Dubai 2026 Legislative Series · 2 of 3

Dubai Law No. 3 of 2026 on Building Quality and Safety

A practitioner's briefing on Dubai's new 20-year mandatory building inspection regime, the Quality and Safety Certificate, the obligations of Owners' Associations, and the contentious risks for owners, contractors and engineering consultancies.

1. Why this matters now

Law No. 3 of 2026 on Building Quality and Safety in the Emirate of Dubai establishes — for the first time — a mandatory periodic structural-safety inspection regime for every building in Dubai that has reached twenty years from completion. The Law was issued on 27 February 2026 and published in the Official Gazette on 12 March 2026. It enters into force 60 days after publication (Article 25), i.e. on or about 11 May 2026.

The Law touches every owner, Owners' Association (jam'iyyat al-mulak), engineering consultancy, contractor, technical lab, and free-zone authority operating in Dubai — including the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). Compliance is no longer an optional exercise: failure to obtain the new Quality and Safety Certificate triggers fines and a suite of administrative measures that will halt building permits, freeze title-related transactions, and block the registration of new lease contracts.

2. Scope

Article 3(a) applies the Law to all buildings in Dubai, including in special development zones and free zones (DIFC included), regardless of whether built before or after the Law's effective date. Article 3(b) preserves the Chairman of the Executive Council's discretion to exempt particular buildings.

The "Building" trigger is set in Article 2: a building that has reached 20 years from the date of its completion certificate (or, where no completion certificate exists, the date the competent authority determines) becomes subject to the certification regime.

3. The Quality and Safety Certificate

The cornerstone of the regime is the Quality and Safety Certificate (shahadat al-jawda wa al-salama), issued by the competent authority (the Municipality, free-zone authority, or special-development-zone authority) via a unified Digital Window for the Emirate.

Article 13 sets the Certificate's validity period:

• 10 years for buildings less than 40 years old at the time of issuance;
• 5 years for buildings 40 years and older.

The Certificate is renewable for like periods on the conditions to be set by Resolution of the Chairman of the Executive Council.

4. The technical-evaluation pipeline

Article 8 sets out the procedure for obtaining the Certificate, which can be summarised in seven steps:

1. Owner files application via the Digital Window, identifying the engineering consultancy that will perform the technical evaluation.
2. Competent authority issues a preliminary approval, granting up to six months to file the engineering consultancy's technical report. This may be extended in increments not exceeding two years in aggregate, on documented justification and absent material risks.
3. Engineering consultancy inspects the building against the Technical Audit Checklist and the matters specified in Article 7(d) — structural soundness, exterior cladding, electrical and mechanical installations in shared and external areas, doors, windows and façade barriers, Civil Defence prevention compliance, and CCTV installation in line with the Security Industry Regulatory Agency's standards.
4. Technical report submitted via the Digital Window, with a remediation plan and timetable.
5. Competent authority reviews and approves the remediation timetable.
6. Owner appoints a contractor, supervised by the engineering consultancy, to remediate the technical defects identified in the report.
7. Engineering consultancy applies for the Certificate via the Digital Window, the competent authority conducts a site visit, and — if all defects are remediated — issues the Certificate.

5. Engineering consultancy: classification and accountability

Article 7 imposes two qualification gates:

• The engineering consultancy must be licensed in Dubai and the engineering consultancy's classification tier must match the height of the building being assessed, as set by the Municipality.
• If a technical lab is engaged for testing, that lab must be licensed in Dubai and accredited by the Emirates International Accreditation Centre (EIAC).

Article 11 forbids the engineering consultancy from sub-contracting preparation of the technical report to another consultancy and prohibits any post-submission amendment to the report without prior written approval of the competent authority. The consultancy is also accountable for verifying that the contractor has corrected every defect set out in the technical report.

