Fourteen to a room: Illegal sub-letting in Dubai under the microscope

Fire safety and evacuations are the biggest concern as illegal tenants face evictions and landlord fines

The management team at Escan Tower in Dubai Marina has taken action to address illegal sub-letting. Pawan Singh / The National

A Dubai clampdown on rogue landlords illegally sub-letting has highlighted the stark dangers of overcrowded apartment buildings.

Dubai Land Department, the government regulator of the property sector, recently banned 10 owners from leasing their properties for flouting rules on multi-occupancy and safety following an inspection sweep.

Current laws restrict the number of people permitted to share an apartment, with each resident requiring at least five square metres of space in Dubai. Labour accommodation allows for more condensed living spaces, with 3.7 square metres per person, aside from communal areas. Both landlords and tenants are liable to prosecution or eviction for overcrowding.

However, management companies say some residential towers had become mass living areas for blue-collar workers. One of those is Escan Tower in Dubai Marina, where rooms inside apartments have been partitioned to create more living spaces.

The tower, near the Al Rahim mosque, contains around 300 apartments and about 800 tenants. Its management company embarked on a lengthy battle to evict those living illegally, many of them low-income workers in the construction industry.

“We began managing the issues at Escan Tower around three years ago as around 40 per cent of apartments were used for staff accommodation,” said Mohamad Younes, a senior rental consultant at Aspire-Lux Jointly Owned Property Management, which is contracted to maintain the property.

“In one room, the real estate company had three layered bunk beds, so around 14 people [were] living in a room four by five metres. A legal notice was sent to all, giving them six months to vacate and find alternative accommodation.”

Late-night disturbances

Management reported late-night alcohol consumption and regular disturbances, while the building’s electricity consumption and maintenance costs soared.

Access cards were blocked and anyone looking to move into the building without a registered Ejari residential contract was denied entry. Security staff levels at the building were also increased.

“People will always try to get around this,” said Mr Younes. “They start off with bribing the security guys because they need to subdivide the apartment with gypsum walls and dividers.

“The minute we see somebody who is trying to bring boards in, we know immediately he's trying to share, so we stop it immediately. This action starts with the security company, as some of the landlords are completely unaware this is happening.”

Six months after eviction notices were served, most illegal tenants had left, with only 10 per cent of apartments now considered shared.

The National reported in November 2022 that Sulafa Tower in Dubai Marina, which suffered two large fires in a decade, had made major changes to building access and security and evicted hundreds of unregistered tenants, after being blighted by overcrowding.

One of the biggest concerns about buildings with multiple-occupancy is fire safety. The UAE Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice includes requirements for landlords and property management companies.

It places responsibility for managing fire safety on owners. They must develop emergency action plans and ensure all fire safety systems are functional. Systems must be maintained by a civil defence-approved and listed company.

Fire safety

A continuing campaign against multiple occupancy rooms in Dubai will improve fire safety and living conditions for tenants, experts say.

“All buildings are designed from a fire and emergency perspective, based upon the number of people expected to occupy a floor,” said Daniel Ford, associate director of fire and life safety at environment consultants WSP.

“If additional occupants are present, this can lead to delays in evacuation due to congestion within the stairways.

“The more residents living within a space, the higher the fire load within that space is likely to be, which may well limit the effectiveness of sprinkler systems designed to control a fire.

Fire load refers to the amount of combustible materials present that can contribute to the spread of a blaze.

High-rise apartment blocks are the most likely buildings to be used for multiple-occupancy.

The number of rental contracts registered in Dubai for apartments has soared in the last decade. According to Dubai Land Department figures, 3,700 registered apartment contracts were submitted in 2015, but as Dubai has grown that number climbed to 14,900 in 2023. A further 8,900 contacts were submitted up to the second quarter of 2024.

Dubai Marina remains the most popular area of the emirate for apartment rentals, with 1,687 contracts registered in 2024, followed by the Downtown area with 1,013.

One-bedroom apartments are the most popular to rent, accounting for 67 per cent of the market, followed by two-beds that made up 27 per cent, DLD figures show.

Dean Charter, owner and founder of Paragon Properties in Dubai, said mixed development buildings were most likely to contain multiple-occupancy apartments.

“With overcrowding and multiple occupancy issues, we see the same developers and areas, such as Dubai Marina and JLT,” he said.

“Room sharing or overcrowding is not an issue with the main respected developers, but we do come across three-bedroom apartments that are home to 15 people in buildings operated by smaller, independent developers.”

Soaring demand

Dubai’s population has exploded in recent years, contributing to the demand for cheaper, multiple-occupation accommodation.

In 2015, Dubai’s population was around 2.4 million and is now approaching 3.8 million, the Dubai Statistics Centre website's live tracker shows.

“Occasionally, if a landlord is not receiving the amount of rent they require, they will convert living space to bedrooms to maximise their rental income,” said Mr Charter.

“That is only a small percentage of these cases, as the majority of the time the landlord is not even aware the tenant has sub-let the properties themselves.

“Either landlords are not aware of the regulations, or they are not being enforced. It should be the developer’s responsibly to stop this from happening when someone moves in.”

Landlords must ensure properties comply with the occupancy limits and Ejari regulations. Agreements usually stipulate subletting without the landlord's prior written consent constitutes a breach.

If a property is occupied in a manner not specified in the lease agreement, such as unauthorised multiple occupancy, the landlord may be held liable, even if initially unaware of the situation.

“Multiple occupancy cases are increasingly prevalent in densely populated areas of Dubai, where tenants may seek to minimise rental costs by subletting or sharing accommodation without the landlord’s consent,” said Suheil Rana, a lawyer at Ibrahim Al Banna Advocates and Legal Consultants.

“Such practices, while financially secure for tenants, often contravene both the terms of tenancy agreements and local regulations aimed at controlling housing density and ensuring safety.

“As a result, Dubai Municipality has intensified efforts to curb these unauthorised arrangements through regular inspections and strict enforcement of housing laws.

“If a landlord discovers their property has been unlawfully sublet as a multiple-occupancy unit without their consent, swift and deliberate action is crucial.”