Does my holiday home licence cover more than one unit?

The licence authorises the activity and each unit needs its own permit, at AED 300 per bedroom up to AED 1,200 a year. The Decree and the bylaw set no limit on how many permits one licensee may hold, though the department applies conditions in its own published guide that are not in either instrument.

Can my tenant turn my apartment into a holiday rental?

Only with your authority. Article 8 of the bylaw requires proof of the right to dispose of the unit, so a tenant applying on their own does not satisfy the condition. Check your tenancy contract for a subletting clause as well.

Do I need a permit if I only rent it out a few weeks a year?

The activity is defined as leasing out holiday homes regularly, and Article 3 of the Decree prohibits conducting it without a licence. Neither instrument sets a number of nights below which it stops applying, so occasional letting is not clearly outside it.

Answers · Returns, renting and running costs

What are the rules for running a holiday home in Dubai?

You need a Dubai Economy and Tourism licence to run a holiday home, plus a permit for each unit at AED 300 per bedroom, capped at AED 1,200 a year. The unit must be let whole, never by the room, and the published fine schedule runs from AED 200 to AED 20,000 per violation.

Updated October 2026

Three documents govern this, and all three are published

The rules sit in three published instruments.

Decree No. (41) of 2013, the licence requirement and the penalty range.
Administrative Resolution No. (1) of 2020, the implementing bylaw, which sets the permit conditions and the obligations.
Executive Council Resolution No. (49) of 2014, which carries the fee and fine amounts.

All three name the licensing authority as the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, now operating as Dubai Economy and Tourism. Article 2 of the Decree reaches everyone conducting the activity in the Emirate, including special development zones and free zones such as the DIFC.

What it costs, from the published schedule

From Schedule 1 of Resolution 49 of 2014, not from an operator’s quote.

Item	Fee
Initial approval for a new licence, or its renewal	AED 100
New licence, or licence renewal	AED 500
No-objection certificate for a holiday home trade name	AED 500
Subscription to the e-Programme for hotel and tourism establishments	AED 1,500
Issuing or renewing a permit for one holiday home	AED 300 per bedroom, up to AED 1,200 per home each year
Inspection request	AED 300 per home
Holiday home classification certificate	AED 50 per home
Request to suspend the activity	AED 2,000
Reopening a closed holiday home	AED 200

My arithmetic, so check it: on a two-bedroom unit the initial approval, the licence, the permit and the classification certificate come to AED 1,250 in the first year, before the e-Programme subscription and any inspection. The per-bedroom cap stops the permit rising past four bedrooms, so a five-bedroom villa pays the same AED 1,200 as a four-bedroom one.

The licence runs one year, and Article 7 of the Decree lets the department approve up to four years on request. The permit also runs a year and has to be renewed before it expires.

Can I let out individual rooms?

No. Article 8(11) of the Decree requires a licensee to lease whole units rather than individual rooms or bed spaces, and Schedule 2 of Resolution 49 of 2014 prices the breach at AED 500.

Here’s the issue with treating that as a small number. Article 11 of the bylaw lets the department suspend or revoke the permit where a unit is used for a purpose other than the one intended, and Article 11 of the Decree adds a warning, suspension for up to six months, or cancellation of the licence on top of the fine. A cancelled licence cannot be reapplied for until a year has passed.

What people don’t realise is that this is the line deciding whether a holiday home can be switched to shared housing. It cannot, not while the permit is live, because the permit you already hold forbids it.

Article 8(10) does let you lease daily, weekly, monthly or annually. There is no minimum stay in the Decree.

Which units qualify

Article 8 of the bylaw sets five conditions on the unit itself:

It has to sit in an area where the activity is authorised.
It has to be an apartment in a designated or residential building, a villa inside a compound, or an independent villa.
It has to meet the guide’s specifications for its classification, deluxe or standard under Article 9 of the Decree.
The applicant supplies a passport or Emirates ID and proof of the right to dispose of the unit.
The sale and purchase agreement must not expressly preclude holiday home use.

Check the sale and purchase agreement point before you buy rather than after. And since the applicant can be the owner or the tenant, provided they show the right to dispose of the unit, a tenant cannot register your apartment as a holiday home without your authority.

What your building has to do about it

Article 17 of the bylaw is the provision nobody quotes. Developers, joint owners and property management and leasing firms are required to enable licensees to operate under their licences and permits.

Which means a building’s management is not sitting on a veto. It does not override the area restriction in Article 8 or the building’s registered rules, but an owners’ association deciding on its own that it would rather not have holiday homes is standing against a duty in the bylaw.

What gets a holiday home closed

Article 11 of the bylaw lists eight grounds, running from a breach of the Decree or a lapsed renewal to use for a purpose other than the one intended, and reopening is applied for no earlier than fifteen days after closure.

The fines that an ordinary owner is most likely to meet:

Violation	Fine
Conducting the activity without a licence	AED 5,000
Operating while a suspension decision is in effect	AED 20,000
Obstructing department staff or failing to cooperate	AED 10,000
Providing false or incorrect information or documents	AED 5,000
Conducting the activity in a home closed by order	AED 3,000
Failure to maintain valid insurance	AED 2,000
Charging guests extra for electricity or water	AED 2,000
Leasing out without prior approval	AED 2,000
Leasing out in parts instead of as a whole	AED 500
Non-compliance with permit terms	AED 500

Repeating the same violation within one year doubles the fine, to a ceiling of AED 100,000. A grievance goes to the Director General within thirty days of notification, is decided within thirty days, and that decision is final.

The utilities line is the one owners trip on, because Article 8(9) of the Decree makes electricity and water the licensee’s cost rather than the guest’s.

My take

The licence and the permit are cheap, and anybody selling you a holiday home strategy on the permit cost is answering the wrong question. What decides it is occupancy, the management cut, the utilities you now pay and the furniture you now replace.

There is a real argument on the other side of the paperwork. A regulated holiday home carries insurance, a registered guest contract, a complaints policy and a 24-hour contact number, and a guest choosing between a licensed unit and an unlicensed one is choosing between those and nothing. The compliance is also the product.

Where I would push back is on treating the whole-unit rule as a formality. It is in the Decree, it is priced in the fine schedule, and the department can close the unit over it. If the plan only works by letting rooms separately, the plan does not work.

This suits an owner with a well located unit and either the time for the operating side or the budget to pay for it. It suits an owner who needs a predictable number badly, and it really comes down to what you’re looking for from the asset.

Common questions

Does my holiday home licence cover more than one unit?: The licence authorises the activity and each unit needs its own permit, at AED 300 per bedroom up to AED 1,200 a year. The Decree and the bylaw set no limit on how many permits one licensee may hold, though the department applies conditions in its own published guide that are not in either instrument.
Can my tenant turn my apartment into a holiday rental?: Only with your authority. Article 8 of the bylaw requires proof of the right to dispose of the unit, so a tenant applying on their own does not satisfy the condition. Check your tenancy contract for a subletting clause as well.
Do I need a permit if I only rent it out a few weeks a year?: The activity is defined as leasing out holiday homes regularly, and Article 3 of the Decree prohibits conducting it without a licence. Neither instrument sets a number of nights below which it stops applying, so occasional letting is not clearly outside it.

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