Go in person if you can. Ask for the advertising permit number — every legal UAE advert carries one — and check the actual unit, not the show flat.
Passport, visa, Emirates ID and proof of income for a salaried tenant; trade licence and bank statements if you are self-employed. Having them ready is usually what decides who gets the unit.
They can accept, decline or counter on the rent, the cheque count or the term. Nothing is binding yet and no money should have moved.
Read the exit clause, the notice period and who pays for maintenance before you sign. In Dubai the standard split is that the landlord covers major repairs and the tenant the minor ones — but the contract can say otherwise, and it governs.
The first cheque, a refundable security deposit and the agency fee are usually all due together. Get a receipt for the deposit that states it is refundable and what can be deducted.
Customary Dubai rates: 5% deposit (10% furnished), 5% agency fee
This is the step that makes your tenancy enforceable. Without it you cannot open a DEWA account, cannot sponsor a residency visa, and cannot take a dispute to the rental committee. Registering is the landlord's duty — chase it if it does not happen.
Registration fee set by the authority
Electricity and water go into your name against the registered tenancy, with a refundable deposit that differs for an apartment and a villa. Cooling may be billed separately by the community, which catches people out.
Photograph the condition of everything on the day you take it, including meter readings. That record is what you rely on when the deposit is returned at the end of the term.
Two things that decide whether you are protected
We can show where you are up to the landlord’s decision. The contract, the cheques and the Ejari certificate sit with the agent and the landlord, so those stages are shown as ahead of you rather than guessed at.