Compliance · Dubai
The rules are the moat.
Dubai's holiday-home regime is strict, electronic and unforgiving of amateurs — which is precisely why a properly run property is worth more here. These are the rules owners actually get caught by.
Guests must be registered within three hours.
Every guest goes into DET's Holiday Homes system within three hours of check-in, with an AED 1,000 fine for incomplete information. We file it automatically, at every check-in, at any hour.
Non-resident owners have no VAT threshold.
Airbnb's own UAE tax guide is blunt: a single night at AED 500 triggers a registration obligation for a non-resident owner. Residents register at AED 375,000 of turnover; non-residents from the first dirham. Most overseas owners have never been told.
DET now monitors listings electronically.
Listings are checked against the permit register automatically. An unpermitted listing is no longer something that slips through — it is a fine waiting to be issued.
The Tourism Dirham has a ten-day window.
It reconciles only between the 1st and the 10th of the following month. Miss the window, pay the penalty. Ours files on the 1st.
Fines double on repeat.
A repeat violation within 12 months doubles the fine, capped at AED 100,000. Compliance is not a nice-to-have here; it is the difference between a yield and a liability.
The one owners get wrong the other way.
No developer or owners association can lawfully ban a licensed holiday home — DTCM has ruled on it. A letter from your building does not override your DET permit. If your building has told you no, that is a conversation we know how to have.
Every one of these filings is inside our commission — registered guests, Tourism Dirham on the 1st, permits renewed before they lapse, VAT position checked at onboarding. The audit tells you where your property stands today.
Get your free Revenue Audit — compliance check included