If renewal paperwork waits for a landlord who is abroad, this is for you. A Dubai Ejari renewal has two jobs: getting the renewal terms signed, and filing the renewal with DLD. Only the first one can go by link. This is not for you if one landlord is renewing one flat. DLD's own template and a free service such as Habi are enough, and you can stop here.
Who can file an Ejari renewal when the landlord is abroad?
The owner, or someone holding an official power of attorney. DLD's Ejari service page, which we read on 13 October 2026, says so for the trustee centre route: the landlord must be the owner of the property or a legal representative with an official power of attorney. The same page says the tenant and landlord must be individuals for the app route, and that "an employee will review and approve the request through the system".
It lists the fees too. Registering or renewing costs AED 177.75 in total through Dubai REST or the website, and AED 220 in total at a trustee centre. For the app route it asks for a copy of the Unified Tenancy Contract.
What it does not say is how the parties sign that contract. There is no line about signatures, e-signatures or wet ink. So the page tells you who files and what it costs, and leaves your biggest delay, the landlord's signature, to you.
What do the web guides say about signing, and why not repeat them?
Because they disagree with each other, and neither cites DLD.
tenancycontract.com, a contract generator, wrote on 10 June 2026 that first registration needs wet ink and that Dubai REST "supports digital re-signing" for renewals. AgentsAI, a software guide, wrote on 4 May 2026 that "RERA and DLD accept digitally signed tenancy contracts when the signer's identity is verified through Emirates ID or mobile OTP". One says renewals only. The other says digital signatures, full stop, and adds a "qualified electronic signature stamp" nobody else mentions.
Both sell something. We checked DLD's page for either claim and did not find it. So we do not repeat them. Our rule is that you do not promise a client what DLD has not written down. Ask your trustee centre, or DLD, for the current answer in writing, then keep it on file.
Which part goes by link, and which stays with DLD?
Send the renewal terms by link. File the renewal the way DLD says. That is our decision rule, and it rests on one line of law. Article 28 of Federal Decree-Law 46 of 2021 says a person may use any form of electronic signature unless other legislation in force says otherwise. So the question for each paper is whether other legislation, or the body that takes the paper, says otherwise. This is not legal advice.
Use wet ink or a power of attorney only where DLD or the document asks for it. Everything else that waits on a landlord abroad can go by link.
How do you check your own renewal season?
With three questions, answered from your own files. They are our rule of thumb, not a study.
- 01Take last renewal season. How many renewals waited on an owner who was abroad, and how long did the longest one wait?
- 02For each, ask who holds the finished signed copy today: the tenant, the landlord, you? How long would it take you to find it?
- 03For each Ejari filing, name who filed it, the owner or a power of attorney holder, and whether that power of attorney is on file and current.
If the delay is a landlord who has the document but has not opened it, a link does not chase him. Your team does that today. If the delay is that the document only reaches him after a courier, a printer or a driver, a link fixes it. If it sits at the filing, a link does not. Then the fix is a power of attorney held on file, or an owner who files himself.
Where does the finished copy go?
To every party, by email, as one signed PDF. That is the point of sending by link. On our page, tenant, landlord and broker sign in order on their phones, and each party then gets the signed PDF. The audit log holds a fingerprint of the file, each signer's email and IP address, and every step with its time.
Why it matters is on Reddit. A tenant in a dispute wrote in June 2026 that the dispute centre "said they need the tenancy contract and ejari" and that "the landlord did not send me the final signed version. I have only my signed version." A reply says the agent took the copy to the landlord's driver to be signed and "i literally never got the final version back."
That is one thread, from a tenant, and it is not your client. It shows the gap a link closes: nobody leaves without the finished file. We do not claim any dispute centre accepts the log. We say you can show who signed what and when.
When is a free service enough?
When one landlord renews one flat. Habi's page, read on 13 October 2026, offers tenancy contract creation and digital signing online, shows the contract as free, and lists an Ejari fee of AED 299. If you send two or three renewals a month, use it and keep your money.
Our case is the team that sends many (see real estate brokers and our note on UAE PASS and real estate), in one signing order, with the same template, from several brokers. And be clear on what we do not do. Mindcat Sign stores the signed PDF and audit log in the UAE, and you can take every signed PDF, audit log and template out whenever you want. Our page does not describe a Salesforce connection, so do not assume the signed file lands on your renewal record; ask us in writing. Mindcat Sign sends signing requests by email today. To send on WhatsApp, your team copies the link and pastes it, because WhatsApp sending is not built in. Automatic reminders are not included either. They come from a paid upstream licence we quote at cost, so a landlord who goes quiet is chased by your team, and the licence has no price on this page. We quote it at cost in writing before you commit.
What would this cost a brokerage?
Here are the prices on our page today. Mindcat Sign is AED or SAR 69 per sender a month for 1 to 5 senders, 49 for 6 to 20, 35 for 21 to 50 and 25 above that. Signers are free and documents are unlimited. The shared plan, hosted by us in the UAE, has a monthly minimum of AED 349, which is three senders, so the per-sender price never applies to one seat on its own.
The page's own example is a brokerage with 12 senders: 5 at 69 plus 7 at 49 comes to AED 688 a month. With 30 senders it is AED 1,430.
Up to 20 senders, the quick start is a fixed AED or SAR 2,500, once. We set it up for you, with no call. Larger teams get a written plan and price. A company certificate from a licensed provider, if you want one on the signed file, is billed at cost. Prices exclude 5 percent UAE VAT. Compare them with a delayed renewal, not with a free template.
What happens in the first week?
We are a Salesforce consulting partner since 2010, and we host Sign in the UAE. We start with your last renewal season, because that is where the delay is. You send us the renewal addendum you use today and tell us who signs it and in what order. We build it as a template, or give you the guide to build your own, and the signing order follows. Your landlords abroad get a link, sign in Arabic or English, and everyone receives the finished PDF. We call it one link per signer.
If your answers above point to the filing, not the signature, we will tell you to fix the power of attorney first. If they point to the signature, tell us what you send for signing and who signs it, and we reply with the plan and the monthly price per sender.
