Wear and Tear vs Damage: What Landlords Can and Cannot Deduct from a Deposit in Dubai

What the law actually says

The governing legislation for residential tenancies in Dubai is Law No. 26 of 2007, as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008. The relevant obligation on tenants at checkout is set out in Article 21:

“Upon expiry of the term of a rent contract, the tenant must surrender possession of the real property to the landlord in the same condition in which the tenant received it at the time of entering into the rent contract, except for ordinary wear and tear or any damage sustained due to reasons beyond the Tenant's control. Where a dispute between the parties arises in this regard, it shall be referred to the Tribunal to issue its decision on the same.”

The law protects tenants from being charged for deterioration that is a natural consequence of living in a property. It does not protect tenants from being charged for damage they have caused. But it leaves the definition of “ordinary wear and tear” open, and that is where nearly every deposit dispute is fought.

The landlord's maintenance obligation during the tenancy

Before reaching the question of what a tenant owes at checkout, it is worth understanding Article 16 of the same law, which is often overlooked. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the landlord is responsible during the tenancy for maintenance of the property and for rectifying any defects or faults that affect the tenant's intended use of it.

This matters for deposit disputes because it means defects and deterioration that arise during the tenancy and affect the property's usability are, in the first instance, the landlord's responsibility to address, not something to be rolled into a checkout deduction. A landlord who has not attended to their maintenance obligations during the tenancy cannot simply present the accumulated cost at checkout and deduct it from the deposit.

What counts as wear and tear

Wear and tear refers to the gradual, inevitable deterioration of a property and its fixtures through ordinary, reasonable daily use over time. It is not caused by negligence or misuse. It is the natural consequence of someone living in a property.

The following are generally considered ordinary wear and tear under Dubai tenancy practice, consistent with legal guidance from UAE legal practitioners and property professionals:

• Faded or lightly marked paintwork, particularly in areas of regular use
• Small nail holes or drill marks left by hanging pictures, clocks, or household items
• Scuffs and minor marks on walls, skirting boards, and doors at normal contact points
• Carpet wear in areas of regular foot traffic
• Minor scratches on hard flooring in areas of regular use
• Light discolouration of grout or sealant in bathrooms and kitchens over time
• General dulling or ageing of surfaces, finishes, and fixtures from normal use

Expert legal commentary published in the UAE press has confirmed this position: faded paint and drilling for household items such as fans, paintings, and clocks may be considered reasonable wear and tear, meaning a landlord cannot make deductions for them.

What counts as damage

Damage is deterioration that goes beyond what ordinary, reasonable use would produce. It includes things caused by negligence, misuse, accidents, or modifications made without permission.

The following are generally considered damage, for which a landlord may make deposit deductions, provided they can demonstrate the damage was not pre-existing:

• Holes in walls beyond normal nail or drill marks
• Broken fixtures, fittings, or furniture provided with the property
• Cracked, chipped, or broken tiles
• Burns, large stains, or bleach damage on surfaces, carpets, or flooring
• Damaged cabinetry in kitchens, bathrooms, or bedrooms
• Broken glass in windows, mirrors, or doors
• Damage caused by pets
• Unauthorised modifications or alterations to the property
• Unpaid DEWA or utility bills
• Cleaning costs where a property has been left in an unreasonable condition, if expressly provided for in the tenancy contract

As Mario Volpi, Senior VP at Allegiance Real Estate and The National's property columnist, confirmed in a July 2025 column: what is allowed are repairs for damage beyond normal wear and tear, including holes in walls, broken tiles, and damaged cabinetry. What is not allowed is charging for touch-up paint jobs, minor scuffs, fading finishes, or cosmetic wear from normal occupancy.

Events beyond anyone's control: weather, flooding, and natural causes

Article 21 of the Dubai Rent Law explicitly carves out a second category alongside wear and tear: damage sustained due to reasons beyond the tenant's control. This matters more than many tenants realise.

Dubai has seen significant weather events in recent years, including the April 2024 flooding that affected large parts of the city. If a property suffers damage as a direct result of extreme weather, flooding, heavy rain, or high winds, that damage is not the tenant's liability. The same principle applies to any event genuinely outside the tenant's control.

In practical terms, this means a landlord cannot deduct from a deposit for a broken or damaged item that was clearly caused by an external event rather than by the tenant's conduct. If a terrace awning was damaged in a storm, if outdoor furniture provided with the property was affected by extreme wind, if water ingress during flooding stained a ceiling or warped a floor, those are not tenant liabilities.

The challenge, as with most deposit disputes, is evidence. A tenant who can demonstrate through dated photographs, weather records, or written correspondence with the landlord that damage coincided with a specific external event is in a far stronger position than one relying on recollection alone. This is why documenting the property's condition at the start of a tenancy matters even for external areas, balconies, and terraces, and not just interior rooms.

