The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) has announced that from now on all rental/lease contracts for Dubai properties must be registered through its new Ejari online portal.

The announcement makes effective the provisions of Law No 26 of 2007 regulating the relationship between tenants and landlords in Dubai and requires all individuals and companies acting as landlords to register tenancy agreements.

Landlords and tenants who fail to comply with the new ruling will find that their tenancy agreements fall outside the protection offered by the law and government agencies and will not be able to enforce the provisions of the agreements they enter into.

The law clearly states: "Judicial bodies and governmental departments and authorities should not consider any claim, case or execution based on a tenancy contract unless the same is registered with the agency."

Announcing the new ruling and the full activation of Ejari, its state-of-the-art online registration system, Rera called on everyone involved in drawing up and entering into such contracts to ensure full compliance and avoid violation.

Mohammed bin Hammad, Director of the Real Estate Relations Regulatory Department in Rera, said: "Today's announcement puts in place a key mechanism that will go a long way towards stamping out malpractice in the rental sector. The aim is to ensure all lease contracts and the parties to such agreements are registered and the details recorded. This will lead to the Dubai rental market becoming one of the most transparent and accountable anywhere and, at the end of the day, one of the best regulated... At a different level, full implementation of Ejari registration will enable the authorities to construct a full and accurate picture of Dubai's rental market."

Registration through Ejari is a simple process requiring little technical knowledge and only the basic details of agreements are entered. These include information such as details of the property, the name of the rental company and terms of the agreement. Once the agreement is entered into the system and registered, it is allocated a unique barcode that acts as its reference throughout the life of the contract.