Renting through an agent
Power of Attorney for a Tenancy Contract in Dubai
A tenancy power of attorney lets someone else sign a rental agreement in your name. What it reaches depends on the words in it, so the safe version names the act instead of leaving it to the general wording.
- Drafted in Arabic first
- Each act named plainly
- We attend with you
Tenancy power of attorney in Dubai, the quick answer
Letting property is ordinarily treated as an act of management, so a power of attorney written in general terms can often reach signing a tenancy. It is safer to name the authority in the document anyway, because Article 871 limits general wording to management and does not set out what counts as management.
The legal name
An agency contract, wakala in Arabic
Law that applies
Federal Decree-Law 25/2025, Articles 870 and 871
Where it is signed
Before a notary public, in Arabic
Signing a rental agreement through an agent
A power of attorney for a rental agreement is an agency contract. One person, the principal, authorises another, the agent, to act in their name. The Civil Transactions Law, Federal Decree-Law 25/2025, sets out agency at Articles 866 to 903. Nothing in those articles is specific to tenancies. What your document reaches is decided by the same two provisions that decide every other agency, Article 870 and Article 871.
That matters because the phrase most people reach for, a general power of attorney, promises more than it delivers. Article 871 says an agency expressed in general terms, without specifying what is intended, grants only the power to perform acts of management. Letting is ordinarily treated as management, so general words can often carry a tenancy signature. They carry nothing that sits outside management, and the article does not spell out where that line falls.
Article 870 and Article 871 read together
Article 870 is the requirement. Any act that is not an act of management and preservation needs a special agency specifying the type of act and the dispositions it entails. The article then gives examples, and it introduces them with the word particularly: donations, sale, settlement, mortgage, acknowledgment, arbitration, administering and accepting an oath, and pleading before the court. Particularly means the list shows the kind of act the article has in mind. It does not close it.
Letting is not selling
A tenancy and a sale are not the same kind of act. Agreeing terms, signing a lease and collecting rent sit on the management side of the line. Selling the unit, or mortgaging it, sits firmly outside management and needs a special agency that names that act. A document written to let a flat should not be written so widely that it reaches the flat itself.
Two sides of the same rental agreement
The authority reads differently depending on which side of the tenancy you are on. Both are agencies under the same two articles, and both are safer when the act is written out rather than implied.
Landlord side
Letting your unit while you are away
You want an agent to agree the terms, sign the tenancy in your name and deal with the unit while you are outside the country.
Tenant side
Taking a home before you arrive
You want an agent to sign the rental agreement for you, so the home is in place before you land in Dubai.
What the authority has to cover
Article 870 asks a special agency to specify the type of act and the dispositions it entails. Even where the act is management, writing it out removes the argument before it starts. Six things belong on the page.
- The act in plain words: agree, sign or renew a tenancy
- The property, by its address and its unit reference
- The agent named in full, with Emirates ID or passport number
- Whether the agent may settle the rent and the term
- Whether the agent may receive or pay money on your behalf
- The date of issue, and the term you want it to run
From first instruction to a ratified document
We draft, translate, check the file and attend. The ratification itself is carried out before a notary public.
1
Tell us what the agent has to do
We ask which acts you need covered, whether the agent agrees terms or only signs, and whether any of it goes beyond management.
2
Draft the Arabic, then the English
Dubai Law 4/2013 puts the instrument in Arabic. A foreign language version needs a certified translation, and both versions are signed by the parties.
3
Check the identity documents
Under Federal Decree-Law 20/2022 the notary verifies identity from an ID card, a passport or another official State document, and checks capacity and consent.
4
Attend the ratification with you
The notary reads the content out and reveals its effects before signing. If the notary does not speak your language, an interpreter from the Ministry register is engaged.
The paperwork behind a tenancy power of attorney
Dubai Courts asks for soft copies in PDF, translated into Arabic by a legal translator registered with the Ministry of Justice.
