RERA Regulations and the Regulatory Framework
What RERA is
RERA is the regulatory agency operating under the Dubai Land Department. It is not a court and not the registry. Its mandate covers licensing brokers and agencies, registering developers and off-plan projects, supervising escrow accounts held with accredited banks, regulating jointly owned property and service charges, approving standard agency forms, maintaining the rental index used to test rent increases, and monitoring the market.
How it regulates
RERA acts mainly through administrative resolutions, circulars and prescribed forms rather than only through laws. The instruments a candidate meets most often are the broker registration and renewal rules, the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, the standard agency forms, the rental increase index, and the service charge and owners' association regulations. Learn to place each instrument at the right level: law, resolution, circular, form.
Traps
Three confusions recur. First, RERA versus DLD: DLD is the parent body and the registry; RERA regulates conduct and licensing. Second, RERA versus the Rental Dispute Settlement Centre - the RDSC, not RERA, adjudicates tenancy disputes. Third, scope: licensing is layered, with the company holding the brokerage licence and each individual broker holding a registration number. A scenario describing an unlicensed assistant negotiating a deal tests individual registration, not the firm's licence. Also remember RERA does not fix commission; two per cent is market custom, not a tariff.
Rule of thumb
Ask of any issue: is this registry (DLD), regulator (RERA) or tribunal (RDSC)? Worked example: a tenant complains the landlord raised rent by 15%. The RERA index and Law No. 7 of 2013 determine whether the increase is lawful; Ejari holds the contract; the RDSC hears any dispute. Assigning the role correctly answers many questions on its own.