The instrument is the Quality and Safety Certificate: a document issued by the competent entity that confirms a building’s quality, safety, and suitability for use after its structural condition has been assessed. It isn’t a formality. A certificate is issued only after a licensed engineering firm has inspected the building, identified technical defects, and confirmed those defects have been rectified.
The law was issued on 27 February 2026 and comes into force 60 days after publication in the Official Gazette. Owners, contractors and engineering firms then have one year from the date it comes into force to comply, a period the Chairman of the Executive Council may extend.
Which Buildings Need a Certificate?
The certificate obligation is triggered by age, not by type. Under Article 9, an owner must obtain a Quality and Safety Certificate after twenty years have passed from the date the building’s completion certificate was issued. The law’s scope is broad, covering every building in the emirate, including those in special development zones and free zones such as the DIFC, and applying whether the building was constructed before or after the law took effect. But the certificate requirement applies to buildings younger than twenty years.
Buildings younger than twenty years are not exempt from the law. They carry a different duty: owners must perform periodic maintenance, either on their own initiative or when the competent entity requests it, and rectify any defect that could pose a risk to structural safety, to lives and property inside, or to surrounding buildings.
Where no completion certificate was ever issued, the competent entity may estimate a completion date from available data. There is no gap to sit in.
Who Actually Carries the Obligation?
The owner. That includes the owner of an individual unit in a building governed by Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly owned property.
For jointly owned buildings, Article 10 assigns the practical work to the Management Entity, meaning the owners association manager. The management entity performs the duties otherwise assigned to the owner, including obtaining the Quality and Safety Certificate and contracting the engineering firm and contractor needed to rectify defects.
Two qualifications matter for individual owners. The owner remains liable for the fees, charges and security deposits payable in respect of the certificate. The owner also remains responsible for monitoring whether the management entity is actually doing its duties. Delegation is not a discharge.
For anyone holding units in an older tower, that turns a question about the building’s OA manager into a compliance question rather than a service-quality one.
The Process, Step by Step
Applications run through the Digital Window, a unified digital platform for submitting and determining certificate applications.
- Apply. The owner submits an application through the Digital Window, naming the engineering firm it intends to appoint.
- Initial approval. The competent entity verifies the firm meets the technical requirements and issues initial approval to begin the assessment.
- Assess. The engineering firm inspects the building against the DM-approved Technical Checklist and prepares a Technical Report. The applicant has six months from initial approval to submit that report. On request, and where no risk to life or property arises, the competent entity may extend this by up to two years.
- Plan the rectification. The firm proposes a timeframe and implementation plan for fixing the defects, submitted for approval. The competent entity may adjust both.
- Rectify. The owner appoints a contractor, working under the engineering firm’s supervision, to carry out the works.
- Certify. Once the works are complete, the engineering firm applies for the certificate. The competent entity conducts a site inspection, confirms every defect has been rectified, and issues the Quality and Safety Certificate.
The building’s height determines the required engineering inspections. Where technical testing is needed, the laboratory must be licensed in Dubai and accredited by the Emirates International Accreditation Centre.
What the Technical Report Must Cover
Article 7 sets a minimum scope. Alongside the full Technical Checklist, the report must address:
- The structural integrity of the building
- The integrity of all types of exterior cladding
- The condition of electrical and mechanical installations in external and common areas
- The condition of windows, doors and security barriers on external facades and in common areas
- Confirmation that the building meets Dubai Civil Defence safety and security requirements
- Confirmation that the building meets the CCTV requirements set by the Security Industry Regulatory Agency
Cladding and civil defence compliance sitting inside a mandatory recurring inspection is the substantive change here. Both have been enforceable for years. Neither has previously been checked on a fixed cycle across the existing building stock.
Validity, Renewal and What Happens to Occupants
A certificate runs for ten years where the building’s completion certificate was issued less than forty years ago, and five years where it was issued forty years ago or more. Both are renewable for the same period.
Occupants have obligations too, and owners should plan around them. Where the approved Technical Report indicates maintenance and rectification works are required before a certificate can be issued, occupants must vacate the building within three months of the competent entity approving and issuing that report.
If they don’t, the owner may pursue eviction through judicial channels, and the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre must hear the claim on a summary basis with its decision immediately enforceable. Occupants who vacate then hold priority to return after the works, at the same rent agreed before they left, unless the parties agree otherwise.
For a landlord, that sequence has an obvious consequence: a rectification programme on an older building is also a vacancy programme, and it needs to be modeled as a program; the fine is not the sanction that should work. The suspension of lease contract attestation is.
