Two rulebooks, one capital: where you rent in Abu Dhabi now decides which law protects you
Abu Dhabi no longer has a single tenancy regime. Since 24 April 2023, when UAE Cabinet Resolution Number 41 of 2023 expanded the jurisdiction of Abu Dhabi Global Market to include Al Reem Island, the emirate has operated two parallel rental rulebooks — and most tenants and landlords still don't know which one governs the apartment they've signed for.
That gap is no longer academic. Reidin's Residential Market Rent Price Index showed Abu Dhabi rents up 21.8 percent year-on-year in December 2025, having peaked at 27.3 percent in May. Cushman & Wakefield Core puts the figure closer to 23 percent. With only around 6,500 new residential units forecast for delivery in 2026, the legal framework around how rents can be raised, deposits handled, and tenancies ended has stopped being a back-of-the-contract concern. It's the contract.
Two laws, one city
On mainland Abu Dhabi — Saadiyat, Yas, Raha Beach, Al Reef, Khalifa City and the rest — tenancies are governed by Law Number 2 of 2006 on the Regulation of the Lease Relationship, supplemented by Executive Council Decision Number 14 of 2016, which caps annual rent rises at five percent. Disputes are heard by the Lease Disputes Resolution Committee under the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department.
On Al Maryah Island and Al Reem Island, since the real estate register transferred from the Abu Dhabi Municipality to ADGM's Registration Authority on 1 January 2025, the rules are subtly different. Tenancies fall under the ADGM Real Property Regulations 2024, drafted from a common-law starting point, and disputes are heard by ADGM Courts.
Two contracts down the road from each other can sit under two completely different regimes.
Where the gap actually shows
The five percent cap on rent rises is the one piece both rulebooks share — Article 61 of the ADGM regulations mirrors Decision Number 14 of 2016. After that, they diverge sharply.
Security deposits. Law Number 2 of 2006 says nothing about them. The market norm is five percent of the annual rent, but there is no statutory ceiling, no statutory obligation to hold the money on trust, and no statutory deadline to return it. Under Article 53 of the ADGM regulations, the deposit is capped at five percent, the landlord holds it on trust for the tenant, and any deductions must be itemised with evidence within twenty-one calendar days of the tenant vacating.
Notice of a rent rise. Mainland: two months before lease expiry, under Article 20. ADGM: ninety calendar days, under Article 61. Three weeks may not sound much, but for a family deciding whether to renew or move, it's the difference between a managed transition and a scramble.
Early termination. This is the widest gap. Article 23 of Law Number 2 of 2006 lists six grounds on which a landlord can require a tenant to vacate — non-payment, sub-letting without permission, over-occupancy, misuse, breach of public order, and the catch-all where the landlord wishes to demolish, rebuild or alter the property. Under ADGM Article 62, the lease cannot be terminated before its expiry without a court order, save for narrowly defined circumstances — mutual surrender, a pre-agreed break clause, substantial damage to the property, or material breach by the landlord. A court order is required for termination for failure to pay rent, materially breached the terms of the or assigning or sub-letting the unit.
Sale of the property. Both regimes carry the lease through to the new owner, but the ADGM regulations go further: Article 64 obliges the original landlord to transfer the security deposit to the buyer, hand over the tenant's contact details, and confirms that any outstanding liabilities pass to the new landlord. The mainland law, drafted in 2006, leaves much of this to be worked out in practice.
Repairs. Both place the structural maintenance burden on the landlord. ADGM's Article 56 spells it out in more detail — structure, façade, doors, windows, air conditioning, plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems — and gives tenants a clear pathway to undertake urgent repairs and recover costs above AED 5,000 with written consent. The mainland equivalent, Article 7 and Article 8 of Law Number 2 of 2006, leaves more to interpretation.
Termination and Renewal
The rights landlords and tenants have to terminate the lease early is severely restricted in both jurisdictions, but termination at the end of the lease is quite straight-forward. ADREC requires two months’ notice before the end of the lease, and no reason needs to be given. ADGM is even more laissez faire, 90 days is required for a rent rise but there is no mention of a timeframe to give notice to vacate by either party.
Outlook: a system catching up to itself
The mainland law was written in 2006, in a very different market. The ADGM regulations were drafted in 2024, with the benefit of nineteen years of lessons — including those of the post-covid turnaround that took Abu Dhabi rents from a decade of annual reductions to double-digit annual rises. They are more procedural, and more aligned with what investors arriving from London, Singapore or Hong Kong expect from a real-estate framework.
Whether mainland Abu Dhabi tenancy law eventually moves in the same direction is a matter of policy, not prediction. But for now, the two regimes will keep operating in parallel, governing buildings within sight of one another. Knowing which one applies to your contract is no longer optional reading.
The full side-by-side comparison
We've put together a clean, article-by-article comparison of Law Number 2 of 2006 (with Decision Number 14 of 2016) against the ADGM Real Property Regulations 2024 If you're a tenant signing a renewal, a landlord deciding how to handle a sitting tenant, or an investor weighing a purchase on Al Reem against one on Saadiyat, it's the document we'd want you to have in front of you.