Loan for Maintenance and/or Expansion and Addition to Existing Housing

The Maintenance, Extension, and Addition Loan allow UAE citizens to obtain financing of up to AED 1,100,000 to carry out maintenance works, extensions, or additions to an existing residential property. The loan amount is repaid through monthly installments, in accordance with the approved terms and conditions set by the competent authority.

Key Points:
Loan Amount and Repayment:
•    Maximum loan amount: AED 1,100,000
•    Purpose: Maintenance, extension, and/or addition to an existing home
•    Repayment method: Monthly installments

General Eligibility Conditions:
•    The applicant must be a UAE national and legally competent.
•    Continuous residence within the UAE.
•    Neither the applicant nor their spouse must have previously benefited from any housing loan or housing grant from any federal or local government entity, except for housing loans obtained by the wife prior to marriage.
•    Ownership of a residential property registered in the applicant’s name within the Emirate and free from legal restrictions at the time of loan approval.
•    The application must be submitted individually, unless the property is jointly owned.
•    Full settlement of any outstanding installments related to previous housing loan benefits, if applicable.
•    A minimum of 10 years must have elapsed since the issuance date of the property completion certificate.
•    A written undertaking to use the loan amount exclusively for the approved maintenance, extension, or addition works as specified in the technical report issued by the Authority or any other designated entity.
•    Proof of the actual need for maintenance, extension, or addition works based on approved social and technical reports, provided that the property is suitable for extension, habitable, and that the required maintenance is necessary and not caused by deliberate damage.
•    Low-income applicants must undertake to settle remaining installments upon improvement of their financial capacity.
•    Submission of financial guarantees, when requested, to prove the applicant’s ability to cover any additional costs exceeding the approved loan amount.
•    The applicant must pledge the entire land plot and the existing building (if any), including all related facilities and easement rights, as a first-degree security mortgage in favor of the Authority until full repayment of the loan.
•    The Authority may request the provision of a financially solvent guarantor, in coordination with the entity managing the housing loan.

Special Conditions by Applicant Category:
•    Male applicants: Must be at least 25 years old.
•    Widows: Must be custodians of or financially responsible for one or more children; non-citizen widows must have resided continuously in the UAE for at least 5 consecutive years prior to application.
•    Unmarried female citizens: Must be at least 30 years old, with no capable guardian able to provide housing, or serving as the housing provider for relatives up to the second degree.
•    Divorced female citizens: Must be at least 30 years old, meet divorce duration requirements, and be custodians or financially responsible for one or more children (with specific medical exceptions); non-citizens must meet the 5-year residency requirement.
•    Female citizens married to non-citizens: Must be at least 30 years old, have children residing with them, prove continuous residence in the UAE for at least 7 consecutive years, demonstrate the husband’s inability to provide suitable housing, and submit an undertaking from the non-citizen husband not to apply for a housing loan if he later acquires UAE citizenship.

Utilization Regulations:
•    The Authority may revoke loan approval if the loan is not activated without a force majeure reason beyond the beneficiary’s control.
•    If maintenance, extension, or addition works do not commence within 18 months from the loan approval date, the approval shall be cancelled.
•    In case of cancellation, the beneficiary is not entitled to submit a new housing loan application until two years have passed from the date of cancellation.

The text issued by the competent authorities:

Loan for Maintenance and/or Expansion and Addition to Existing Housing:
It allows a UAE national to borrow a specific amount not exceeding AED 1,100,000 (one million one hundred thousand dirhams) for maintenance and/or expansion and addition to his/her existing housing. The loan is repaid in monthly installments.
 

