According to a legal expert, AE landlords are not required by law to rent their apartments to any applicant and may deny renters with a negative credit history or financial risk indicators. Tenancy regulations in the UAE do not govern how landlords select prospective tenants, nor do they impose any obligation to accept an applicant. As a result, a landlord is legally permitted to reject a tenancy application based on a poor credit score or any other financial risk indication,” stated Asma Siddiqui, Senior Associate at BSA Law.
The explanation follows the debut of Etihad Credit Bureau’s new Tenant Screening solution on Sunday, which allows private landlords to obtain potential tenants’ credit scores. However, the information is only supplied once tenants have approved the request through UAE PASS. Tenants are also not legally required to discuss their credit score with landlords.
She also stated that the service is not based on a new law, but rather on the existing legal framework, namely Federal Law No. 6 of 2010 on Credit Information (as amended), which already allows non-financial entities to access credit reports with an individual’s consent, and Cabinet Resolution No. 115 of 2021, which operationalizes access to credit data for non-financial institutions.
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