RERA Smart Rental Index

The RERA rental index — relaunched as the Smart Rental Index — is the Dubai Land Department's official benchmark of market rents across the emirate, now refined to rate individual buildings rather than only areas. Its legal significance is direct: permitted rent increases in Dubai are calculated by comparing the current rent to the index's market value for a comparable property, with the allowed increase rising in slabs the further the rent sits below market. A landlord cannot lawfully demand an increase beyond what the index-based calculation permits, regardless of what the market 'feels' like. Tenants and landlords meet the index when negotiating renewals — the DLD's online rental increase calculator applies it automatically — and at the Rental Disputes Centre, where judges use it to assess whether a demanded increase or a claimed market rent is justified. Checking the index before responding to a renewal notice is the single most useful step a Dubai tenant can take.