From the principal
The person giving the authority
- Emirates ID, or a passport for a non-resident
- The address and unit reference for the property
- The tenancy document already in place, if there is one
- One line on what the agent has to be able to do
About the agent
The person being appointed
- Emirates ID number, or a copy of the Emirates ID
- A passport copy where there is no Emirates ID
- The name spelled the way the identity document spells it
- A way to reach them while the wording is being checked
If you are signing abroad
Three attestations before it arrives
- The foreign ministry of the country that issued it
- The UAE embassy or consulate in that country
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs here, AED 150 for individual affairs documents
- Arabic legal translation, and no lamination on the document
Where these documents go wrong
The first list is what we see in the drafts people bring us. The second is what we put in their place.
- General wording relied on for an act that is not management
- Article 955 cited from the 1985 Civil Code, which is repealed
- A property named by building only, with no unit reference
- Each act written out, so nothing rests on the general words
- Citations taken from Federal Decree-Law 25/2025, the law in force
- The property and the agent both identified without guesswork
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often on this one.
Is a general power of attorney enough to sign a tenancy?
Often it is. Article 871 limits an agency expressed in general terms to acts of management, and letting is ordinarily treated as management. The risk sits at the edges. If the agent also has to do something that is not management, the general words will not carry it, so name the acts in the document and remove the question.
What is the difference between a general and a special power of attorney?
Article 869 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 says an agency may be general, special, conditional, or deferred to a future time. Those four are the statutory categories. A special agency specifies the type of act and the dispositions it entails. A general one that specifies nothing is read down to acts of management, which is far less than the name suggests.
Which law governs a tenancy power of attorney in the UAE?
Agency sits in the Civil Transactions Law, Federal Decree-Law 25/2025, at Articles 866 to 903. That law replaced the 1985 Civil Code, which is repealed. A great deal of published content still cites Article 955 of the old law for revocation. It should not be relied on. The current revocation provision is Article 898.
Can the same agent also sell the property under that document?
Not on general wording. Article 870 requires a special agency for any act that is not an act of management and preservation, and it names sale and mortgage among its examples. Letting a unit and selling it are two different kinds of authority. If you want both, say both, and say them in terms that identify each act.
What does the notary actually check at the appointment?
Under Federal Decree-Law 20/2022 the notary verifies identity from an ID card, a passport or another official document issued by the State, checks capacity and consent, and reads the content of the transaction out while revealing its effects. If the notary does not speak the language of the parties, an interpreter from the Ministry register is engaged.
How much does the notary charge for this?
The federal schedule, Cabinet Resolution 19/2024, sets AED 100 per party for executing or notarising a general or special power of attorney, AED 50 per page for notarising a translation included in the instrument, and AED 200 per party for authenticating signatures where no value is stated. A private notary adds 30 per cent, so AED 130 per party.
Does that federal fee apply in Dubai?
Not automatically. Federal Decree-Law 20/2022 excludes local judicial authorities whose notarial services are governed by their own legislation, and Dubai is one of them. Notaries public in Dubai sit under Dubai Law 4/2013 and Dubai Courts, which publishes its own schedule. Treat the federal figures as the federal system’s, and confirm the Dubai figure before you budget.
What happens if I change my mind about the agent?
Article 898 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 lets the principal revoke or restrict the authority of the agent at any time, unless the agency involves the right of a third party or was issued in the agent’s interest. Article 899 adds that revoking at an inappropriate time, or without acceptable justification, can leave you compensating the agent.
Start here
Send us the wording you were given
Send the draft you already have, or just the address and one line on what the agent has to be able to do. We will read the wording against Articles 870 and 871, draft the Arabic and the English, arrange legal translation where the source document is in another language, check the identity documents against what the notary will ask for, and attend the appointment with you.
Tell us what the document has to do
Say who will receive it and what you need it to allow, and you will get a straight answer on the wording, the government fees and what to bring. You can also send it through the contact form.
Call us
Speak to the person who will handle your file and get an answer on the same call.
Send photographs of your passport, your Emirates ID and anything the matter attaches to.
Best for a company matter, or anything that runs to several documents.
Visit the office
Jebel Ali area, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai. Come in, or have it handled remotely and only turn up to sign.
Opening hours. Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 18:00. Friday, 9:00 to 12:00. Saturday, 9:00 to 18:00. Sunday, closed.