Retail — Tenants & Landlords · ~900 words · June 2026
Home insurance is one of the most overlooked forms of cover in the UAE. Unlike motor insurance, it is not legally mandatory — and that alone seems to be enough reason for most residents to skip it entirely. The majority of tenants in the UAE have no home insurance whatsoever, and a significant number of landlords are similarly exposed.
The irony is that home insurance in the UAE is relatively affordable, and the events it protects against — fire, water damage, theft, and liability — are not uncommon in a country with a large and densely occupied residential property stock.
Contents insurance — covers your personal belongings inside the property: furniture, electronics, appliances, clothing, jewellery, and personal valuables. It pays out if these items are damaged by fire, flood, or water damage, or stolen.
Buildings insurance — covers the physical structure of the property, including walls, floors, ceilings, fixtures, and fittings. It is relevant primarily for owners, not tenants, as tenants do not own the building they occupy.
Tenants often assume that if something happens to the property, the landlord's insurance will cover everything. This is incorrect. A landlord's buildings insurance — if they have one — covers the structure. It does not cover your furniture, your laptop, your television, or your clothes.
Beyond contents, tenants also face personal liability exposure. If a fire starts in your apartment and spreads to a neighbouring unit, you may be held financially responsible for damage to that property and potentially for injury to other occupants. Personal liability cover — which is included in most home insurance policies — protects against exactly this scenario. In the UAE, litigation for property damage between residents is more common than many people realise, particularly in high-density residential towers.
Buildings insurance protects the physical structure against fire, flood, and structural damage. Without it, a serious incident leaves the landlord bearing the full cost of repair or reconstruction.
Loss of rent is another risk that is almost universally overlooked. If your property becomes uninhabitable due to a covered event, a loss of rent extension on your policy compensates you for the rental income lost while the property is being repaired.
Landlord liability covers you if a tenant or visitor is injured on your property due to a structural defect or failure — a loose railing, a faulty balcony door, or inadequate safety measures.
Even those who do have home insurance often fall into the trap of underinsurance. If your contents are worth AED 80,000 but you have insured them for AED 40,000, most policies will apply a proportional reduction to any claim — you would receive only half of any valid claim amount, not the full loss up to your insured limit.
Home insurance in the UAE is genuinely affordable relative to the risks it covers. A contents policy for a typical one-bedroom apartment with AED 50,000 of cover can cost as little as AED 200 to AED 400 per year. Comprehensive landlord cover for a mid-range apartment is similarly accessible. The decision to go without it is rarely a financial one — it is almost always a case of not getting around to it. One incident changes that calculation permanently.
At New Shield Insurance Brokers, we help UAE residents and property owners find home insurance that reflects the actual value of what they are protecting. With access to over 50 insurers, we compare policies across the market — not just price, but the terms, exclusions, and claims process that matter when you actually need to make a claim. Get in touch for a home insurance quote — it takes less time than you think.
Whether you are a tenant or a landlord, we compare home insurance policies from over 50 UAE insurers to find the right cover at the right price.