The UAE replaced its Civil Code on 1 June 2026. Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 repealed Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 in full and put 1,422 articles in place of the old 1,528, which means almost every Civil Code article number quoted in a UAE contract, a law firm briefing or an online guide written before that date now points somewhere else.

This is not a cosmetic renumbering. Some provisions moved and kept their wording, some moved and changed, and at least two of the new numbers collide with old numbers that expats cite constantly, so a stale citation still reads as plausible while pointing at an entirely different rule. The gambling article, the insurance article and the guarantee articles are all in that category.

This guide sets out what actually changed: the verified old-to-new numbering for the provisions that matter to residents, the substantive changes hiding inside the renumbering, the transitional rule that decides which version applies to your contract, and the practical problem that there is still no official English text. Everything below was checked against the official Arabic instrument, not against secondary commentary.

What Was Replaced, and When

The Civil Transactions Law is the backbone of private law in the UAE. It governs contracts, sale, lease, agency, guarantee, insurance, construction liability, tort, property rights and the conflict-of-law rules that decide whose national law applies to an expatriate’s estate.

When did the new UAE Civil Code come into force?

Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 was issued on 1 October 2025, published in Official Gazette No. 809 on 14 October 2025, and came into force on 1 June 2026 under Article 3 of the promulgating decree. Article 2 of that decree repeals Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 and all its amendments in full.

Field Detail
Instrument Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 promulgating the Civil Transactions Law
Issued 1 October 2025
Official Gazette Issue No. 809, 14 October 2025
In force from 1 June 2026 (Article 3 of the decree)
Repeals Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 and its amendments, entirely (Article 2)
Size 1,422 articles, against 1,528 in the 1985 Code
Official English text None published. The Arabic text is the authority

The compression from 1,528 articles to 1,422 is where most of the difficulty comes from. Chapters were merged and shortened rather than deleted wholesale, so a provision usually still exists, just under a number roughly 40 to 90 lower than before, and the gap widens as you move deeper into the Code.

Which Version Applies to Your Contract

The single most useful provision for anyone holding a UAE contract signed before June 2026 is Article 4 of the new Code, which codifies non-retroactivity in terms the 1985 Code never spelled out as a general rule.

Does the new Civil Code apply to contracts signed before June 2026?

No, not as a general rule. Article 4(1) provides that the law applies from the date it enters into force and does not apply to facts and dispositions preceding it, unless the law expressly provides otherwise. A tenancy, sale, guarantee or power of attorney executed before 1 June 2026 is still read against the 1985 provisions that were in force when it was made.

The practical consequence is that both numbering systems remain live for years. A dispute filed in 2027 over a 2023 contract will be argued on 1985 article numbers, while a dispute over a 2026 contract signed in July will be argued on the new ones. Anyone drafting or reviewing a document now needs to know which era the underlying transaction belongs to before quoting an article at all.

This also explains why the responsible fix for existing published guidance is not a find-and-replace. Where a reader could plausibly hold a contract from either era, both numbers belong in the text, with the date that separates them. Our own guidance on force majeure and hardship clauses in UAE contracts is written that way for exactly this reason.

The Renumbering Map for the Provisions Expats Actually Cite

The table below matches provisions by operative text, not by position, which is the only reliable method when a Code has been compressed. Each pairing was checked by reading the new Arabic article and confirming it carries the same rule as the 1985 English article it replaces.

Provision Old (FL 5/1985) New (FDL 25/2025) Status
Performance of a contract in good faith 246 221 Substance preserved
Hardship: court may reduce an onerous obligation 249 224 Changed, see below
Rescission for non-performance 272 234 Substance preserved
Force majeure: obligation extinguished, contract rescinded 273 236 Expanded, see below
Reinstatement of the parties on rescission 274 237 Substance preserved
No liability where damage flows from an external cause 287 249 Number collision
Tort limitation: 3 years from knowledge, 15 from the act 298 258 Substance preserved
Lessor’s obligation to repair defects 767 705 Self-repair remedy now at 705(2) and 707
Decennial (10-year) structural liability 880 821 Ten-year period preserved
Agency and mandate (power of attorney) 924 866 Substance preserved
Gambling and wagering agreements are void 1021(1) 946(4) Rule kept, one remedy dropped
Void conditions in an insurance policy 1028 958 Number collision
Suretyship (guarantee) definition 1056 986 Chapter now 986 onward
Musataha and usufruct 1353+ / 1333+ 1254+ / 1232+ Changed, see below
Inheritance conflict of laws 17 17 Number unchanged, 17(2) changed
Abuse of rights 106 106 Unchanged, four limbs intact

