How Does Tenant Credit Screening Work in the UAE?

Tenant credit screening is the process of checking and verifying a tenant’s credit score through the Al Etihad Credit Bureau, the UAE’s federal credit information bureau, before signing a tenancy contract. In May 2026, AECB launched a dedicated tenant screening service that lets landlords request a prospective tenant’s credit score directly through the AECB app, with the tenant giving consent digitally through UAE PASS. It sits alongside the document-based vetting UAE landlords have relied on for years: Emirates ID and visa copies, salary certificates, and bank statements. The new Tenant Screening service gives the landlord the tenant’s credit score, not the tenant’s credit history. Please be informed, that Etihad Credit Bureau expressly distinguishes the Credit Score from the detailed Credit Report.

Tenant credit screening is a review of official records of tenants to finalize a rental agreement. A land lord or property manager can request to recheck everything to ensure the tenant’s financial reliability before signing a lease. In the UAE, it can be done via two methods:

• AECB Tenant Screening is a formal, consent-based service where a landlord requests a tenant’s AECB credit score through the Etihad Credit Bureau app, and the tenant approves or declines the request via UAE PASS.
• Traditional Document Reviewing is a generic method and has been followed for a long time: a tenant’s Emirates ID, passport and visa copies, salary certificate or employment letter, and recent bank statements.

Most landlords and agents still consider the second method more important for tenant vetting, using the AECB credit score as an additional, optional data point rather than a replacement for it.

UAE tenancies require more upfront payments than many other rental markets. Tenants mostly pay for the full year in a small number of post-dated cheques, and the landlord is trusting that each cheque will clear on its date. If a tenant cannot pay or defaults during that time, the landlord pursues unpaid rent through the Rental Disputes Centre. RDC offers a process and complete legal structure for rental disputes and unpaid rent recovery. Screening tenants before signing can help landlords to avoid all legal issues.

Credit screening also helps landlords to know the history of bounced cheques or missed payments before committing to a year-long contract. Add an objective, third-party data point alongside salary certificates and bank statements, which only show a snapshot rather than payment history over time.

1. The landlord can start a request on the AECB app or website. Land lord will add the tenant’s Emirates ID details and complete a paid screening request.
2. The tenant will get a notification via UAE PASS. The tenant will get an OTP and can approve or decline the request from their verified UAE PASS profile.
3. If the tenant approves the request to check his credit score, the landlord receives the tenant’s credit score. If, in any case, the tenant does not approve or declines, no information can be shared with the landlords, and the payment is automatically refunded.
4. The landlord will review the credit score and will check past renting history with other documents, since AECB shares the credit score only, not the full underlying credit report or account-level detail. The landlord cannot force the tenant to check or view a score.

An AECB credit score is in numerical form and shows the credit score limit of 300 to 900, generated by banks’ data, finance companies, telecom providers, and other institutions that report to the bureau. It shows Payment history on loans, credit cards, and other credit facilities.

Credit utilization also reports the available credit of an individual. Number of active loans and credit cards. Bounced cheques, which AECB also tracks separately through its Cheque Clearance Indicator. Through the tenant screening service specifically, a land lord sees this score only and cannot see the account history a full personal credit report would include. For the information, we would like to add that:

Credit Score: A Three-Digit number from 300 to 900 representing creditworthiness/risk. Factors such as repayment behaviour, credit usage and credit contracts influence its calculation.

Credit Report: Contains the underlying details, including payment history, credit accounts, inquiries and legal/court-related information. The landlord does not receive this detailed report through Tenant Screening.

• AECB credit score indicates the payment behavior on formal credit products, for example, loans, cards, bounced cheques, as reported by banks and institutions over time.
• Traditional vetting is the method in which an individual can share Emirates ID, visa copy, salary certificate, and bank statements to confirm identity, legal residency, and current income, but via this method can not access the past repayment patterns.

Both methods are useful and share information, but sometimes a tenant with a strong salary certificate and poor credit file can be very challenging. Mostly, experienced landlords and agents in the UAE prefer to use both methods together and do not rely on a single method only.

AECB hasn’t introduced any standard credit score, but UAE banks and credit advisors commonly consider the following patterns:

According to the advisors, less than 500 means a poor credit score and is considered higher risk. If the tenant’s credit score is 600 or more, it will be considered average. In this way, the landlord accepts but also usually demands verified income documentation. 700 score is considered a good score, and the tenant will be viewed as a reliable, lower-risk applicant. For these kinds of tenants, landlords do not ask for a guarantor or heavy security deposits.

The score between 780 to 900 is considered very low risk and an excellent score. Some agents note tenants in this band have room to negotiate rent or cheque structure. There is no legally mandated minimum credit score to rent in the UAE. AECB has confirmed the Tenant Screening service as an option to facilitate real estate firms and agents, but it’s not compulsory to check every time a credit score, and landlords remain free to set their own criteria.

• Results are not officially published by AECB.

Yes, tenant credit score screening is legal under UAE law, but it is not compulsory. A landlord cannot see a tenant’s AECB credit score without the tenant approving the request through UAE PASS. If a landlord forces the tenants to share the credit score, that’s illegal. Credit data has its own legal regime. AECB and the credit information it holds are governed by Federal Law No. 6 of 2010 on Credit Information and revised by Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2020, and that is separate from the UAE’s general data protection law. Etihad Credit Bureau will not disclose the score through Tenant Screening unless the tenant approves it through UAE PASS. That does not automatically establish that every landlord request or tenancy condition involving a credit score is itself “illegal.”

Other tenants’ paperwork will be handled under the PDPL. Emirates ID copies, passport and visa scans, salary certificates, and bank statements that a landlord or agent collects directly are personal data governed by the UAE’s Personal Data Protection Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021, which requires a lawful basis such as consent, purpose limitation, and secure handling.

A credit score does not provide any legal grounds for eviction. UAE tenancy law permits eviction only because of non-payment of rent, unauthorized subletting, misuse of the property, or the landlord’s documented need to sell, renovate, or personally use the property, each with its own required notice period. A declining credit score on its own is not one of them.

In Dubai, every tenancy is compulsory to register through Ejari under Law No. 26 of 2007 as revised by Law No. 33 of 2008 to be enforceable, with disputes handled by the Rental Disputes Centre. Other emirates have their own registration systems for example, Abu Dhabi has Tawtheeq.