Holiday Home Business in Dubai 2026: DET Licence, Unit Permits, Tourism Dirham and Costs

In short: To run a holiday home business in Dubai, you either register as an individual owner on DET’s Holiday Homes system (AED 1,520, up to 8 units you own) or set up a company with a DET trade licence for Vacation Homes Rental (5510008) and register it as a professional operator, which lets you manage units for other owners under a Property Management Letter. Each apartment or villa then needs a DET holiday home permit before it is advertised: AED 300 per bedroom plus AED 70 in other fees, capped at AED 1,200 a year, valid for up to 12 months. You collect the Tourism Dirham from guests (AED 10 or AED 15 per bedroom per night), record every check-in on the system and pay DET monthly.

This guide is for owners letting their own flat or villa to tourists, founders building a company that manages holiday homes for others, and owners abroad. Every figure comes from DET’s service cards and its Leasing Out Holiday Homes User Guide, or from the Federal Tax Authority, checked on 13 October 2026.

Who regulates holiday homes in Dubai?

The Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) regulates holiday homes. You may still see the older name DTCM on payment details. DET’s Leasing Out Holiday Homes User Guide says it supplements three pieces of law: Decree No. 41 of 2013 regulating the activity of leasing out holiday homes in Dubai, Executive Council Resolution No. 49 of 2014 approving the related fees and fines, and Administrative Decision No. 1 of 2020 issuing the executive regulations.

The guide defines the activity as leasing out holiday homes, or taking a lease of holiday homes to sublet them to guests, “on a regular and ongoing basis”. It separates two documents that people often mix up:

• The licence authorises a person or company to carry on the activity.
• The permit approves one furnished unit as a holiday home after DET has checked that it meets the conditions.

Holiday homes are a DET matter, not a Dubai Land Department one. If you also want to broker sales or long-term lettings, that is a separate DLD-regulated activity, covered in our real estate brokerage company guide.

Owner permit or operator licence: which route fits you?

DET’s “Register to operate Holiday Homes” service is open to two kinds of user, owners and professional operators. The rules differ in ways that decide your business model.

DET’s user guide spells out the limit: individual owners can hold eight permits at one time, and an owner who wants to manage more must obtain a company licence or hand the extra units to a licensed holiday home company. The registration page adds that essential information such as trade licences must be updated every year and that there is no renewal fee for the registration.

On Invest in Dubai’s official activity search, Vacation Homes Rental is activity code 5510008 in the “Time sharing” group, open to foreign ownership. Its description covers offering owned or rented furnished accommodation to vacationers “on a daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis”, renting the unit as a whole and not as rooms or beds. Our Dubai mainland licence types guide explains how activity codes fit into a licence.

Which properties can become holiday homes?

DET’s user guide and service cards set out which units qualify. The main conditions are:

DET cancels permits issued on incorrect information, and lists a developer NOC “if applicable”, so read your SPA first.

How do you get a holiday home permit for a unit?

Once your account is registered, each unit goes through the same online process on the Holiday Homes portal:

For operators, the permit’s issue and expiry dates must match the Property Management Letter. If you changed your DEWA account recently, DET accepts a DEWA statement of account or a screenshot of the DEWA profile showing the owner and account number.

How much does a holiday home permit cost?

DET’s permit FAQ says a permit is issued for a minimum of three months and a maximum of 12 months, and that “permit fees are irrespective of validity period”. A short permit therefore costs the same as a full year.

Illustrative first-year model for one owner (not a quote)

This example uses only DET’s published lines. It assumes one individual owner with one two-bedroom apartment and a one-year permit. It leaves out furniture, DEWA, service charges, insurance, the smart lock, cleaning and any operator’s commission.

A company route adds the cost of a DET trade licence, premises and any visas. Our mainland setup cost guide lists those government fees with sources, and the business setup cost planner builds a line-by-line budget.

How does the Tourism Dirham work for holiday homes?

The Tourism Dirham is collected from guests and passed to DET. DET’s user guide gives the formula: number of nights x number of bedrooms x the rate for the unit’s category. The rules that matter in practice are:

• It is charged per bedroom per night, whatever the number of guests. A maid’s room counts as a bedroom.
• It follows the guest’s physical stay, so it is not collected on no-shows, pre-bookings or planned bookings, or on stays cancelled because the guest was dissatisfied.
• For stays longer than 30 consecutive nights, it is charged on the first 30 nights of the check-in only.
• It still applies when a stay is given at no charge as part of a promotion.
• Every receipt or invoice must show it as a separate line labelled “Tourism Dirham”.
• Payment is monthly, by the 15th of the following month, online through the system or by deposit to DET’s account.

DET’s guide lists the fines. Paying late, or failing to collect the fee from guests, costs 10% of the unpaid or uncollected amount with a minimum of AED 1,000. Not showing the Tourism Dirham on guest invoices is AED 1,000.

Illustrative Tourism Dirham calculation

A guest stays 5 nights in a two-bedroom Standard holiday home: 5 x 2 x AED 10 = AED 100, shown on the invoice as “Tourism Dirham” (AED 150 if the unit is Deluxe).

What is the difference between Standard and Deluxe?