The Two Collisions That Make a Stale Citation Dangerous

Most stale citations are merely wrong. Two of them are worse than wrong, because the old number now resolves to a real provision that a casual checker will accept.

Article 249. Under the 1985 Code this was the hardship rule: exceptional unforeseen circumstances allowing a court to reduce an onerous obligation. Under the new Code, Article 249 is the rule that a person is not liable where the damage arose from an extraneous cause such as an act of God, a sudden accident, force majeure, the act of a third party or the act of the injured party. The hardship rule is now Article 224. Anyone still writing “Article 249 of the UAE Civil Code” for hardship is pointing at the liability exemption instead.

Article 1028. Under the 1985 Code this listed the conditions in an insurance policy that are void. Under the new Code, 1028 falls inside the suretyship chapter. The void-conditions rule is now Article 958, and it still voids five categories: forfeiture for breach of law unless the breach amounts to a deliberate crime, forfeiture for late notification of the insured event where the delay had an acceptable excuse, any printed condition relating to nullity or forfeiture that is not displayed prominently, an arbitration clause buried in the general printed conditions rather than set out in a separate special agreement, and any other arbitrary condition whose breach had no bearing on the occurrence of the insured event. This matters directly to anyone reading what a UAE insurance policy does and does not cover in an emergency or a Dubai contents policy for tenants.

What Changed in Substance, Not Just in Numbering

Reading the new text against the old one turns up a set of real changes that are easy to miss when the discussion is framed as a renumbering exercise.

The four schools of jurisprudence are gone from Article 1

The 1985 Code told a judge who found no legislative provision to apply Islamic Sharia, choosing “the most appropriate solution from the schools of Imam Malik and Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, and if none is found there, then from the schools of Imam al-Shafi’i and Imam Abu Hanifa.” The new Article 1(2) keeps the reference to Sharia but drops the named schools and the fixed order, directing the court instead to choose the most appropriate solutions as the public interest requires. Custom remains the third source, subject to public order.

Public order now covers the personal status of Muslims specifically

Article 3 of the 1985 Code treated “matters relating to personal status such as marriage, inheritance, and lineage” as public order without qualification. The new Article 3 lists the personal status of Muslims, alongside definitive Sharia rulings, rules relating to systems of government, and mandatory statutory rules that cannot be contracted out of. The narrowing tracks the separate civil personal status regime created by Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022, which is the basis of the non-Muslim inheritance rules that apply to most expatriate estates.

A heirless foreigner’s UAE assets become a charitable waqf

Old Article 17(2) sent the UAE-situated assets of a foreigner who dies with no heir to the State. New Article 17(2) makes them a charitable waqf under the supervision of the competent authority. Article 17(5), which applies UAE law to a foreigner’s will over UAE real property, survives unchanged, so the planning logic behind registering a will through the DIFC Wills Service is unaffected.

Pre-contractual good faith is now codified

New Article 121 has no 1985 equivalent. It requires the initiation, conduct and termination of pre-contractual negotiations to meet the requirements of good faith, confirms that negotiating does not by itself oblige anyone to conclude the contract, and makes a party who negotiates or breaks off negotiations in bad faith liable for the actual damage caused. Recovery expressly excludes the profits expected from the contract that was never signed. Deliberately withholding a material statement affecting the validity of the contract is named as a form of bad faith.

On hardship, a court can now rescind the contract

Old Article 249 let the court reduce an onerous obligation to a reasonable level. New Article 224 keeps that power and adds the power to rule that the contract is rescinded, after weighing the interests of both parties. The trigger wording also shifted from exceptional events to exceptional general circumstances. Any agreement purporting to exclude the article remains void.

