Business property insurance in the UAE

Who must insure property?

Rules name property cover for Dubai management entities and timeshare establishments, and for licensees in several free zones. No minimum amount is stated in any of them. Most set the basis, such as replacement value.

Jafza’s service guide of 26 April 2024 lists fire and peril cover for plot facilities only, while the Rules cover premises generally.¹²

Ask your free zone which rule applies to your unit, and check the valuation basis before you set the sum insured.

Does your lease require property cover?

A lease can require cover that no licence rule does. It is not known how common such clauses are.

• The DAFZ standard lease requires all risks cover on the premises and the tenant’s assets at replacement value, with amounts and insurer satisfactory to the landlord (cl 5.6.1). Package tenants differ under Section 6.³
• A filed KIZAD lease requires cover on the premises and contents, with the premises insured to full reinstatement cost (cl 21.1).⁴
• The KEZAD Group standard lease terms, Version 4 effective 1 June 2026, have the tenant insure the insured risks plus contents, civil liability, business interruption for at least 2 years, and annual workers’ compensation and employer’s liability (cl 17.1).⁵
• Hamriyah office tenants insure their own belongings (cl 24.1, 24.3).⁶ In the Hamriyah warehouse lease the landlord insures the premises at full reinstatement cost and the tenant pays the Insurance Charge, and the tenant insures plate glass in joint names with the landlord.⁷
• Dubai Healthcare City tenants insure the premises and their assets against all risks at replacement value (cl 3.20.1).⁸
• RAKEZ licensees follow the insurance terms in their lease, sub-lease or musataha agreement (Rule 15.1(a)).⁹

Check the insurance clause in your lease, and ask whether it needs joint names, a co-insured landlord or a waiver of subrogation.

What does a fire policy pay under the Civil Transactions Law?

A fire policy pays for all damage arising directly from fire, whatever its cause, and for its inevitable results, including rescue measures (Art 968). These articles took effect on 1 June 2026. Their text names fire only, so they say nothing about storm, flood or other perils.¹⁰

• Lost items. Items lost or missing during the fire are covered unless theft is proven (Art 968).
• Insured’s fault. Fire from the non-intentional fault of the insured is covered. Damage caused intentionally or through gross fault is not, even if the policy says otherwise (Art 969).
• Dependents. Fire caused by the insured’s dependents is covered, whatever their fault (Art 970).
• Defects. Fire arising from an inherent defect in the insured item is covered (Art 971).
• More than one insurer. An insured using more than one insurer notifies each. The total sum insured may not exceed the item’s value. If it does, each insurer pays a proportional share (Art 972 and 973).
• Pledges and mortgages. They attach to the proceeds. Once registered or notified, the insurer pays the insured only with the creditors’ consent (Art 975).
• Recourse. The insurer takes over claims against whoever caused the damage, except a spouse, relative or in-law in the insured’s household, or a person for whose acts the insured is responsible (Art 976).
• Limits. Indemnity is limited to damage from the insured risk, up to the sum insured (Art 963). Claims are inadmissible 3 years after the event, with exceptions that run the period from knowledge or from third-party recourse (Art 966). Art 958 voids certain policy conditions, including forfeiture for breach of law unless the breach is an intentional crime, forfeiture for late notice with a valid excuse, and arbitration clauses in printed general conditions.

Tell each insurer if the same item is insured with more than one.

Does your policy cover flood?

One insurer’s product page lists floods among the perils under fire and allied hazards. It is a product page, not a policy wording.¹¹

Guy Carpenter, a reinsurance broker, wrote in May 2025 that insured losses from the April 2024 Gulf floods were around USD 3 billion in its summary, and between USD 2.9 billion and USD 3.4 billion in the body of the same paper. Both figures are for the Gulf, and property and motor are not split. It also says many residential and small business properties remain underinsured against flood, and that several free-zone authorities have mandated flood coverage for mortgages and commercial licences. It named no zone.¹²

Can you add business interruption, money or fidelity cover?

One insurer’s page offers business interruption as an option on property all risks. It also lists money cover, for cash in transit or in a safe, and fidelity cover, for fraud or dishonesty by employees, as add-ons.¹¹ See business interruption.

What does the Central Bank report for the Fire line?

The Fire line combines personal fire, commercial fire and allied lines, including fire and allied perils, robbery and theft, and glass.¹³ No commercial-only figure is published, and mainland and free zone figures are not split.

The 2025 gross loss ratio was 24.4% on incurred claims and 79.9% on paid claims. Read the two together, because quoting one alone misleads.¹³ Fire premium in the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre file was AED 3,342.5 million in 2021.¹⁴

Incurred fire claims fell 85.4% in 2025 while paid claims rose 27.4%

The Central Bank defines incurred claims as claims paid plus the change in claims provisions.¹³ On that definition, fire provisions rose by about AED 6.9 billion in 2024 and fell by about AED 3.7 billion in 2025. The report gives no reason.

On 16 April 2024 the highest 24-hour rainfall was 254.8 mm at Khatm al-Shakla, with about 144 mm at Dubai International Airport.¹⁵ The Central Bank’s 2024 report says paid fire and motor claims rose due to weather, with no amount.¹⁶ It has no flood line and gives no claims by peril. The storm and the claims figures are shown by date only, so the amounts here are correlation only. The April 2024 storm study sets out the timeline.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi hold 95.1% of fire premium written within the UAE