy registration. That is correct as far as it goes. But those statutes sit on top of a federal lease chapter which supplies the contract itself, and on 1 June 2026 that chapter was replaced: lease is now Articles 685 to 811 of Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025.

The federal provisions matter most in three situations: where the emirate regime is silent, where the premises are outside it, and where the lease is commercial or industrial rather than residential. This note sets out what the new chapter says, and where it yields to emirate law.

1. Where the federal chapter governs, and where it yields

The federal lease chapter is the general law. Emirate rent legislation is special law for the premises and purposes it covers, and prevails there. The practical question is always which regime answers the question in front of you.

The qualifier "subject to emirate law" is doing real work in the last row, and section 4 explains why it is the most misread interface in UAE landlord-and-tenant practice.

2. Formation and term: Articles 685 to 699

Article 685 defines a lease as a contract by which the lessor undertakes to enable the lessee to benefit from a specified thing for a specified period in consideration of a known rent. Three elements — a specified thing, a specified period, a known rent — and each has a consequence if it fails.

Article 691: the term runs from the date agreed; absent agreement, from the date of the contract.

Article 692 is the provision to know. The term must be specified. Where the lease is made without agreement on a term, or for an unspecified term, or where proof of the alleged term becomes impossible, the lease is deemed concluded for the period specified for payment of rent, and terminates on expiry of that period.

That default has sharp effects:

• A lease with rent expressed monthly, and no term agreed or provable, is a monthly lease at federal level.
• "Proof of the alleged term becomes impossible" covers the common case of an unregistered or undocumented arrangement where the parties disagree about duration. The party asserting a longer term bears the consequence of not being able to prove it.
• The frequency with which rent is expressed therefore carries legal weight independent of how it is paid. A lease stating an annual rent payable in four cheques is not a quarterly lease; one stating a quarterly rent is exposed.

In Dubai the emirate regime and Ejari registration will usually supply the term, which is why Article 692 surfaces mainly in commercial, industrial and out-of-scope tenancies — exactly where parties are least likely to have documented carefully.

3. The landlord's obligations: Articles 700 to 715

Article 700 requires the lessor to deliver the property and its appurtenances "in a condition suitable for obtaining the intended benefit in full", measured by what was agreed or by the nature of the property. Delivery is effected by enabling the lessee to take possession without impediment.

Article 701 supplies the remedy. Where the property is delivered in a condition unsuitable for the purpose for which it was leased, or the use is diminished to an extent materially impairing the intended benefit, the lessee may seek:

• rescission of the contract; or
• reduction of the rent in proportion to the diminution in use,

with compensation. The test is not whether the premises are defective in the abstract but whether the intended benefit is materially impaired — which makes the stated permitted use in the lease the decisive drafting point. A commercial tenant whose lease recites a specific use has a far better Article 701 argument than one whose lease is silent, because the benchmark is built into the contract.

The exclusion clause that does not work

Article 715: any agreement providing for exemption from or limitation of the warranty against interference or defects is void if the lessor fraudulently concealed the ground for the warranty.

Read the condition carefully, because it cuts both ways. Unlike Article 823 in the construction chapter — which voids exemption clauses outright — Article 715 voids them only where there was fraudulent concealment. An "as is" clause in a commercial lease is therefore capable of operating; it fails where the landlord knew of the defect and hid it. For tenants the practical consequence is that the Article 715 argument is an evidential one about what the landlord knew, and the pre-letting correspondence and any survey are where it is won or lost.

4. Expiry and tacit renewal: Articles 730 and 731

These two articles are the most commonly misstated in UAE tenancy practice, because the federal default and the Dubai position point in different directions.

Taken alone, that would mean no notice is required to bring a UAE tenancy to an end. It is the federal default, and it is the correct answer for tenancies outside an emirate regime. It is not the answer in Dubai for premises within Law 26/2007 as amended, because that statute is "the law" that provides otherwise — and it requires twelve months' notice through a notary or registered post for eviction on the permitted grounds. A landlord who relies on Article 730 in a Dubai residential tenancy will lose.