You self-classify after approval, and DET inspectors check the unit against Appendix 1 of the user guide. Most items apply to both categories, such as Wi-Fi, a washing machine with dryer, a first aid kit, emergency procedures in Arabic and English, and a SIRA-approved smart lock on the main door. Some examples of where Deluxe asks for more:

If an inspector finds a criterion missing, DET warns or fines the permit holder and expects the fault fixed within two weeks. The listed fines are AED 500 for a main classification criterion and AED 200 for a secondary one.

What must you do while operating?

DET’s user guide sets operating duties for every licensee, owner or company:

• Check guests in on the system (Holiday Homes 2.0) within three hours of entry, checking their documents.
• Use DET’s guest check-in document as the guest contract, valid for up to three months and renewable. DET says another type of contract makes the permit void.
• Display the unit QR code, a 5 cm x 5 cm laminated sticker from the system, beneath the DEWA premise plaque outside the door, so guests and neighbours can send DET feedback.
• Keep comprehensive insurance from a Dubai-licensed insurer covering damage sustained by guests, for the whole licence term.
• Run a 24/7 complaints line and record each complaint and the action taken.
• Set guest terms in Arabic and English and post house rules: no visitors between midnight and 8am, no parties, quiet hours 10pm to 8am.
• Renew on time. Renewal opens 30 days before expiry. An expired permit removes the unit from the system, and a new landlord or changed DEWA account also means a new application.

Building management must let DET-approved guests in without obstruction, and appeals against DET decisions go in writing within 30 days.

What are the fines for getting it wrong?

These are some of the violations listed in DET’s user guide under Executive Council Resolution No. 49 of 2014:

DET can also close a holiday home after notice and at least three days to fix the problem.

How do you set up a holiday home operator company?

The company route follows the normal DET mainland process, with Vacation Homes Rental as the activity:

1. Trade name and initial approval from DET (see our trade name and initial approval guides).
2. Premises and legal documents, with a registered tenancy for the business address (our office space guide compares options).
3. Trade licence with activity 5510008, following our mainland company formation guide.
4. Register as an operator on the Holiday Homes system with the licence copy (AED 1,520).
5. Sign owner contracts. DET’s guide says an owner-operator contract must not exceed one year, the permit must not outlast it, and it should cover income sharing, who pays permits, maintenance and insurance, the owner’s own use, handover and termination.
6. Apply for each unit’s permit, then classify and pay.
7. Establishment card and staff visas for your team.

If you later stop trading, DET’s guide says you must check out all guests, cancel all permits, pay the Tourism Dirham and obtain DET’s no-objection certificate before the licence is cancelled.

What about VAT and Corporate Tax?

• Corporate Tax. The Federal Tax Authority’s Real Estate Investment guide for natural persons (CTGREI1) says a document issued by DET permitting a person to lease holiday homes is a licence for Corporate Tax purposes. Its worked example treats apartments let as holiday homes under DET permits as business income within scope, while apartments let to residents on registered Ejari contracts stay outside it. An individual’s business income is taxable only where turnover exceeds AED 1 million in a calendar year, unless Small Business Relief is elected. Rates are 0% up to AED 375,000 of taxable income and 9% above; see our corporate tax registration guide.
• VAT. Registration is mandatory once taxable supplies pass AED 375,000 and voluntary from AED 187,500. Article 37 of the VAT Executive Regulation says a “residential building” does not include a building used as a hotel, motel or bed and breakfast establishment, or a serviced apartment where services beyond accommodation are provided. Whether your short stays are exempt residential lettings or taxable hotel-type supplies depends on how you operate, so ask a registered tax agent before you set prices.

Illustrative scenarios

These are illustrative examples to show how the rules apply. They are not real client cases.

• Example 1: one owner, one flat. A resident owns a one-bedroom apartment with a “Residential” title deed. She registers as an owner (AED 1,520), self-classifies the unit as Standard, pays AED 370 for the permit, and collects AED 10 per night as Tourism Dirham.
• Example 2: an investor with ten apartments. An owner wants to let ten units to tourists. The owner route stops at eight, so he either sets up a company with Vacation Homes Rental (5510008) or hands two or more units to a licensed operator. He also notes that, under the FTA’s guide, the holiday home income counts as business income for Corporate Tax.
• Example 3: a tenant with a sublet idea. A tenant plans to list her rented flat nightly. The owner route needs her name on the title deed, so she would need the landlord’s cooperation and a licensed operator to hold the permit. She asks her landlord first.

Can you run a Dubai holiday home from abroad?

Partly. The Holiday Homes system is online, so owners in the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand can register and apply remotely. If someone signs the Property Management Letter for you, DET asks for a formal power of attorney and the representative’s passport copy. The hard part from abroad is daily operation: three-hour check-ins, a 24/7 complaints line, inspections and same-day repairs, which is why many owners abroad use a licensed operator. Our business setup service handles the licence and visa side if you are building your own operator company.

Common mistakes

• Listing a unit before DET has approved it, or assuming a trade licence covers every unit.
• Buying in a hotel apartment building, or with an SPA that forbids holiday letting.
• Letting single rooms or beds, or adding a utilities charge to guests’ bills.
• Letting a permit expire, or paying the Tourism Dirham after the 15th.

Questions people ask