A sale does not end your tenancy in Dubai. Article 28 of Law No. 26 of 2007 states that transferring ownership of a property to a new owner does not affect the tenant’s right to continue occupying it under the lease signed with the previous owner, provided that lease has a fixed term. The buyer inherits your contract on its existing terms and cannot raise the rent, change the conditions or move you out early because the building changed hands.
What a new owner can do is serve a 12-month eviction notice to take effect at the end of your contract, and even that has to be for one of four reasons set out in the law and delivered through a Notary Public or by registered mail.
This guide covers exactly what Article 28 protects and the one condition attached to it, what a buyer may and may not do after completion, where the security deposit goes, whether Ejari has to change, and what to check the moment you hear the property is on the market. The rent-increase side of the relationship is covered separately in the RERA rent increase calculator and tenant rights.
What Article 28 Actually Says
The wording is short and unusually direct. Transferring ownership of real property to a new owner does not affect the tenant’s right to continue to occupy the property by virtue of the lease contract entered into with the previous owner, provided that such lease contract has a fixed term.
Two things follow. The buyer steps into the seller’s position as landlord and is bound by the contract you already signed, including the rent, the payment schedule and any terms negotiated with the old owner. And the sale itself is not a ground to terminate anything, because Article 7 separately provides that a valid lease may not be unilaterally terminated during its term by either landlord or tenant. It ends by mutual consent or in accordance with the law, and by nothing else.
Article 28 has not been amended. Law No. 33 of 2008 rewrote large parts of the tenancy law, touching Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 13, 14, 15, 25, 26, 29 and 36. Article 28 was left exactly as enacted in 2007, which is worth knowing when someone tells you the rules changed.
The Condition Nobody Mentions
The protection is expressly conditioned on the lease having a fixed term. A tenancy that has rolled on informally with no defined end date, or an arrangement never reduced to a dated contract, does not sit squarely inside the wording. Registration matters for the same reason: Article 4 as amended requires all lease contracts governed by the law, and any amendments to them, to be registered with RERA. A registered Ejari contract with a start and end date is the document that makes Article 28 easy to assert and hard to argue with.
What the New Owner Can and Cannot Do
| Action | Permitted? | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| End your lease early because the property was sold | No | Articles 7 and 28 |
| Raise the rent mid-term | No | Article 9, plus the two-year bar in the original Article 9 |
| Change the contract terms mid-term | No | Article 7 |
| Propose different terms for the renewal | Yes, with 90 days’ notice before expiry | Articles 13 and 14 |
| Serve notice to evict at expiry for one of the four statutory reasons | Yes, with 12 months’ notice | Article 25(2) |
| Evict mid-term for non-payment or another Article 25(1) breach | Yes, on the same grounds any landlord has | Article 25(1) |
Nothing above depends on whether the new owner knew about you. A buyer who purchases a tenanted property takes it subject to the tenancy, and due diligence on the buyer’s side is the buyer’s problem, not yours.
The 12-Month Notice, and Why “I Am Selling” Is a Different Ground
Article 25(2) as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008 lists four reasons a landlord may seek eviction upon expiry of the lease: demolition and reconstruction, a condition requiring restoration or comprehensive maintenance that cannot be done while you occupy the property, the owner wanting it for his own use or for a first-degree relative, and the owner wishing to sell it. Any of these requires notice at least twelve months before the eviction date, served through a Notary Public or by registered mail.
The sale ground and the sale itself are different events, and confusing them is the most common mistake on both sides.
An owner who wants to sell may serve the 12-month notice and sell with vacant possession at the end of it. An owner who instead sells while you are in occupation has not used that ground at all, and the buyer takes the property with you in it under Article 28. The notice is not something the buyer inherits mid-flight from a seller who never served it.
The Method of Service Is Part of the Rule
A message, an email or a letter handed over at the door is not what Article 25(2) describes. Notice must go through a Notary Public or by registered mail. This is not a technicality that gets waived because everyone knew what was intended; it is the mechanism the law specifies, and a defective notice is the most frequent reason an eviction claim fails. The dedicated guide to the Dubai landlord eviction notice and the 12-month rule covers the notice itself in detail.
