Tenants
Do you have to restore a Dubai apartment at the end of a lease?
What goes back is decided by the consent you signed when the work went in. Reinstatement is building work in its own right, and the building's rules apply to taking things out as much as to putting them in.
Tenants
End of lease restoration in Dubai starts with the first consent letter
End of lease restoration in Dubai is a tenant's renovation run backwards, under the same rules. Whatever a tenant added with the owner's consent, walls painted in new colours, a partition, new flooring, extra lighting, either stays or comes out on the terms that consent set. Where the consent is silent, the tenancy contract and the owner decide, and that conversation is harder at move-out than it would have been at move-in.
What does end of lease restoration in Dubai involve?
Returning the unit to the condition agreed with the owner: usually repainting, taking out added fixtures and partitions, and making good any floors, walls and ceilings the tenant changed. Most of it is basic maintenance in Dubai Municipality's terms, with no permit when a pre-qualified contractor does it, and in DDA buildings reinstatement is exempt from the fit-out permit but still needs the landlord's or facilities manager's NOC or permit to work. The building's NOC and entry-permit rules apply to the removal just as they did to the installation.
Which reinstatement works need no permit?
Most of the common ones. Resolution 109 of 2022 lists interior painting, replacing floors, doors and suspended ceilings, and maintaining the electrical, plumbing and air-conditioning works as basic maintenance that needs no permit or completion certificate, provided a Municipality-pre-qualified contractor does it. A repaint back to the original colours sits on that list.
Removing décor a tenant installed follows the route the installation took. In a unit of 100 m² or less, Dubai Municipality's décor circular needs no building permit when an accredited contractor does the work, and the tenant still needs the owner's approval. In buildings the Dubai Development Authority regulates, Circular 318 names reinstatement works among the jobs that need no fit-out permit; they run on the NOC or permit to work that the landlord or facilities manager issues.
End of lease restoration in Dubai: what does the building require?
The same approvals as any other work. Dubai Holding's 2026 rulebook requires an application for any alteration beyond maintenance and repair, and removing a partition or relaying a floor is safest treated as one: apply before the crew arrives. Its FAQ exempts internal painting, routine maintenance and like-for-like replacement. Emaar needs no NOC for internal painting but wants an entry permit for every contractor. In Town Square, interior repainting and wallpaper sit in the AED 160 home improvement tier, and no worker may stay overnight.
Leave time for it. A Dubai Holding request goes in at least 24 hours ahead on the app, an Emaar NOC takes 3 business days once the file is complete, and a Town Square minor alteration takes 2 working days. A restoration squeezed into the last week of a lease can run out of days before the approvals arrive.
What cannot simply be undone?
Anything that went on top of something the building protects. In Emaar and Town Square apartments existing tiles may not be removed, so an overlay floor has to come up without damaging the original tiles beneath it, or stay by agreement. An unapproved change is a problem of its own: Emaar lists the loss of the defect liability warranty and trouble with resale and title deeds among the consequences, and Dubai Holding fines works done without prior approval AED 2,000.
That is why the agreement at move-in matters more than the work at move-out. The hub's renting guide lists what the owner's consent should say, including whether the unit returns to its original state.
Utilities and handover
The tenant closes the accounts the tenant opened. DEWA's move-out service is one the account holder files directly; its move-in page sets the activation security deposit at AED 2,000 for a flat. In a tower on district cooling, Empower's e-Services portal has tabs for final settlement, clearance certificates and refunds, and no one but Empower may touch the chilled-water connection during the restoration. If power has to go off at the unit's panel for electrical work, DEWA's Temporary Power Disconnection needs the account holder's request 5 working days ahead.
Abu Dhabi and Ajman tenancies
Both write the tenancy into the permit file. Abu Dhabi's maintenance permit lists a pre-registered, effective lease agreement among its documents, and the contractor assignment letter can come from the renter; the contractor files it, with a 7 working day service time, and Tasareeh charges AED 600 to cancel a maintenance permit on the plots it reviews for Aldar. Aldar's tower handbooks make owners and occupiers pay any government fines for unauthorised alterations found in their units. Ajman's maintenance permit asks for the owner's no-objection letter whenever a tenant is involved.
How do you document the unit before and after?
- Dated photographs of every room, wall, floor and ceiling before any work, attached to the consent letter.
- The owner's consent, with the scope and the end-of-lease terms written in.
- Every NOC, entry permit and completion certificate for the original work.
- The same set for the restoration, plus the manager's sign-off where it inspects.
- Final meter readings and the DEWA and Empower closure documents.
Those papers settle most arguments before they start. When the restoration is more than a repaint, our quote briefs put it to licensed contractors like any other job, and the price tiers show what each level of work costs.
Questions
End-of-lease questions
- Do I have to repaint the apartment when I move out?
- If the consent letter says the unit returns to its original state, yes, and the colours go back with it. A repaint is basic maintenance with no Municipality permit; Emaar needs no NOC for internal painting, only an entry permit for the painter.
- Can the landlord keep the improvements?
- Yes, if both sides agree, and the consent letter is where to record it. A floor laid over the original tiles in a building that forbids removing them is the obvious case to settle in writing at the start.
- Who applies for the building's approval for restoration work?
- The same route the original work took, usually the owner's community portal or app. In DIFC's third-party buildings a tenant can file the NOC directly.
- What if I renovated without the owner's consent?
- Then the restoration is the smaller problem. Dubai Municipality makes the owner's approval a condition of tenant décor work, and in Aldar-managed Abu Dhabi towers the occupier pays the fines for unauthorised alterations. Raise it with the owner before move-out, not at the inspection.
- What does restoration cost?
- None of the companies on our price guide publishes a reinstatement price for apartments. The nearest frame is ASM Interiors' basic tier, AED 15,000 to 40,000 for painting, flooring and minor fixes in a one or two-bedroom unit; a repaint on its own is less work than that tier covers, so ask for it as separate lines.
Who you are dealing with
- OperatorWebsiteOS LLC
- Licence2646567.01
- Cost to homeownerNone
- Figures datedSeptember 2026
Tell us about the move-out
Tower, community, what was changed during the lease and your move-out date. We come back with contractors who price the restoration line by line.