Civil Transactions Law · Federal Decree-Law 25 of 2025
Article 733
Section Two: Contracts of Usufruct > Chapter One: Lease Contract > Part Four: Termination and Rescission of the Lease Contract
English translation
1. A lease shall not terminate upon the death of the lessor, nor upon the death of the lessee.
2. If the lessee dies, their heirs may request the termination of the contract if they prove that, due to the death of their decedent, the obligations of the contract have become beyond their financial capacity or that the lease exceeds their needs.
Official translation, as published by the portal.
Official Arabic text
.1 لا ينتهي الإيجار بموت المؤجر، ولا بموت المستأجر.
.2 إذا مات المستأجر جاز لورثته أن يطلبوا إنهاء العقد إذا أثبتوا أنه بسبب موت مورأهم أصبحت أعباء العقد لا تتحملها مواردهم أو أن الإيجار أصبح يجاوز حاجتهم.
What it means when you sign
A lease does not end when the landlord dies, and it does not end when the tenant dies. If the tenant dies, their heirs may ask for the contract to be terminated if they prove that, because of the death of the person they inherit from, the obligations of the contract have become beyond their financial means, or that the lease now exceeds their needs.
For a contract about to be signed, this article is relevant to clauses on termination, succession and change of parties. It means death of either party is not, by itself, a ground for the lease to end, so a clause that makes the lease end automatically on a party's death may differ from this article. It also means heirs of a tenant are not stuck with the lease in all cases: they may ask for termination if they can prove one of the two grounds named. The burden of proof is on the heirs. A lease that says nothing on death leaves these rules to apply.
Not yet cited in a Fahm report; shown because it sits in the same chapter as one that is.
Related articles
- Article 730A lease ends when the period fixed in the contract expires.
- Article 731Cited in Fahm reportsIf a lease expires and the tenant keeps enjoying the property with the landlord's knowledge and without objection, the lease is treated as renewed on its original terms for one year, unless the original lease term was shorter than that.
- Article 732Cited in Fahm reportsThis article covers what happens when the landlord tells the tenant to leave and the tenant stays on after the lease has expired.
- Article 18This article says which country's law governs property.
- Article 19Cited in Fahm reportsThis article says which country's law governs a contract's obligations, both its form and its substance.
- Article 20This article says which country's law governs obligations that do not come from a contract, such as those arising from an act that causes harm.