6. Owner obligations

Article 9 places eight categorised obligations on the owner, the most operationally significant being:

1. Obtaining the Certificate at the 20-year mark;
2. Conducting periodic maintenance for buildings under 20 years old, on the owner's own initiative or on demand by the competent authority, where any defect threatens structural safety;
3. Engaging the engineering consultancy and the contractor;
4. Vacating the building of occupiers (if the technical report so requires) for the works to take place, with recourse to the Rental Disputes Centre on an expedited basis if occupiers refuse.

Crucially, Article 9(b) is a "no-evasion" provision: even after obtaining the Certificate, the owner remains under a continuing obligation to maintain the building and remediate any structural damage that subsequently arises. Voluntary maintenance by the owner before obtaining the Certificate does not waive the certification requirement.

7. The Owners' Association overlay

Article 10 is critical for jointly owned buildings ("strata" buildings) under Dubai Law No. 6 of 2019: the Owners' Association takes on the owner's obligations under Law No. 3 of 2026, including the obligation to obtain the Certificate, contract with the engineering consultancy and contractor, and complete the remediation works. The owners individually remain liable for fees, deposits, and Owners' Association non-compliance. The Director-General of the Dubai Land Department will issue further implementing rules.

8. Vacating the building and tenant protection

Article 12 codifies the eviction-for-works regime:

• Three-month notice. Where the technical report requires the building to be vacated for remediation, occupiers must vacate within three months of the competent authority's approval of the report.
• Expedited Rental Disputes Centre process. If occupiers do not comply, the owner may seek eviction at the Rental Disputes Centre, which is required to expedite the case and may grant immediate enforcement.
• Tenant right of return. Article 15(b) gives occupiers a priority right to return after the works at the same rent agreed in the prior lease, unless the parties agree otherwise.

9. Demolition as an alternative

Article 14 permits the owner to elect demolition instead of certification, subject to:

• Posting a refundable cash deposit of AED 50,000;
• Demolishing within a period set by the competent authority, not exceeding one year (extendable by six months on documented force majeure grounds);
• Forfeiture of the deposit if the owner fails to demolish within the deadline.

Note that forfeiture does not extinguish the obligation to obtain the Certificate.

10. Enforcement

Fines. Article 16 sets a band from AED 100 to AED 1,000,000, doubling on repeat within two years up to AED 2,000,000. The schedule of specific offences and corresponding fines will be issued by Resolution of the Chairman of the Executive Council.

Administrative measures. Beyond fines, the competent authority — coordinating with other government bodies — may:

• Suspend issue or renewal of building permits relating to the offending building until cured;
• Halt all transactions relating to the building before government and private bodies, including the attestation of new lease contracts, for a period set by the competent authority and the Land Department.

11. Transition: 12 months to compliance

Article 22 grants owners, contractors and engineering consultancies one year from the effective date to bring their affairs into compliance, extendable by like periods at the discretion of the Chairman of the Executive Council.

12. Five immediate workstreams

1. Portfolio audit. Identify every building in your Dubai portfolio that is at, near, or beyond the 20-year mark — by reference to the completion-certificate date.
2. Engineering-consultancy panel. Build a shortlist of consultancies whose classification tier matches your building heights, and lock in capacity ahead of the foreseeable bottleneck.
3. Owners' Association readiness. For strata buildings, agree the Owners' Association's procurement, governance and reserve-fund mechanism for funding the inspection and remediation works.
4. Tenant communication plan. If remediation will require vacating the building, prepare a documented communication plan and budget for re-housing or rent abatement to minimise Rental Disputes Centre exposure.
5. Insurance review. Confirm with insurers whether existing property and liability covers respond to defects identified in the technical report, and refresh cover as appropriate.

13. How we can help

Noura Lawyers advises landlords, developers, Owners' Associations, hotel groups and free-zone tenants on the certification regime — from drafting and reviewing engineering and contractor mandates, to RERA and Rental Disputes Centre representation, to defending administrative measures imposed under Article 16. We coordinate with EIAC-accredited testing laboratories and Municipality-classified consultancies as part of an integrated workstream.

This briefing is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. The official Arabic text of Law No. 3 of 2026 prevails over any English summary. © 2026 Noura Almaazmi Advocates & Legal Consultancy.