Filing an Offer and Deposit motion is not a renewal result. What counts is your own RDC file: the judge's decision receipt, the acceptance date that starts the payment effect, and the rent the treasury actually received.
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What your Offer and Deposit file does and does not decide
The Dubai Rental Disputes Center (RDC) service Register an Offer and Deposit is a motion asking the Provisional and Summary Actions Judge to issue an order, without prejudice to leasehold rights, that rent or keys be offered to the property owner. Filing it is one procedural step, and the scope described here is that Dubai (RDC) service. What filing the motion — or holding the document the service lists as issued, a Receipt of Judge’s Decision — does not establish is that the renewal rent has been settled, that the lease has been renewed or that it has been registered. The service description states no such effect and does not describe the outcomes a decision may have, so what the judge actually did has to be read from your own receipt or order, together with the relevant registration and case records.
Three entries in the file carry the weight, and they are not interchangeable:
- The decision. The application number is your reference for the motion: it identifies the request and does not by itself prove that the judge received, considered or accepted it. The receipt of decision is the record of what the judge did.
- Payment into the RDC treasury. For a landlord who refuses the rent, the FAQ route is to deposit it into the RDC treasury under the deposit-and-offer memorandum and RDC procedures, and once the centre receives the payment it notifies the landlord. Whether the treasury received your rent, and when, is an entry to verify in your file rather than a conclusion drawn from having filed.
- The acceptance date. On the FAQ’s account, the tenant is deemed to have fulfilled the rent payment obligation from the date the judge accepts the request, so that date, not the filing date, starts the effect. A service-fee receipt proves payment for the service; it is not proof of the decision, the deposit or the notification.
The FAQ describes payment into the treasury and notification by the centre; it does not describe a cheque being couriered to a landlord. How payment and notification happened in your own file is case-specific: if a refused cheque, a courier or a handover is part of your account, ask the RDC what the file records about it, and ask which provision it applies to the deposit — the FAQ is a service FAQ rather than legislation.
The rent obligation runs on the lease terms while the dispute is live. Articles 12 and 19 of Law No. 26 of 2007, which Law No. 33 of 2008 did not supersede, require rent on the dates the parties agreed, or, where there is no agreement or the payment dates cannot be verified, annual payment in four equal instalments in advance. Article 31 adds that an eviction claim does not exempt the tenant from paying rent while the claim is considered, until an award is rendered and executed. Before treating a period as unpaid, check what the record shows for it: the amount due under the lease, what the treasury received, and the date of the judge’s acceptance, since the FAQ ties fulfilment of the payment obligation to that date. Where the record is unclear, ask the RDC about the period and the amount before making a further payment; nothing here decides whether a particular payment has already discharged the obligation.
Match the route to what is still unresolved
The legal points below are taken from Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008, in English translation; the Arabic text prevails, and later amendments to these provisions were not verified. Where the current wording matters to a decision, confirm it with DLD or RERA or in the RDC case. Filing the motion can leave more than one thing unresolved, and the route depends on which one it is.
The rent and terms for the new period. Article 13 as amended lets the parties amend the lease terms or reconsider an increase or reduction before the lease expires, and where they fail to agree, the Tribunal may determine the fair rent. What guides that determination is the Article 9 set: RERA’s prescribed criteria for the percentage of a rent increase, the prevailing economic situation, the property’s condition, the rental value of similar property in the same area, the rent legislation in force, and any other factor the Tribunal considers appropriate. “May determine” is the operative phrase. A new rent may be agreed by the parties or determined by the Tribunal in the case; an index figure you look up yourself is not an official determination for the dispute.
One condition shapes both the claim and the evidence. Article 14 as amended requires the party who wants to amend a lease term to notify the other no less than 90 days before the lease expiry date, counted back from that date, unless the parties agreed otherwise — a real exception, so check the lease. A Notice under Article 2 means a written notification sent through a Notary Public, or delivered by registered mail, by hand, or by another technological means approved by law, and the law text does not say which electronic means are approved. Whether a particular message met Article 14 is for the Tribunal to decide, so keep its wording and your delivery proof in the file.
Registration of the lease. Registration is a separate objective from the rent. Under Article 4(2) as amended, lease contracts for property governed by the law, and any amendments to them, are to be registered with RERA, and the older sentence barring the authorities from hearing disputes over unregistered contracts is no longer part of that provision. How a renewal is registered in Ejari while a rent dispute is running or after it ends, and whether the landlord’s participation or an RDC judgment is required, is not confirmed; that question belongs with DLD or RERA.
