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Obligations of your building or community management

Dubai's holiday home regulations require your building or community management to grant the licensed operator and its authorised guests unobstructed access, and this article sets out those obligations and how friction with an uncooperative management office is resolved.

LandlordsUpdated 30 August 20264 min read

Do

  • Provide a signed owner authorisation or NOC addressed to the building or community management, confirming we act on your behalf for this unit, if the management office requests one.
  • Forward any circular, notice or fine from the management office or owners association relating to your unit to us on receipt.
  • Tell us if you hold a position on, or direct contact with, the owners association or developer — an owner's voice often resolves an access dispute faster than an operator's.
  • Let us know immediately if the management office contacts you directly about guests, access cards or short-term rental.

Don’t

  • Do not agree to restrictions on the operator's or guests' access with the management office without telling us first — informal concessions become the new norm and are hard to reverse.
  • Do not settle a complaint by promising to stop the licensed activity; that is a matter for the licence and for DET (formerly DTCM), not for the reception desk.
  • Do not hand access cards or fobs to the management office for cancellation without discussing the consequences for live bookings.

Your unit is operated under a holiday home licence issued by DET (formerly DTCM). That licence carries obligations not only for us as the Licensee, but also for the management of the building or residential complex in which your property sits. Building management does not have discretion to decide whether licensed short-term rental is permitted in your unit — DET (formerly DTCM) has already decided that, and the management office is required to facilitate it.

What the building or community management must do

  • Facilitate and provide for free and unfettered access of the Licensee to the holiday home, so that the licensed activity can be conducted without obstruction.
  • Facilitate the entry of guests authorised by DET (formerly DTCM) to the holiday home, and provide those guests with free and unfettered access without obstruction.
  • Report any complaint it has against the Licensee, a guest or a visitor to DET (formerly DTCM) as soon as possible, so that DET (formerly DTCM) can take the necessary action.

The practical effect for you as owner: access cards, fobs, barrier access, lift access and reception clearance must be issued and honoured for the operator and for checked-in guests on the same basis as for a long-term tenant. Withholding them is not a permitted way for a management office to express disagreement with holiday home use.

What the management office may do

There is one specific permission granted to building and community management, and it is narrow:

Exception. Management may view the passports and ID cards of guests, and take copies of them, at the building or residential complex reception desk on arrival — for check-in only, and only at the time of checking in.

This exists so that reception can verify who is entering the building on the day of arrival. It is not a standing right to demand documents from guests during their stay, nor a basis for approving or refusing individual bookings.

How complaints against us are handled

Management is not without recourse. If it has a complaint about the Licensee, a guest or a visitor, the correct channel is DET (formerly DTCM), not unilateral action against your unit.

StageWhat happens
Complaint raisedBuilding or community management informs DET (formerly DTCM) as soon as possible.
AssessmentDET (formerly DTCM) considers whether the complaint amounts to a breach of the Decree, the Regulations or the Holiday Homes Guide.
Outcome, if a breach is foundDET (formerly DTCM) may begin the necessary procedures against the Licensee, including the imposition of fines, suspension of the activity, or termination of the Licence or Permit.
A suspended or terminated licence stops income from your property until the position is resolved. This is why we manage guest conduct, noise, visitor numbers and check-in identification tightly at the building level — the downside of a substantiated complaint falls on the licence that keeps your unit earning.

When a management office is uncooperative

Most friction is procedural rather than legal: a new community manager, a reception team that has not been briefed, or an access-card policy applied without reference to the licence. We work through it in this order.

  1. We present the holiday home licence and the DET (formerly DTCM) requirements on access to the management office in writing, and ask for confirmation of the access process for the operator and for checked-in guests.
  2. We agree a workable check-in routine with reception — including the arrival document check permitted at the desk — so guests are not turned away or delayed.
  3. If access is still obstructed, we escalate in writing and record each instance of obstruction, with dates and names.
  4. Where obstruction persists, the matter is raised with DET (formerly DTCM) as the authority that imposed the access obligation on the management in the first place.
  5. We keep you informed at each stage, because as owner you also hold rights as a unit owner or landlord within the building or community.

What we may need from you

Contact

To report an access problem at your building, or to request documentation for your management office, contact us on +971 (4) 392-0202 by phone or WhatsApp, or email info@deluxehomes.com. In an emergency, contact local emergency services first.

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