Penalties for Non-Compliance
Fines range from AED 100 to AED 1,000,000, with the specific acts and amounts to be set by resolution of the Chairman of the Executive Council. A repeat of the same violation within two years doubles the fine, to a ceiling of AED 2,000,000.
These measures, alongside the fine,e carry more commercial weight. In coordination with the Dubai Land Department, a competent entity may:
- Suspend the issuance or renewal of building permits for the owner in respect of that building until the violation is remedied
- Suspend consideration of, or reject, any applications relating to that building submitted to government or private entities, including suspending the attestation of lease contracts for units in the building
Read that second measure carefully. A building that can’t have its lease contracts attested is a building that can’t reliably be let. For an income-producing asset, that is a more significant fine in the schedule.
| MARKET INSIGHT
An owner who would rather demolish than certify has a defined route. Where the owner wishes to demolish without starting the certification process, the competent entity may, after inspecting the building and confirming no risk to lives and property, grant a grace period of up to one year to carry out the demolition. That route requires a refundable cash security deposit of AED 50,000. If the deadline passes without demolition, the deposit is forfeited unless the owner proves the delay was outside their control, in which case a further period of up to six months may be granted. Forfeiting the deposit does not release the owner from the requirement to obtain a certificate. For owners of aging, low-yielding stock, the law effectively forces a decision many have deferred: age in rectification, or redevelop. Doing neither is now an expensive option. |
What Owners Should Be Doing Now
The compliance window is a year from commencement, and the assessment itself can take six months before any rectification work starts. Buildings approaching or past twenty years should not be treating this as a next-year problem.
- Establish the completion certificate date for each asset, since that date sets the trigger and there is no other clock.
- Commission an early condition survey on buildings near or past the twenty-year mark, so the scale of likely rectification is known before a formal Technical Report fixes it on the record.
- Check the reserve fund. For jointly owned buildings, rectification costs land on the association. A reserve fund study that predates this law is probably understated.
- Confirm the OA manager is engaging with it. Under Article 10 the management entity carries the duty, but the owner carries the liability for fees and the responsibility for oversight.
- Model the vacancy. Where works will require occupants to leave, the three-month vacation period and the returning tenant’s rent protection both affect the income forecast.
How KAIZEN Supports Compliance
KAIZEN has managed property in the UAE since 2006 as a RERA-registered manager, with more than 400 million sq ft under management nationally and over 36,000 units under owners association management.
As a management entity under Law No. 6 of 2019, KAIZEN owners association management already carries out the duties this law assigns: handover management, health and safety inspections, planned maintenance, reserve and sinking fund studies, GAP audits, and service charge modeling. The certificate process runs through the same governance rather than alongside modeling, and Consultancy covers decisions above compliance: technical audits and lifecycle planning, compliance and operational efficiency reviews, redevelopment and leasing strategy where rectification economics point that way, and development management where an asset is better rebuilt than repaired.
Where individual units are involved, unit management handles the leasing consequences, including tenant communication and re-letting after works complete.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your position with a qualified legal advisor and review the implementing resolutions issued under this Law.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which buildings need a Dubai Quality and Safety Certificate?
Under Article 9 of Law No. 3 of 2026, an owner must obtain a certificate once twenty years have passed from the date the building’s completion certificate was issued. The law itself applies to all buildings in Dubai, including special development zones and free zones such as the DIFC, and whether built before or after the law took effect.
How long is the certificate valid?
Three years for buildings whose completion certificates were issued less than forty years ago, and five years for buildings whose completion certificates were issued forty years ago or more. Both are renewable for the same period, on conditions set by resolution of the Chairman of the Executive Council.
Who is responsible: the owner or the owners’ association?
The owner carries the obligation. For jointly owned buildings, Article owners assign the practical duties to the management entity, which obtains the certificate and appoints the engineering firm and contractor. The owner remains liable for fees and security deposits, and responsible for monitoring the management entity’s performance.
What are the penalties for non-compliance?
Fines from AED 100 to AED 1,000,000, doubled to a ceiling of AED 2,000,000 for a repeat of the same violation within two years. A competent entity may also suspend building permits for the owner and suspend the attestation of lease contracts for units in the building, which is generally the more commercially damaging measure.
Do tenants have to move out during the works?
They can be required to. Where the approved Technical Report shows that maintenance and rectification are needed before a certificate can issue, occupants must vacate within three months of the competent entity approving the report. Occupants who vacate have priority to return afterwards at the same rent agreed before vacating, unless the parties agree otherwise.