The grey area: things that can go either way

Not everything falls neatly into one category. Some situations genuinely depend on the specifics: the age of the property, how long the tenant was there, the quality of the original finish, and what was documented at the start of the tenancy.

Repainting is a common point of dispute. Whether a landlord can charge for repainting depends on the condition the walls were in at the start of the tenancy, how long the tenant was there, and the extent of the marking. A tenant who lived in a property for four years and left walls with minor marks is in a very different position from a tenant of eight months who left significant staining. Many practitioners take the view that repainting after two or more years of tenancy is generally considered wear and tear; where the tenancy is shorter and the deterioration substantial, it is more likely to be treated as damage.

AC filter cleaning and servicing is another area practitioners regularly disagree over. Under Article 16, defects and faults that affect the tenant's use of the property are the landlord's responsibility to address. However, routine filter maintenance during the tenancy is sometimes treated differently depending on what the contract says. At checkout, an AC in poor condition due to lack of filter maintenance during the tenancy occupies a genuinely contested middle ground.

Cleaning costs fall into the same category. A property left in reasonable condition does not give rise to a cleaning deduction. A property left in an unreasonably poor state may, but only if the contract expressly provides for it.

Where there is genuine ambiguity, the RDC decides on the facts of the individual case. This is why the law itself says disputes go to the Tribunal rather than attempting to resolve every scenario in advance.

What the contract can change

The default position set out in the law can be modified by what the tenancy contract says. Landlords and tenants are free to agree to different terms, provided those terms are not otherwise contrary to the law.

A contract might specify that carpets must be professionally cleaned on departure regardless of condition. It might require that the property be repainted at the tenant's cost when the tenancy ends. It might set out specific maintenance obligations on the tenant that go beyond what the law would otherwise require.

If the contract says it, and both parties signed it, those terms are binding. This means tenants should read the maintenance and checkout clauses in their contract carefully before signing, and should push back on terms that seem unreasonable before the tenancy begins, not at checkout.

A verbal agreement that contradicts the written contract carries no legal weight.

The burden of proof

This is the point that most landlords underestimate and most tenants do not know.

The default legal obligation is for the landlord to return the deposit. Article 20 of Law No. 26 of 2007 places the obligation to refund on the landlord. To justify any deduction, the landlord must be able to demonstrate two things:

First, that the alleged damage or condition actually exists at the point of checkout.

Second, that it was caused during the tenancy, in other words, that it was not pre-existing when the tenant moved in.

Without a check-in report, the second of those is almost impossible to prove. A landlord who cannot show what the property looked like at the start of the tenancy cannot credibly demonstrate that any particular mark, crack, or stain was caused by the tenant rather than being present when they arrived.

For tenants, the same logic applies in reverse. A tenant who wants to dispute a deduction and claim that damage was pre-existing needs a check-in report to support that claim. Without one, the argument rests on memory and photographs alone.

What happens when there is a dispute

Deposit disputes in Dubai are handled by the Rental Disputes Centre (RDC), which operates under the Dubai Land Department. The most direct route for recovering a withheld deposit is a Writ of Payment or money claim. For this type of claim, the RDC filing fee is 3.5% of the claimed amount, meaning 3.5% of the deposit being disputed, with a minimum of AED 500 and a maximum of AED 15,000.

For a typical deposit on an AED 80,000 per year unfurnished property (5% of annual rent, so AED 4,000), the filing fee would be AED 500, the minimum. For a larger deposit on a higher-value furnished property, the fee scales with the amount claimed but remains capped at AED 15,000. Additional administrative costs apply on top of the base filing fee.

Cases that rely on phone photographs, WhatsApp exchanges, and competing recollections can take longer, can cost more to pursue, and often produce less predictable outcomes than those supported by properly documented condition reports.

Why documentation is the only reliable protection

The law creates the framework. The contract sets the specific terms. But neither the law nor the contract can resolve a factual dispute about what a property looked like at the start or end of a tenancy without a contemporaneous record made at the time.

A check-in report signed by both parties at the start of the tenancy establishes the baseline that every subsequent conversation about wear and tear and damage refers back to. A check-out report produced when the keys are returned records what has changed, and provides the comparison point that makes any deduction either supportable or contestable. Without both, either party is arguing about a starting and ending point that neither of them can prove.

This is why a check-in report and check-out report are not a bureaucratic formality. Together, they are the only reliable evidence of what was agreed on day one and what the property's condition was when the keys were returned.

Pramana produces RERA-aligned property condition reports with timestamped, photo-locked entries and digital signatures, completed in under 30 minutes. Reports are available immediately and can be sent to all parties for digital signature on the same day as the inspection.