Dubai Law No. 6 of 2019 · Dubai
Governs ownership, management and maintenance of jointly owned buildings and plots: common areas and units, owners committees, service and usage charges, title documents, insurance and disputes before the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre; replaces Law No. 27 of 2007 and takes effect 60 days after Gazette publication.
Law No. (6) of 2019 is Dubai's strata law. It governs who owns and who manages the common parts of apartment buildings, towers and master-planned communities, how service charges are set and collected, and what happens when an owner does not pay. The Ruler of Dubai issued it on 4 September 2019 and, under Article 52, it came into force 60 days after publication in the Official Gazette. Article 51 repeals Law No. (27) of 2007, the previous jointly owned property law, while keeping its bylaws alive until replaced. It remains in force; Article 49 transferred the rights and obligations of the former owners associations to management entities.
Article 3 applies the law to all master projects and jointly owned real property in the Emirate, including special development zones and free zones. Article 4 creates a Jointly Owned Real Property Register at the Land Department, and Article 6 makes the plans, master community declaration, statute and building management regulation part of the title deed, to be filed by the developer within 60 days of the completion certificate. Articles 7 to 11 define common parts and units, treat designated car parks as inseparable from the unit (Article 10) and give each owner an undivided interest in the common parts in proportion to unit area (Article 11). Articles 12 to 16 confirm the owner's freedom to sell, mortgage and lease, with a co-owner's pre-emption right exercisable within 30 days of a notarised notice (Article 15), and leave the owner liable for service charges even where a tenant has agreed to pay them (Article 16).
Article 18 sorts buildings into three categories: major projects managed by the developer, hotel projects managed by a hotel project management company, and all other projects managed by a company RERA selects. Each has an owners committee of up to nine members appointed by RERA (Article 22) with supervisory duties but no management power. Article 25 fixes each owner's service charge share by registered unit area, Article 27 bars any charge not approved by RERA on an audited budget, Article 28 forbids withholding payment, and Article 30 requires the charges to be held in a dedicated bank account immune from the manager's creditors and spent only on the listed purposes. Article 32 gives the management entity a lien on the unit, blocks any disposal until arrears are paid, and allows enforcement through the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre's execution judge 30 days after notice, including sale by public auction.
Article 40 makes the developer liable for structural defects for ten years from the completion certificate and for mechanical, electrical and sanitary installations for one year from handover, and voids any contrary agreement. Article 42 gives the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre exclusive jurisdiction, and Article 44 sets fines of AED 1,000,000 to AED 2,000,000, doubled on repetition within a year, for violations listed by Executive Council resolution.
Owners and occupants of units in jointly owned buildings and subdivided land in Dubai, including units held through companies and foundations; master developers and sub-developers; management companies and hotel project management companies; owners committees; and the Land Department, RERA and the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre. It reaches special development zones and free zones.
English official text in 52 articles. Open the full text or jump to a provision:
| Article 3 | The law applies to all master projects and jointly owned real property in the Emirate, including those in special development zones and in free zones. |
| Article 6 | The plans, master community declaration, statute and building management regulation form part of the title deed; the developer must file them with the Land Department within 60 days of the completion certificate, extendable by 30 days. |
| Article 10 | Car parks allocated to a unit are an integral part of it and may not be separated or sold independently; a unit may not be sold without its designated car parks. |
| Article 11 | Each owner, and the developer for unsold units, owns an undivided interest in the common parts in the ratio of the unit's area to the total area of the jointly owned property. |
| Article 15 | A co-owner's pre-emption right lapses if, after notarised notice naming the buyer and the terms, no co-owner accepts within 30 days; an accepting co-owner must complete with the Land Department within 10 working days after that period. |
| Article 16 | An owner may lease the unit, but remains liable for service and usage charges and is not discharged if the tenant fails to pay them. |
| Article 18 | Three management categories: major projects managed by the developer, hotel projects outsourced to a hotel project management company, and all other projects managed by a company selected and contracted by RERA, each with a RERA-appointed owners committee. |
| Article 25 | Each owner pays the management entity an annual service charge share calculated on the ratio of the unit's registered area to the total area; the developer pays for unsold units and for sold units where it undertook to do so. |
| Article 27 | A management entity may not charge or collect any amount from owners without RERA's prior approval, which requires a budget approved by a certified audit firm recognised by RERA; a temporary budget may be approved in the interim. |
| Article 32 | The management entity has a lien on every unit for unpaid service charges and no unit may be disposed of until they are paid; after 30 days' written notice the claim is enforceable by the execution judge at the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre, who may order sale by public auction. |
| Article 40 | The developer remains liable for ten years from the completion certificate to remedy structural defects and for one year from handover to repair or replace defective mechanical, electrical, sanitary and similar installations; contrary agreements made after the law are void. |
| Article 44 | Violations carry a fine of not less than AED 1,000,000, doubled for repetition within one year and capped at AED 2,000,000, with the acts and amounts fixed by resolution of the Chairman of the Executive Council. |
Article 44 imposes a fine of not less than AED 1,000,000 for any violation of the law or its implementing resolutions, doubled where the same violation is repeated within one year, up to a ceiling of AED 2,000,000; the specific acts and amounts are set by Executive Council resolution. Unpaid service charges are enforced through a lien on the unit, a 30-day notice and execution before the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre, including sale of the unit by public auction, with the defaulting owner bearing court and advocates' fees (Article 32). RERA may also remedy neglected maintenance at the manager's cost (Article 35) or draw on its bank guarantee (Article 36).
Clients who hold Dubai apartments through a holding company or a foundation we administer meet this law through the service charge invoice and the sale process. We make sure the charges are paid on time, because Article 32's lien blocks a transfer at the Land Department until arrears are cleared and an unpaid balance can end in an auction order, and we check that the amount invoiced matches the RERA-approved budget under Article 27 before the client pays a disputed figure. On a purchase we read the master community declaration and building management regulation that Article 6 makes part of the title, and we obtain the service charge clearance before completion. Where an owner lets the unit, we remind them that Article 16 leaves the owner liable regardless of what the lease says. Defect complaints go to the developer under the ten-year and one-year warranties in Article 40, which the sale contract cannot shorten.
| Repeals | Law No. (27) of 2007 Concerning Ownership of Jointly Owned Real Property in the Emirate of Dubai |
| Cites | Dubai Interim Real Estate Register Law · Dubai Real Property Registration Law · Civil Transactions Law 1985 (repealed) |
“Cites” and “Cited by” are built automatically from references in the full texts held in this library; they cover only instruments in the library.
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