You need two separate approvals from Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) before a unit can be rented out as a holiday home: a licence for whoever runs the activity, and a permit for each furnished unit. This guide covers the permit, the part that depends on your property and how it's fitted out.
The licence and permit details below come from DET's holiday-home guide, "Leasing Out Holiday Homes - User Guide", which we read in September 2026. The renovation approvals section draws on our own fit-out approvals research. DET says it updates the guide from time to time, so check the current version on DET's website before you commit money to anything.
DET's guide defines them separately. A licence authorises a person or a company to carry on the holiday-home activity. A permit approves one furnished unit as a holiday home. Every unit you rent out needs its own permit.
Both go through DET's Holiday Homes System, known as Holiday Homes 2.0. Individual owners register there and apply for a licence in the system, and the fees are calculated under the relevant regulation. Companies go through initial approval, a trade-name no-objection certificate and licence issue. The screen-by-screen steps sit in a separate Holiday Homes System User Guide, which we haven't reproduced here. The legal basis is Decree No. 41 of 2013, with fees and fines set by Executive Council Resolution No. 49 of 2014 and the executive regulations in Administrative Decision No. 1 of 2020.
The guide counts "leasing out" as renting units on a regular, ongoing basis, or leasing units in order to sublet them to guests. It doesn't say where a one-off short let falls, and we wouldn't guess. If you're unsure, ask DET at eservices@dubaidet.ae, the contact the guide gives.
The property itself has to qualify before the furniture matters. The guide sets these conditions on the unit:
DET also cancels permits that were issued on wrong information, so it's worth reading your sale agreement before you pay for a fit-out.
If your title deed covers a whole building and there are no deeds for individual units, the guide asks you to attach a residential building completion certificate, a list of the unit numbers, and the DEWA electricity and water premise numbers.
An individual owner can hold at most eight permits at one time. Owning more units than that means either taking a company licence or handing the extra units to a licensed operator.
If you use an operator, the guide sets the contract terms. The contract can run for one year at most, and the permit can't expire after the contract does. It also has to cover how the permit, maintenance and insurance costs are shared, and what condition the unit is handed back in. Agree the return condition in writing, because a unit that comes back with a worn sofa and a scratched worktop is an argument waiting to happen.
After you apply, an inspector visits. The unit must be empty of guests on the day. The guide says the inspector checks the unit against the standards in its Appendix 1, and that you should meet all of the specifications before you apply.
If something falls short, DET issues a warning or a penalty and gives you two weeks to fix it. A second visit follows, and after that DET makes periodic unannounced visits.
Classification works like this. Appendix 1 sets out five classes: Farms, Deluxe Villas, Standard Villas, Deluxe Apartments and Standard Apartments. The guide doesn't describe a scoring method, and it doesn't say which criteria a unit needs to reach Deluxe. That gives no basis for promising a class in advance. We cover what the checklist asks for, room by room, in our guide to furnishing a holiday home to DET standard.
Several requirements have nothing to do with the sofa. The main door needs a SIRA-approved smart lock connected to the Keyless system. If your door or frame can't take one, find that out before the inspection. You also need an insurance policy from an insurer licensed in Dubai that covers damage sustained by guests, valid for the whole licence term. The guide lists a fine for letting it lapse.
The unit has to show a board with its address, classification, permit number, the licensee's contact number and the DET number. There's also a QR code, printed from Holiday Homes 2.0 as a 5 cm by 5 cm laminated vinyl sticker and fixed under the DEWA premise plaque on the outside of the door. Guests, residents and building management scan it to send feedback or complaints to DET. The licence itself must be displayed somewhere clearly visible inside the unit. You can rent only whole units, and renting rooms or bed spaces separately is a listed violation with a fine. Permits don't renew automatically, so file the renewal before the permit expires.
Some units are fine as they are and only need furnishing. Others have a dated kitchen, a bathroom without a proper shower, or a layout where the second bedroom is smaller than the guide's minimum floor area. Appendix 1 gives 12 sqm for a bedroom in a Standard unit or a Farm and 14 sqm in a Deluxe one, measured without the bathroom and entrance. If a room falls short of that, furniture won't fix it.
When works are needed, remember they have their own approvals. Almost every Dubai fit-out needs the building or community management's approval first, then the permit from the authority for the property's location, plus Dubai Civil Defence approval. Our fit-out approvals hub explains which authority applies where. For the works themselves, see our apartment renovation service. If you'd rather have the renovation and the furnishing handled together, our holiday home furnishing page describes what we do. We don't issue permits, and we can't guarantee one or a class rating. DET decides both.
The DET guide doesn't state the amounts for application, licence or permit fees, or how long each step takes. It points to the system guide and to the relevant regulation for those. It also gives no detail on fire and life-safety equipment beyond a line about emergency tools such as extinguishers, fire blankets and a torch, so ask your building management and Dubai Civil Defence what applies to your building. And it doesn't cover any building or community approval process for works. Check each of these directly rather than relying on a blog post, ours included.
If you rent on a regular, ongoing basis, or lease units in order to sublet them, DET's guide describes two separate approvals: a licence for the person or company and a permit for each furnished unit. The guide doesn't say where a one-off short let falls, so ask DET if that's your case.
An individual owner can hold up to eight permits at once. If you own more units, you need a company licence, or you can give the extra units to a licensed operator to run.
No. The guide says DET doesn't issue permits for hotel rooms or hotel apartments, or for units whose sale-and-purchase agreement expressly bars holiday-home use.
DET issues a warning or a penalty and gives you two weeks to fix what's missing. A second visit follows, and DET then makes periodic unannounced visits. DET publishes fines for a failed inspection, and we don't quote them here.
It's a separate charge on guests. The guide sets it per room per night by class, worked out per bedroom, and it's paid monthly. It's background for your pricing, and it isn't a permit fee.
The DET guide doesn't state the permit or licence fees, so we won't quote a figure. The system guide and DET's website carry the current amounts.