8.4 Short-Term Rentals, Holiday Homes and Shared Housing vs. Long-Term Leases

8.4 Short-Term Rentals, Holiday Homes and Shared Housing vs. Long-Term Leases

The leasing module ends with the difference between long-term and short-term letting. Brokers are often asked by landlords whether to rent for a year through Ejari or to list on holiday-rental platforms, and since August 2026 they also need to understand Dubai's new shared-housing rules.

1. Two regimes compared

2. Holiday-home permits

DET publishes the holiday-home permit process on its Holiday Homes portal:

• Who may register: an individual owner (with Emirates ID) or a company or establishment holding a DET holiday-home licence.
• One permit per unit, issued before the unit is advertised or booked; the permit number must appear on listings.
• Duration: a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 12 months, with the same fee regardless of duration.
• Fees: AED 300 per bedroom, AED 50 for the classification certificate and AED 10 each for knowledge and innovation fees, with an annual maximum of AED 1,200 per holiday home.
• Eligibility: apartments must be classified "Residential" on the title deed; permits are not issued for hotel rooms or hotel apartments, or where the sale and purchase agreement prohibits short-term letting.
• Insurance and inspection: a comprehensive policy covering guests is required, and DET inspects units (vacant at inspection), with violations to be fixed within two weeks.
• Building rules: the building management regulation or owners' rules may also need to be followed (see Chapter 10).

A tenant who wants to run a holiday home needs the landlord's written consent, because Article 24 of Law No. 26 of 2007 bars sub-letting without it.

3. Shared housing: Law No. 4 of 2026

Dubai Law No. 4 of 2026 regulating the occupancy and management of shared housing was published in the Official Gazette on 27 February 2026 and took effect on 26 August 2026, 180 days later. It applies across the emirate, including special development zones and free zones, and excludes labour accommodation.

• Shared accommodation now operates under a permit-based system for owners and authorised property-management establishments, with registered contracts, occupancy limits and health and safety standards.
• Only the owner or a properly authorised establishment may lease shared housing; an ordinary tenant or occupant may not sub-let a room, partition, bed space or other part of a shared housing unit.
• Existing operators were given a transition period to regularise; Dubai Municipality said law-specific enforcement would follow the official timeline once procedures were finalised.

For brokers, this means a "room for rent" listing in an apartment held on a standard Ejari lease is a red flag, and landlords should be warned that informal partitioning and bed-space letting carry legal risk.

4. Choosing between long-term and short-term letting

Worked comparison

A landlord can let a one-bedroom apartment long-term for AED 90,000 a year, or as a holiday home at an average AED 450 per night. At 65% occupancy, short-term gross income is 450 × 365 × 0.65 = AED 106,763. If an operator takes 20% of gross income (AED 21,353) and the owner pays about AED 12,000 a year for utilities, cleaning and furnishing upkeep, the net is about AED 73,410, lower than the long-term rent despite the higher gross. At 80% occupancy the gross rises to AED 131,400 and the net to about AED 93,120. The break-even depends heavily on occupancy, which is why brokers should show landlords both scenarios rather than headline nightly rates.

5. Broker checklist

1. Confirm the title-deed use and that the building or developer rules allow short stays.
2. For a tenant-operator, obtain the landlord's written consent first.
3. Make sure the DET permit exists before any advert or booking, and that brokerage adverts for sale or long-term rent still carry a Trakheesi permit.
4. Never advertise room or bed-space sub-letting in shared housing without the permits required by Law No. 4 of 2026.