The Personal-Use Ground Carries a Penalty the Sale Ground Does Not
Where the owner evicts to use the property himself or for a first-degree relative, Article 25(2)(c) requires him to prove he does not own an alternative property suitable for the purpose. And under Article 26 as amended, if the Tribunal awards possession on that basis, the landlord may not rent the property to a third party for at least two years for residential property or three years for non-residential property. If he does, you may ask the Tribunal for fair compensation.
The original 2007 text set that period at one calendar year. The 2008 amendment doubled it for homes and tripled it for commercial premises, which is a useful thing to know if you were evicted for personal use and the unit reappears on a listings portal three months later.
Your Deposit, Your Cheques and Your Ejari
The security deposit follows the tenancy, not the seller. Because the buyer takes over the lease, the deposit obligation transfers with it, and the practical risk is that the seller keeps the money and the buyer denies ever receiving it.
That gap is the single most likely thing to cost you money, and it is worth closing in writing before completion rather than at the end of your lease. Ask for written confirmation from both parties that the deposit has been passed across, naming the amount. The mechanics of recovering it later are covered in getting your security deposit back in Dubai.
Rent cheques raise the same problem in a sharper form. Post-dated cheques are made out to the old owner, who no longer has a right to them for the period after transfer. Do not simply stop payment, because non-payment is an Article 25(1)(a) eviction ground once a 30-day notice to pay has been served. Instead, get written instructions from the new owner, retrieve the uncashed cheques from the seller, and reissue to the new landlord against a receipt.
On registration, the contract itself continues. What changes is who the landlord is, so the Ejari record needs to reflect the new owner at the next renewal at the latest. Keep your existing certificate: it is your evidence of a fixed-term registered lease predating the sale. The process is in downloading and tracking your Ejari, and cancelling Ejari covers the end of the road.
Viewings While You Still Live There
The law does not give a selling landlord a right of entry for viewings. Article 7 keeps the contract intact, which means your right to quiet enjoyment of the property runs for the full term regardless of the owner’s plans.
In practice most tenants accommodate reasonable, scheduled viewings because the relationship is easier that way, and many contracts contain an access clause. Read yours. Where there is no such clause, access is a matter for agreement, not instruction, and agreeing a fixed window rather than open-ended access is the sensible compromise.
What Actually Happens
The first sign is usually a broker calling about photographs rather than any formal notification, because no rule obliges an owner to tell you the property is being marketed. Expect that, and expect the new owner’s details to reach you only around or after transfer. Nothing about being told late weakens Article 28; the protection attaches to the lease, not to the courtesy.
What to Do the Moment You Hear About a Sale
- Locate your signed contract and Ejari certificate. Confirm the contract has a defined start and end date. That fixed term is the condition Article 28 attaches to.
- Check whether a 12-month notice was ever served on you through a Notary Public or by registered mail. If none was, no eviction can take effect at your next expiry on any of the Article 25(2) grounds.
- Put the deposit in writing. Ask the seller, in writing, to confirm the deposit is being transferred to the buyer, and ask the buyer to confirm receipt.
- Do not cancel cheques unilaterally. Wait for written instructions, then swap them against a receipt.
- Keep paying rent on time. Non-payment is the one ground that lets any landlord move against you mid-term, and a change of ownership is not a reason to withhold.
- Verify who now owns the property before you pay anyone new. The steps are in verifying a Dubai title deed online.
- If pressure to leave starts, file at the Rental Dispute Settlement Centre. The route is set out in the RERA complaint process in Dubai.
Two Situations That Work Differently
A death is not a sale, and Article 27 covers it separately: the lease does not expire on the death of either the landlord or the tenant, and the relationship continues with the heirs. The tenant’s heirs may terminate, but only on at least 30 days’ notice to the landlord or at contract expiry, whichever comes first.
Subletting is the exception that can cost a subtenant everything. Under Article 8 a sub-lease expires when the head lease expires unless the landlord expressly agrees to extend it, and under Article 25(1)(b) subletting without the landlord’s written approval is a mid-term eviction ground that applies to the tenant and the subtenant alike, leaving the subtenant to claim compensation from the tenant. If you are the subtenant of someone whose landlord has just sold, your position rests on the head lease, not on Article 28 directly.
