Cheque still significant
16% of rent payments non-digital
7m cheques written in 4 months
The UAE wants to be an almost completely cashless economy but rent, which is one of the country’s largest personal expenses, remains locked in paper.
That is providing an opportunity for regional financial technology companies to plug the gap between tenants who want to pay their rent digitally and monthly, and landlords who want the relative security of post-dated cheques.
The latest research by global payments technology company Visa shows that the portion of rent transactions conducted in the UAE in cash or cheque is declining, from 23 percent during last year to about 16 percent now.
But, of an AED90 billion ($25 billion) rental market in Dubai alone, that still implies more than AED14 billion dirhams moving outside the digital ecosystem.
“A lot of cheques and cash are still being used for rent,” Dr. Saeeda Jaffar, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the GCC, told AGBI.
The UAE Central Bank processed more than seven million cheques, worth AED422 billion, in just the first four months of 2024.
That is nearly four times the total value handled by the country’s digital direct debit system over all of last year, about AED107 billion collectively for utilities, loans, insurance and rent.
While the UAE does not publish national figures on rent payment methods, agents say that the proportion is probably higher still than Visa’s estimate, particularly in the residential market where digital adoption has lagged.
“Cheque is still the most common method we see,” said Sidharth Kumar, sales manager at Forest Hills Real Estate. “Some younger landlords or property managers accept bank transfers, but for safety, most still prefer post-dated cheques.”
If a cheque bounces, the tenant risks consequences with their bank, Kumar said. Post-dated cheques also offer “peace of mind” for owners renting out mortgaged properties.
Godfrey Sullivan, Visa’s acting head of products for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, said landlords’ reliance on cheques is linked to perceived payment certainty.
“They want the certainty of having something they can hold, as opposed to hoping that someone’s going to pay them at the end of the month,” he said. “It’s those specific use cases which are taking time to crack.”
A 2025 report by real estate agency Betterhomes noted a rise in one- and two-cheque contracts, driven by landlords seeking upfront payments and tenants competing for limited inventory. One-cheque agreements made up 33 percent of new tenancies in Dubai last year.
While digital options exist – including the UAE direct debit system, which allows rent to be paid automatically from a tenant’s bank account – adoption is limited.
The Dubai Cashless Strategy, started in October, targets making 90 percent of transactions in Dubai digital by 2026, aiming to boost economic growth by more than AED 8 billion.
Separately, the UAE Digital Economy Strategy aims to nearly double the digital economy’s share of GDP within this decade, from about 10 to 20 percent.
Financial technology companies globally have made some headway in addressing this matter, and now regional players are starting to follow suit – but “it hasn’t quite landed broadly in our market yet,” Visa’s Jaffar said.
UAE-based proptech startup Keyper is among the companies targeting the gap
It has raised more than $40 million to launch a “Rent Now, Pay Later” product that allows tenants to pay rent in monthly installments by card, while landlords receive the full annual amount upfront.
“At the end of the day, it comes down to the product-market fit,” Jaffar said.
“[The UAE] has repeatedly shown that when there’s friction in the system, we go after it – so I think we’ll see movement soon.”
