A new draft rental law has proposed that apartment rents should be fixed for a period of three years, according to local media reports.

According to the Arabic-language Emarat Al Youm newspaper, a newly proposed draft rental law also stipulates that a residence’s owner and his representatives cannot receive commissions or other fees to be used for administrative costs associated with signing or renewing a contract.

The draft law – which has yet to be approved by Dubai’s supreme legislation committee – also clarifies that the rent cannot be increased for the first three years, under any circumstances.

The Emarat Al Youm story noted that “the increase in the rental allowance, if any, after the expiry of the [three year] period shall be at the average wage.”