Temporary impossibility can now be met by modifying the contract

New Article 236(3) covers continuing contracts where performance becomes temporarily impossible. Either party may treat the counterpart obligation as suspended, modify the contract, or ask the court to rescind it. The 1985 Code offered no middle option between performance and rescission for this situation, which matters for leases, service agreements and supply contracts.

A plain guarantor gets the benefit of discussion, and death no longer ends a guarantee

New Article 1009 provides that a creditor may not proceed against the surety alone before proceeding against the debtor, and may not execute against the surety’s assets before exhausting the debtor’s, unless the surety is jointly and severally liable. The surety must raise the point before the court; it is not applied automatically. The practical catch is that standard UAE bank guarantee forms are drafted as joint and several, which switches the protection off. Separately, Articles 1029 and 1030 settle the old conflict about whether a suretyship survives death. This is the core of what changed for anyone acting as a loan guarantor in the UAE.

Gambling agreements are still void, but the clawback is gone

Reporting that the gambling chapter was dropped is misleading. The rule survives at Article 946(4): any agreement on gambling or betting is void. What did not survive is old Article 1021(2), the loser’s right to reclaim within six months what they had paid. The word for gambling appears exactly once in all 1,422 articles, which is why the chapter looks deleted at a glance. See our guide to what UAE law actually says about gambling and the licensed market.

Musataha: the federal 50-year cap is gone, consent to assign is not

The federal ceiling on the duration of a musataha that sat in old Article 1356(1) does not appear in the new Code. In exchange, new Article 1256(2) requires the consent of both parties to assign or mortgage a musataha right, and registration with the competent authority, where old Article 1355(1) required no such consent. Emirate-level rules still apply on top, which is where musataha and usufruct as land rights gets complicated.

Cancelling a power of attorney now cancels the sub-powers with it

New Article 903(2) provides that sub-powers of attorney granted under a primary power are cancelled automatically when the primary power is cancelled. Under the old Code this was a recurring gap in practice, and it is the change most likely to affect expats who issue a UAE power of attorney from abroad and later revoke it.

What Did Not Change

Several rules that generate a lot of questions came through untouched in substance, which is worth knowing because it means the underlying advice still holds.

  • Abuse of rights, Article 106. Same number, same four limbs: intent to cause harm, an unlawful or public-order-contrary purpose, a benefit disproportionate to the harm suffered by others, and use exceeding custom and practice. Claims that the new Code introduced an enhanced proportionality test do not survive a reading of the text.
  • Tort limitation. Article 258 keeps the three-year period from the day the injured party knew of the damage and the person responsible, and the fifteen-year longstop from the harmful act itself, with the same extension where criminal proceedings are still on foot.
  • Decennial liability. Article 821 keeps the ten-year joint liability of contractor and engineer for total or partial collapse and for defects threatening the safety of the structure, and still catches defects in the land itself. Ten years appears in exactly one article of the whole Code, which is a useful sanity check when someone quotes a different period. This is the backbone of the developer warranty position after handover in Dubai.
  • Article 17(5). UAE law still governs a foreigner’s will insofar as it disposes of real property located in the UAE.

The English Translation Problem

There is no official English version of Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025. The Ministry of Justice’s eLaws service still carries only the 1985 English text, and the legislation portal’s own disclaimer states that the Arabic prevails in any conflict. Every English rendering circulating now, including the wording in this guide, is somebody’s translation of the Arabic and carries no official status.

That has three practical consequences. Cite the Arabic instrument by article number rather than quoting an English phrase as if it were statutory language. Treat law firm client alerts as explanation rather than authority, because several of the widely repeated summaries of this law do not match the text. And expect a second round of confusion if the Ministry later publishes an official English translation with its own conventions.

What to Do With Your Own Documents

The change does not require you to redo valid contracts. It does require care in four places.

