For decades, getting a Dubai tenancy contract meant visiting a typing centre. Today you can generate the same DLD Unified Tenancy Contract online in 3 minutes, free. Here's the head-to-head so you can decide which route is right for you.
Cost
- Typing centre: AED 150–300 per contract
- Online (tenancycontract.com): Free
Time
- Typing centre: 30–90 minutes (queue + filling + printing)
- Online: 3 minutes (upload, review, download)
Accuracy
- Typing centre: typist transcribes manually — errors common, especially DEWA premises and plot numbers
- Online: AI reads directly from title deed and Emirates ID — 99%+ field accuracy on clear scans
Hours of Operation
- Typing centre: business hours only, typically 9 AM–8 PM, closed Friday afternoons
- Online: 24/7, including weekends and holidays
Ejari Readiness
Both produce identical PDFs. The DLD Unified Tenancy Contract v1.4 is a government-issued template — there's no Ejari difference between an online-generated and typing-centre version.
Mistakes and Re-Issues
- Typing centre: re-issuing for a typo means another visit + another fee
- Online: regenerate as many times as you need, free
When a Typing Centre Still Makes Sense
There are two cases where the typing centre is the better choice:
- You need wet-ink signatures notarised on the spot (some commercial contracts)
- You don't have digital copies of your title deed or Emirates ID
When Online is Strictly Better
- You're signing in the evening, weekend, or remote
- Multiple revisions are likely (tenant negotiating clauses)
- You want zero-cost regeneration if details change
- You want AI to catch the property number / DEWA premises typos that typists routinely make
If you want to see what the AI generator does behind the scenes, see our explanation of how the AI tenancy contract generator works.