A registered case. The RDC’s Register First Instance Lawsuit (Rental) service is where a landlord-tenant dispute becomes a case in its own right. It is separate from Offer and Deposit, and filing a motion is not described as opening one. Online, the route runs from account sign-up and data and document entry, through fee payment after electronic verification of the lawsuit, to a hearing session by tele-litigation and the judgment received through the website; the document issued is the First Instance Judgment. Registration, hearing dates and judgment status live in the RDC case file, so take them from the RDC rather than from a party’s or a forum’s account.
The records and documents to organise
Start with your own chronology: the signed lease and any renewal offer or counter-offer; correspondence with the landlord about the new rent; the dates messages were sent and how they were delivered; the Offer and Deposit application number and the judge’s decision receipt; rent-payment records and any record of the centre’s notification to the landlord. Delivery proof does double duty, showing what the landlord was told and when, and supplying the notice material described above. If a first-instance case exists, its case number belongs on the same timeline.
Both named services share one submission rule: every document must be in Arabic or legally translated into Arabic and uploaded on the RDC website; hard copies are not accepted. Since neither page defines a legal translation or a qualified translator, settle what the RDC accepts, and whether your file needs anything beyond the published lists, before you submit or pay.
Register an Offer and Deposit lists: the motion; a copy of the Emirates ID for an individual, or the manager’s Emirates ID and the latest commercial licence for a company; a copy of the last signed lease and a copy of a new lease having the same terms and conditions; copies of the cheques deposited with the new lease; and any correspondence between the parties. If rent for a previous period was deposited by cheque, replace that cheque amount with cash.
Register First Instance Lawsuit (Rental) lists: a copy of the latest lease (Ejari); the Emirates ID for individuals, or the commercial licence with the manager’s or owner’s photo ID for companies; a bank letter or statement showing the plaintiff’s IBAN; and, for eviction claims, the notarised notice with the notification officer’s report or registered post with the receipt of notice acknowledgement. A power of attorney, management contract, correspondence, notices, electricity and water bills, cheques and letters may be added as supporting documents. The notice item is stated for eviction claims; the page lists no separate notice item for renewal claims.
Both lists are the published requirements of those service cards, so check your own RDC file or submission system for what applies in your case and what else may be required. Building the timeline is your own preparation, not another document requirement.
Fees, channels, and what to ask
Which figure applies depends on the service and, for a first-instance claim, on the category actually filed. The amounts were listed on the RDC service pages as accessed on 14 October 2026, and neither page shows an effective date, so confirm the current figure in the RDC system before paying.
| Service or claim | Fee basis |
|---|---|
| Offer and Deposit | AED 50 service fee, plus AED 10 knowledge fee and AED 10 innovation fee. At Real Estate Services Trustees Centers, a partners’ service fee of AED 130 is added, plus VAT on that fee. |
| First Instance: eviction, lease renewal, rent claim, termination of a lease in force, or return after demolition and reconstruction | 3.5% of the annual rent, or of the lease value where the lease runs for more or less than a year; not less than AED 500 and not more than AED 20,000. |
| First Instance: monetary claims | 3.5% of the claimed amount; not less than AED 500 and not more than AED 15,000. |
| Additional First Instance charges | AED 25 power of attorney registration, if applicable; AED 100 process service; AED 10 knowledge fee; AED 10 innovation fee. Trustees Centers add AED 130 plus VAT on that partners’ fee. |
The Offer and Deposit fees are service fees, separate from the rent being deposited. Its listed payment methods are Noqodi, debit or credit cards and cash at a Real Estate Service Center; its channels are the RDC website and Real Estate Services Trustees Centers, and the judge’s decision is received through the website. For a first-instance claim, treat the fee as a cost of the procedure: the First Instance service card states no refund or cost-recovery rule, and no effective date for the amounts above.
Two enquiries cover what the file leaves open:
- To the RDC: the claim category and fee for a step you are weighing; what counts as a legal translation under the submission rule and whether your file needs an additional document; and, where the record is unclear, the period and amount covered by the treasury payment and the date of the judge’s acceptance.
- To DLD or RERA: how a disputed renewal is registered in Ejari and whether the landlord’s participation or an RDC judgment is needed, and which rent index or valuation requirement applies to the unit.
Those answers can change the route, and neither office’s description decides your case. Until an official channel answers for your file, keep the Ejari treatment of a disputed renewal and the applicable index rules open.
