To get a Dubai holiday home licence, you register on the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) holiday homes portal, upload your title deed, Emirates ID or passport, a recent DEWA bill and any building NOC, pay the registration and per-bedroom permit fees, and make sure the unit meets DET’s safety and quality standards. Individual owners can register up to eight units. Beyond that, you’ll need a holiday home operator company with a trade licence.
Short-term rentals in Dubai are regulated by DET, and every listing on platforms such as Airbnb has to show a valid permit number. The process itself isn’t hard. It does have an order, though, and the first check is the easiest one to skip.
Are you an owner or an operator?
DET treats these as two separate routes. An individual owner registers their own units. A holiday home operator is a company that manages units for other people, or at a scale beyond the individual limit.
| Individual owner | Holiday home operator | |
|---|---|---|
| Suits | Owners letting their own property | Management companies; owners with more than eight units |
| Trade licence | Not needed | Commercial licence needed |
| Unit limit | Up to 8 | No fixed cap |
| Registers through | DET holiday home permit | DET operator registration |
| Can manage others’ property | No | Yes, with owner authorisation |
If you think you’ll grow past eight units, or you’re already being asked to manage a friend’s or an investor’s flat, it’s worth setting up the operator company early. It needs a mainland licence with the right activity, plus an office. DET’s operator registration page explains the process.
The documents
A summary of DET’s requirements published in August 2026 (Engel & Völkers) lists what applications need: your Emirates ID or passport copy, the title deed or Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA), and a DEWA bill in the owner’s name that’s no more than three months old. Add an authorisation letter if a third-party company manages the property, a trade licence if a company operates the holiday home, and a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the owners’ association where the building requires one.
What it costs
| Item | Fee (AED) |
|---|---|
| Initial registration | 1,520 (including AED 10 knowledge and innovation fees) |
| Permit | 300 per bedroom, plus 50 for the classification certificate and 20 in fees, capped at 1,200 a year |
| Annual renewal | 300 per bedroom plus 20 in fees, capped at 1,200 a year |
| Late renewal penalty | 200 to 500 |
One caveat. These figures come from that August 2026 summary rather than a published DET fee schedule, and DET does change its fees. Check the amounts on the DET holiday home permit service when you apply. Operators also collect Tourism Dirham fees from guests and pay them over to DET.
Do it in this order
Most owners start by furnishing the place and taking photos. We’d start somewhere less exciting, because one check can make everything else a waste.
First, read your SPA and your building’s rules. If either the sale contract or the owners’ association prohibits short-term letting, DET won’t register the unit, so ask for the NOC before you spend anything on furniture. Then get a current DEWA bill in your name, since bills older than three months are rejected.
After that, register on the DET portal and submit the application with your documents, and get the unit up to DET’s safety and quality standards (DET can inspect before or after approval). Once you have your permit number, put it on every listing. The platforms require it and DET checks. Finally, set yourself a renewal reminder, because late renewal costs you a penalty and an expired permit means taking the listings down.
The first two steps come first because they’re the ones you can’t fix quickly. A missing NOC can take weeks. A building that bans short-term rentals can’t be fixed at all.
When it stops being an investment and becomes a business
Letting one or two flats is an investment. Managing ten for several different owners is a company, with staff, contracts, payments and taxes to deal with. That company needs a trade licence, a business bank account and corporate tax registration like any other UAE business, plus its own office or business-centre space. Our office space solutions cover the Ejari-registered office a mainland operator needs.
If you’re making that jump from owner to operator, you can start your company with Smart Zone.
What owners ask us
Q1. Can I list my flat on Airbnb without a DET permit?
Ans. No. Holiday homes in Dubai need a DET permit, and the permit number has to appear on your listings. Letting without one can lead to fines.
Q2. How much can I earn from a Dubai holiday home?
Ans. It depends on location, size, season, occupancy and management costs, and published averages vary a lot. Base your estimate on comparable listings in your own building rather than a city-wide yield figure.
Q3. Can a tenant run a holiday home?
Ans. Generally only with the landlord’s written consent and if the building allows it. Most tenancy contracts rule out subletting without permission.
Q4. Do holiday home operators pay corporate tax?
Ans. Yes. An operator company pays UAE corporate tax at 9% on taxable income above AED 375,000, and may qualify for Small Business Relief if its revenue is AED 3 million or less.
Written by Smart Zone Editorial Team
We help property owners move from individual holiday home permits to licensed operator companies, including the trade licence, office space and banking an operator needs.
For operator company setup, visit our Mainland Business Setup page.