General Conditions for Eligibility for Loan for Maintenance and/or Expansion and Addition to Existing Housing:
•    The applicant shall be UAE national.
•    The applicant shall be of sound mind.
•    The applicant shall be a permanent resident of the UAE.
•    Neither the applicant nor his spouse has benefitted from any housing loans or housing grant from any government entity, whether federal or local, except for the housing loans received by the wife before marriage.
•    The applicant shall own a housing in the emirate, registered in his name, free from any legal impediments to construction or disposal at the time of the approval on the loan.
•    He /She shall be a sole applicant, unless the housing is jointly owned.
•    Payment of all installments owed by the beneficiary for housing loan benefits, if any.
•    The lapse of (10) ten years from the date of the housing completion certificate.
•    The applicant shall undertake to use the loan to carry out the maintenance and/or expansion and addition works specified in the technical report issued by Abu Dhabi Housing Authority or any other entity designated by Abu Dhabi Housing Authority.
•    The applicant shall need the works of maintenance and/or expansion and addition to the housing, according to the social report issued by the competent authority, and the housing shall be expandable and addable and suitable for occupancy, and the maintenance shall be necessary and not result from intentional damage caused by the applicant, according to the technical report issued by Abu Dhabi Housing Authority or any other entity designated by Abu Dhabi Housing Authority.
•    The UAE national with limited income shall undertake to repay the remaining installments when he/she becomes solvent.
•    The applicant shall undertake, upon request, to provide evidence proving that he/she can provide the additional funds required to carry out the works of maintenance, expansion and addition, whose value exceeds the amount of the loan granted by Abu Dhabi Housing Authority. Neither the consultant is assigned nor the works are awarded before these guarantees are provided.
•    The applicant shall undertake to mortgage the entire plot of land owned by him/her or granted to him/her and the building on it - if any - and the facilities and the attached buildings and easements rights as a first-degree mortgage in favor of Abu Dhabi Housing Authority until the loan is repaid. The mortgage shall be officially registered in accordance with the applicable legal provisions in this regard before the loan is activated. As well as all disposals shall be recorded in the real estate register kept by the competent authority in the emirate.
•    Abu Dhabi Housing Authority may request the applicant or the beneficiary to provide a financially solvent guarantor, in coordination with the entity designated to manage the housing loan.

Special Conditions according to Categories Eligible to Loan for Maintenance and/or Expansion and Addition to Existing Housing:
Males: He shall have completed twenty-five (25) years of age.
Widows: She shall be the custodian or provider of one or more children
A widow, whose dead husband is non-UAE national, shall have resided continuously in the United Arab Emirates for a period of no less than (5) consecutive years prior to the date on which the application is submitted.
Unmarried Female UAE Nationals: She shall be at least thirty (30) years of age
She shall not have a breadwinner, or her breadwinner is unable to provide a housing for permanent reasons, or it is impossible to legally obligate her breadwinner to provide a housing, or she is the provider of housing to her relatives up to the second degree.
Divorcée: She shall be at least thirty (30) years of age
She has been irrevocably divorced with major separation or has been divorced for three years
She shall be the custodian or provider of one or more children. Elderly divorcées or divorcées who are unable to bear children are exempted from this requirement, by virtue of a medical report issued by the competent authority
A woman divorced from a non-UAE national shall have resided continuously in the United Arab Emirates for a period of no less than (5) consecutive years prior to the date on which the application is submitted.
Female UAE Nationals married to Non-UAE Nationals: She shall be at least thirty (30) years of age
She shall have one or more children living with her. Elderly women or women who are unable to bear children are exempted from this requirement, by virtue of a medical report issued by the competent authority
She shall prove that she has resided continuously with her husband and children in the United Arab Emirates for a period of no less than (7) consecutive years prior to the date on which the application is submitted
The father of the children shall be unable to provide a suitable housing
The non-UAE husband shall declare and undertake not to claim or apply for any housing loan if he obtains the UAE citizenship in future.

Controls for Beneficiaries of Loan for Maintenance and/or Expansion and Addition to Existing Housing:
Abu Dhabi Housing Authority may cancel the approval on the loan issued to the beneficiary in the event that the loan is not activated in the case listed below, unless the non-activation is due to an emergency beyond the beneficiary's control and in the event that the approval on the loan is canceled for the reasons mentioned in this clause. The beneficiary is not entitled to submit a new application for any loan before passing two years from the date of cancellation of the approval on the loan in the event that expansion and addition works are not commenced within eighteen (18) months from the date of approval on the existing housing maintenance loan.

 Reference: https://www.iskan.abudhabi/Our-Services/Loan-for-Maintenance-and-or-Expansion-and-Addition-to-  Existing-Housing