Article 731 then deals with holding over. Where the lease expires and the lessee continues to benefit from the property with the lessor's knowledge and without objection, the lease is deemed renewed on its original terms for one year — or for the original term if that was shorter. Article 731(2) adds that this renewal is a new lease, not an extension of the old one.

The "new lease, not an extension" characterisation is not academic. It bears on:

• Security. Guarantees and third-party security given for "the lease" may not extend to a renewal that is a different contract. Landlords should take fresh security on renewal rather than assume continuity.
• Terms. Renewal is on the original terms. A landlord who wants different terms must object before the holding over hardens into renewal, and silence is the thing that costs the right.
• Duration. One year, or the original term if shorter — not an indefinite continuation and not a month-to-month arrangement.

The operative trigger is the lessor's knowledge without objection. A landlord who intends not to renew must act, in the manner the applicable emirate regime requires, and must do so in time.

5. Which law governs your tenancy

Article 4 preserves non-retroactivity: the new Law governs from 1 June 2026 and does not apply to facts and transactions preceding it. For leases that produces a practical rule of thumb and one trap.

• A lease concluded and performed before 1 June 2026 is governed on the substance by Federal Law No. 5 of 1985, and the old article numbers are the correct ones to plead.
• A lease concluded after 1 June 2026 is governed by the 2025 Law throughout.
• A lease concluded before but renewed after — and Article 731 says a tacit renewal is a new lease, not an extension — raises a real question about which Law governs the renewed term. Parties on either side of that question should not assume the answer.

The trap is limitation. Article 7 provides that where the new Law sets a shorter period than the old, the new period runs from 1 June 2026 even if the old period had already begun, unless what remained of the old period is shorter. Rent-arrears and dilapidations claims already running on that date need both calculations.

6. Checklists

Landlord

• State the term expressly and state the rent annually where an annual term is intended — Article 692 falls back to the rent-payment period.
• If you do not intend to renew, object in time and in the form the emirate regime requires. Article 731 turns silence into a one-year renewal on the original terms.
• Take fresh security on any renewal; a tacit renewal is a new contract under Article 731(2).
• Do not rely on an "as is" clause where a defect was known and not disclosed — Article 715 voids it on proof of fraudulent concealment.
• Never rely on Article 730 alone for premises inside an emirate rent regime.

Tenant

• Record the permitted use precisely. Article 701 measures impairment against the intended benefit, and the lease is where that benefit is defined.
• Keep the pre-letting correspondence and any survey. The Article 715 argument turns on what the landlord knew.
• Where the premises are unfit, decide early between rescission and rent reduction; they are alternatives under Article 701 and the choice shapes the pleading.
• Check whether your premises fall inside the emirate rent regime at all. Outside it, Article 730's no-notice default applies.

Both

• Update federal citations in your template to FDL 25/2025; Articles 742 and following no longer exist.
• Date the facts before selecting article numbers, and run the Article 7 calculation on any claim already running on 1 June 2026.

Primary sources

Every provision quoted above is taken from the instruments below. Links go to the official consolidated text, not to secondary commentary.

• Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 issuing the Civil Transactions Law — lease at Arts 685–811; 692 term, 700–701 delivery and remedy, 715 exemption, 730–731 expiry and renewal
• UAE Ministry of Justice — laws and legislation — consolidated Arabic text, which governs over any English rendering
• Dubai Land Department — Law 26/2007 as amended by Law 33/2008; Decree 43/2013 on rent increases
• Dubai Rental Disputes Centre (RDC) — the forum for tenancy disputes over premises inside the Dubai regime

Questions we are asked

Related guides in the library

• Construction and Decennial Liability Under the New UAE Civil Code
• Off-Plan Sale and Developer Obligations
• ADGM Tenant Rights — Residential Lease

Published 2026-10-03. General information only — not legal advice. Contact us for matter-specific advice.