Can a landlord check your credit score in the UAE? AECB Tenant Screening, the UAE PASS consent, and what to do if yours is weak

A landlord in the UAE can ask the Al Etihad Credit Bureau for your credit score, for AED 10.50, but the score is released only when you approve the request in UAE PASS. The bureau's Tenant Screening service went live on 17 May 2026. The landlord sees the score and its band, not your report, and you are under no legal obligation to say yes. Here is how the request works, what the landlord actually receives, what declining signals, and what to do if your band is not what you would like it to be.

How the request reaches you

The bureau's own page gives the four steps from the landlord's side:

1. The landlord pays. A one-time fee of AED 10.50 per request, no subscription.
2. The landlord enters your Emirates ID. The app will not let a user enter their own ID, and the tenant must have a fully verified UAE PASS profile.
3. You get a UAE PASS notification. The request asks for your consent to share your credit score with that landlord.
4. You approve, or you do not. On approval the score appears in the landlord's app immediately. If you decline, or the request's timer runs out, the landlord receives a full refund automatically and nothing is shared.

Who can send one: the bureau says landlords, property managers and authorised brokers. Where: the Etihad Credit Bureau app or website.

What the landlord sees

The score and its band. The bureau describes the service as enabling landlords to "digitally request a prospective tenant's UAE Credit Score", and the screens on the landlord's side show the number on the bureau's gauge with its five bands: Weak, Fair, Good, Very good, Excellent. The page describes what the score reflects as repayment behaviour, credit usage levels and an overall profile.

What is not in it: your accounts, balances, overdue amounts, enquiries, court records or salary. Those live in the AED 84 credit report, which the landlord cannot request. The bureau's FAQ adds that the score reflects your profile on the day of the request, and a landlord may ask again later for an updated one.

Since October 2026 the number is a Credit Score 3i, which runs 300 to 850 for a mature file and 300 to 650 for a new-to-credit file; the 3i guide explains why a new arrival's number looks low on purpose. A landlord who does not know that may read a 600 on a new-to-credit file as weak. It is worth saying out loud.

Your choice, and what it signals

Khaleej Times put the legal position to Asma Siddiqui, a senior associate at BSA Law, three days after the launch. Her answer cuts both ways:

• You can decline. Tenants are under no legal obligation to share their score.
• They can decline you. UAE tenancy law does not regulate how a landlord chooses a tenant, so a landlord is free to refuse an applicant on a low score or any other financial indicator.
• It stops at the contract. Once the tenancy contract is signed, eviction is limited to the grounds in the law, such as non-payment of rent, illegal use, subletting without permission, or the landlord's own use with proper notice. A falling score is not one of them.

So declining is lawful, and it is also an answer. In a market where the next applicant may approve, a refusal reads as something to hide. The better position is to know your band before the question arrives.

If your band is Weak or Fair

This is the guide for most of the people who read Hisab. Three moves, in order:

1. Know the number first. Your own score is AED 10.50 in the bureau's app and checking it does not affect it. If it is New-to-Credit, say so; the ceiling is 650 and a landlord's instinct is calibrated to the old 900.
2. Bring the thing the score cannot show. A salary certificate, a bank statement showing rent paid on time at the last address, or a letter from the previous landlord. The score is one input; the bureau's own page says the point is to go beyond "salary certificates or verbal assurances", which means the certificate still counts.
3. Offer structure, not apology. More cheques (four instead of one), a slightly larger deposit, or a guarantor are the levers a landlord understands. The money-year guide covers how rent cheques are usually split and when they land.

What not to do: open a card to "look creditworthy" before a viewing. A new application is a named factor in the score, and the score the landlord sees is today's.

For landlords reading this

The service is a score, not a character reference. The bureau's own FAQ for the sibling cheque service says its role is to provide a probability, not advice, and the same logic holds here: a Weak band tells you about a file, not about a person's rent history, and a new-to-credit 600 is a near-ceiling number. If a tenant declines, you are refunded; if a tenant offers a salary certificate and a previous landlord's letter instead, that is what you were reading before May 2026 anyway. The sibling Cheque Clearance Indicator, also AED 10.50, needs no consent and answers the narrower question of whether a specific rent cheque is likely to clear.

Frequently asked questions

Can a landlord request my score without telling me?

No. The request exists only as a UAE PASS consent prompt on your phone. If you never see one, no score was shared. If you see one from a name you do not recognise, decline it.

Will approving a tenant screening request lower my score?

No. It is not a lender's credit enquiry. The score is read and shared; nothing is recorded against you.

Does the landlord get the report if I approve?

No. The service shares the score and band. The report, with your accounts and history, is a separate product that only you can buy.

I am new to the UAE and have no score. What happens?

Under the old model the request would have found nothing. Under Credit Score 3i a file with limited history receives a New-to-Credit score with a 650 ceiling; the credit-file guide covers how a file starts and how long it takes to have anything in it.

Does this apply outside Dubai?

The service is the federal bureau's and runs on UAE PASS, so it works anywhere in the UAE. The tenancy law that limits eviction grounds varies by emirate, but none of them lists a credit score among the grounds.

Sources, and when we last read them

Every figure in this guide comes from one of the sources below. The date is when we last read the guide against them. Rules and fees change without notice, so if a number matters to a decision, open the primary page before you rely on it.

When the number is about to be read by someone else

A screening request is the moment a credit file stops being private arithmetic and becomes part of a conversation about where you live. Hisab keeps the file readable before that moment: the score, the factors moving it, and the one thing to fix first, next to the rent and the money home. Free, no account, records on your phone, in English, Arabic, Hindi and Urdu.

Get the app — free →