Ejari, Security Deposits and the Money You Get Back at the End

You budgeted for the rent and the deposit. Then the agent sends a list with four more items on it and the move in cost is suddenly a different number.

The short version: of everything you pay when signing a UAE lease, the security deposit is the only substantial amount designed to come back to you. Agency fees, Ejari registration and utility connection charges are costs, not deposits. Utility security amounts are usually refundable when you close the account. Everything else you should treat as spent.

What you pay at signing

The exact list varies by emirate, by landlord and by property type, so treat this as the shape of the bill rather than the bill itself.

• Rent, in one or more cheques, following the split you agreed.
• Security deposit, held by the landlord against damage and unpaid amounts. It is typically calculated as a percentage of annual rent and is often higher for a furnished property.
• Agency commission, if the property came through an agent. This is a fee for the service and does not come back.
• Ejari registration in Dubai, or the equivalent tenancy registration in other emirates. It is a registration cost, not a deposit, and you need it for utilities, visas and school registrations.
• Utility connection and deposit. The connection or activation part is a fee. The deposit part is usually refundable when you close the account and settle the final bill. In Dubai this is where the DEWA deposit and the housing fee enter the picture.
• Cooling registration or deposit, where district cooling is billed separately from the landlord. Terms differ by provider.
• Access items such as parking cards, building access fobs and move in permits. Some buildings charge a refundable amount, some do not.

Ask for the full list in writing before you commit to the property, not after. An agent who cannot produce it is telling you something, and how you handle this stage feeds straight into what a landlord sees when you hand over post dated cheques.

What actually comes back

The security deposit, minus deductions, after you hand back the keys and the landlord inspects. Utility deposits, once the account is closed and the last bill paid. Sometimes a fob or access deposit if the building runs one.

Timing is the part nobody warns you about. Refunds usually arrive weeks after the tenancy ends rather than on the day, because the landlord waits for final utility bills and the inspection. Plan your next move in cost without counting on it, since you may need to fund a new deposit before the old one arrives.

What gets deducted

Deductions fall into two groups: things you agreed to and things you did not notice you agreed to.

• Damage beyond fair wear and tear. Marks on walls, broken fittings, damaged flooring, missing items from a furnished inventory.
• Unpaid utilities or cooling charges left on the account at the end.
• Cleaning, where the contract requires professional cleaning on exit and you did not do it.
• Alterations you made. Wall mounted televisions, shelving, painted feature walls, curtain rails. If the contract required the property to be returned in its original state, restoring it is your cost.
• Unreturned items. Keys, fobs, parking cards, remotes.

The phrase fair wear and tear does most of the work in these disputes and it is not defined precisely anywhere. That vagueness is why evidence matters more than argument.

How to protect the deposit from day one

Do this in the first week, before you have lived in the place long enough to cause anything.

• Photograph and video every room, including the state of the walls, the appliances, the bathroom sealant and any existing damage. Date stamped.
• Send those photos to the landlord or agent by email or message so there is a timestamped record they received.
• Get the inventory list for a furnished property in writing and check it item by item.
• Keep every receipt for maintenance you paid for, and every message where the landlord agreed to something.
• Read the exit clause when you sign, not when you leave. Find out then whether professional cleaning is required and whether alterations must be reversed.

At the end of the tenancy

Give the notice your contract requires, in the way it requires. Then work backwards from the handover date.

Clear the utilities, close the accounts and keep the final receipts. Repair anything obvious yourself rather than paying the landlord's rate for it. Have the property cleaned to the standard the contract names. Attend the inspection in person if you possibly can, so that anything raised gets discussed while you are standing in front of it.

Then ask for the refund in writing with a date, and keep the whole thread. Most deposits come back without drama. The ones that turn into arguments are almost always the ones where nobody wrote anything down at the start.