What the Law Does Not Settle
The law says the tenancy survives a sale but does not prescribe how the deposit or the post-dated cheques move between seller and buyer, which is why that handover is where disputes cluster. It sets no obligation to notify a tenant that a property is being marketed or has been sold. And it does not fix a deadline for updating the Ejari record after a change of owner. Those are gaps in practice, not tenant obligations, and none of them cuts down the Article 28 right itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my landlord evict me because he sold the property in Dubai?
No. Article 28 of Law No. 26 of 2007 provides that transferring ownership to a new owner does not affect the tenant’s right to continue occupying the property under the lease made with the previous owner, provided that lease has a fixed term. The buyer takes the property subject to your contract and must honor it until it expires.
Does the new owner have to honor my existing rent?
Yes, for the remaining term. Article 7 bars unilateral termination or variation of a valid lease during its term, so the rent and the other agreed conditions continue unchanged. A new owner who wants different terms must propose them for the renewal and give at least 90 days’ notice before the contract expires under Article 14.
What notice must a landlord give if he wants to sell with vacant possession?
Twelve months. Under Article 25(2) as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, an owner wishing to sell the leased property may seek eviction only upon expiry of the lease, and must notify the tenant of the eviction reasons at least twelve months before the eviction date, with the notice served through a Notary Public or by registered mail.
Is a WhatsApp message or email a valid eviction notice?
No. Article 25(2) requires service through a Notary Public or by registered mail. Notice given any other way does not meet the requirement, and defective service is one of the most common reasons an eviction claim fails at the Rental Dispute Settlement Centre.
What happens to my security deposit when the property is sold?
The obligation transfers with the tenancy to the new owner, because the buyer steps into the landlord’s position under the existing contract. The law does not prescribe a mechanism for moving the money, so get written confirmation from the seller that it has been passed over and from the buyer that it has been received, naming the amount.
Should I stop my rent cheques when the property changes hands?
No. Non-payment is a ground for mid-term eviction under Article 25(1)(a) once the landlord has served a notice to pay and 30 days have passed. Keep paying, obtain written instructions from the new owner, retrieve any uncashed cheques from the seller, and reissue to the new landlord against a receipt.
Do I have to let the landlord show the property to buyers?
Only if your contract says so. The tenancy law gives a selling owner no statutory right of entry, and Article 7 keeps your contract, including quiet enjoyment, intact for the full term. Where the contract contains an access clause, follow it; otherwise viewings are a matter for agreement, and a fixed scheduled window is the usual compromise.
Does my Ejari need to be updated when the owner changes?
The contract itself continues, but the registered record should reflect the new landlord, in practice at the next renewal at the latest. Keep your existing Ejari certificate regardless: it evidences a registered, fixed-term lease that predates the sale, which is the exact fact Article 28 turns on.
Can the new owner evict me to live in the property himself?
Only at expiry, on 12 months’ notice, and only if he proves he does not own another property suitable for the purpose, under Article 25(2)(c). If the Tribunal grants possession on that ground, Article 26 as amended bars him from renting it to a third party for two years for residential property or three years for non-residential property, failing which you may claim fair compensation.
What if my tenancy has no written contract or no end date?
Article 28 protects occupation under a lease contract that has a fixed term, so an undated or purely informal arrangement does not sit squarely within the wording. Article 4 as amended also requires lease contracts governed by the law, and amendments to them, to be registered with RERA. A dated, registered contract is what makes the protection straightforward to enforce.
Official Sources
- Dubai Legislation, Law No. (26) of 2007 Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai
- Dubai Legislation, Law No. (33) of 2008 Amending Law No. (26) of 2007
- Dubai Legislation Portal, Supreme Legislation Committee
- Dubai Land Department, including the Rental Dispute Settlement Centre
Information is current as of August 2026. Regulations and fees are subject to change. Verify requirements with official authorities before proceeding.
This guide is for informational purposes only. UAE regulations and fees are subject to change. Always verify current requirements with the relevant official authority before proceeding with any application or transaction.