Document What to check
Contracts that quote article numbers A clause reciting “Article 249 of the Civil Code” in a document signed after 1 June 2026 now recites the wrong rule. Fix the number or describe the rule in words instead.
Guarantees and security Check whether the guarantee is joint and several. That single phrase decides whether Article 1009 protects you.
Powers of attorney If you revoked a primary POA and separately worried about a sub-power, Article 903(2) now handles it. New POAs should still be drafted with express scope.
Insurance policies Article 958 voids an arbitration clause hidden in the printed general conditions. Look for a separate signed arbitration agreement instead.

If a dispute is already running, the first question your lawyer should be asking is which version of the Code governs the transaction, not which version is in force today. Court fee exposure and appeal deadlines are unaffected by the Code change, and those are set out separately in our guides to what going to court actually costs in the UAE and appeal and cassation deadlines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 still the UAE Civil Code?

No. It was repealed in full, together with its amendments, by Article 2 of Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025, with effect from 1 June 2026. It remains relevant only because Article 4(1) of the new Code means transactions completed before that date are still governed by the law in force at the time.

How many articles does the new UAE Civil Code have?

1,422, compared with 1,528 in the 1985 Code. The reduction comes from merging and compressing chapters rather than deleting entire subjects, which is why most provisions still exist but sit at a lower number.

Where is the hardship provision now?

Article 224. It carries forward the old Article 249 rule allowing a court to reduce an onerous obligation when exceptional general circumstances that could not have been foreseen threaten the debtor with grave loss, and it adds an express power for the court to rescind the contract. Agreements excluding the article are void.

Is there an official English translation of the new Civil Code?

Not at the time of writing. The UAE Legislation portal publishes the Arabic text and states that Arabic prevails. Any English wording you see, including in law firm briefings, is an unofficial rendering and should not be quoted as statutory language in a contract.

Did the new Civil Code legalize gambling debts?

No. Article 946(4) still voids any agreement on gambling or betting. What was removed is the loser’s former right under old Article 1021(2) to reclaim what they had paid within six months, so a losing player now has neither an enforceable contract nor a statutory clawback.

Does the new Code change how a non-Muslim expat’s estate is handled?

Not the framework. Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 still governs civil personal status for non-Muslims, and Article 17(5) still applies UAE law to a foreigner’s will over UAE real property. The change in Article 17(2) affects only the residual case of a foreigner who dies leaving UAE assets and no heir, where those assets now become a charitable waqf rather than passing to the State.

My tenancy contract cites Article 767 for repairs. Is that still right?

It is right for a contract concluded before 1 June 2026 and wrong for one concluded after. The lessor’s repair obligation is now Article 705, with the tenant’s self-repair remedy at 705(2) and 707. Dubai’s own tenancy legislation applies on top of the federal Code, as set out in our guide to landlord maintenance duties in Dubai.

Does the ten-year construction liability period still exist?

Yes. Article 821 preserves the ten-year joint liability of the contractor and the supervising engineer for total or partial collapse and for defects threatening the safety and stability of the building, including where the defect originates in the land. The period can be shortened only if the parties intended the structure to last less than ten years.

Does the DIFC or ADGM use the new Civil Code?

No. Both financial free zones run their own common-law civil and contract regimes and their own courts, which is why the choice of forum in a contract changes the substantive law as well as the venue. Our comparison of DIFC Courts against the Dubai Courts sets out how that choice works in practice.

What should I do if a published guide still quotes 1985 article numbers?

Check the date of the transaction it is describing before assuming the guide is wrong, then check the number against the map above. A guide describing a 2024 contract that cites Article 273 for force majeure is accurate; the same citation applied to a 2026 contract is not, because the provision is now Article 236 and has an extra limb.

Official Sources

This guide is for general information and is not legal advice. Information is current as of August 2026. The authoritative text of Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 is the Arabic instrument published in the Official Gazette; no official English translation had been issued at the time of writing, and every English formulation in this guide is our own rendering of the Arabic, not statutory wording. Article numbers were verified by matching operative text between the two Codes, and nine articles of the new law could not be extracted cleanly from the published PDF and were therefore excluded from that check. Whether the 1985 or the 2025 Code governs a specific document depends on when the transaction was completed under Article 4(1); confirm the position with a UAE-licensed lawyer before relying on any article number in a contract or a claim.