Documents Required for TECOM Approval: 2026 Checklist

These come from the tenant and establish who you are and what you are entitled to do in the unit.

Trade licence. Current and valid. The critical check is not that it exists — it is that the listed activity matches the works you are proposing. A fit-out designed for an activity not on the licence is rejected regardless of drawing quality. This catches tenants who changed business model mid-lease: an office being fitted with a commercial kitchen, or a retail unit being converted to F&B. If there is a mismatch, the licence amendment or a Change of Use has to happen before the fit-out submission, not alongside it.

Lease agreement / tenancy contract. Must be current and cover the unit being fitted out. Check the expiry date against your programme — a lease expiring mid-construction raises questions the reviewer will ask.

Passport and Emirates ID of the authorised signatory. The signatory must be authorised to act for the tenant entity. Where a consultant submits on the tenant's behalf, that authorisation must be in place before submission rather than resolved mid-application.

Company documents for the tenant entity. Depending on the entity structure, expect to provide the establishment card, memorandum of association, or a board resolution confirming signatory authority.

Building management / landlord NOC. Covered in detail in the next section, because it fails more often than everything else combined.

In multi-tenant towers, a building management NOC is required alongside the TECOM submission. It is the most common single cause of admin rejection.

What gets rejected: a letter saying only "the tenant is permitted to carry out fit-out works". This is the default template most building management offices issue when asked casually, and TECOM reviewers routinely reject it.

What gets accepted: an NOC that describes the actual scope — partition works, MEP modification, ceiling changes, wet area installation, shopfront alteration, whatever your submission covers. The wording should mirror the submitted drawings closely enough that a reviewer can see the building has consented to this scope, not fit-out in the abstract.

What the NOC typically also carries:

• Permitted working hours
• Service lift booking arrangements
• Debris removal routes and timing
• Required contractor insurance level, often higher than a contractor's default cover
• Common area protection requirements
• Security deposit amount and release conditions

Timing. Start the NOC in parallel with drawing preparation, not after. It is frequently the slowest item in the pre-submission phase, and it is the one most often left until the drawings are finished. Requesting it early costs nothing and removes it from the critical path.

Head-permit NOC. Where the building holds a master permit covering all floors, an additional head-permit NOC may be required. This is common in larger multi-tenant towers and worth confirming at kick-off rather than discovering at submission.

This is what your consultant produces, and the format rules are as important as the content.

Drawings required:

• Architectural layouts — existing condition and proposed
• Reflected ceiling plan showing lighting, diffusers, sprinkler heads and detectors
• MEP drawings — electrical single line and load calculation, HVAC, plumbing and drainage
• Fire strategy — sprinkler layout, detection layout, escape route plan
• Occupancy load and means-of-escape calculations, shown on the drawings rather than supplied on request
• Shopfront and signage details where applicable

Format rules — DDA Circular 400:

• Monochrome DWF output
• Yellow clouding — previously approved areas not being modified
• Red clouding — new proposed modifications and fit-out areas
• Discipline-Level-Serial naming — for example A-G-001 for Ground Floor Architecture

File naming is enforced at the portal. Incorrectly named files are rejected administratively, which is a genuinely common and entirely avoidable cause of a lost day.

The consultant stamp — the one that cannot be worked around. Drawings must be stamped by a consultant registered with DDA specifically. A Dubai Municipality registration does not substitute. This is verified before technical review begins, so there is no scenario where a DM-registered consultant's set proceeds and gets fixed later. If your consultant is not DDA-registered, the drawings have to be re-prepared and re-stamped by one who is.

Consultant undertaking. A signed undertaking accompanying the drawings, confirming the design complies with applicable codes.

Contractor documentation is where the most expensive discoveries happen, because they surface after drawings are already approved.

Required:

• Current TECOM registration. Verified before the NOC is released. Not "we have worked in Internet City before" — current, active registration.
• Trade licence covering the actual scope of works being carried out
• Insurance certificate meeting the community's required level. This is frequently higher than a contractor's standard cover and needs checking against the specific figure in the building management NOC, not assumed.
• Workmen's compensation and public liability as specified
• List of personnel for gate pass issuance, with ID copies

Why this belongs at kick-off, not at submission. The failure pattern is consistent and costly: a tenant appoints a contractor on price, the consultant prepares and submits drawings, technical review clears, and then the NOC cannot be released because the contractor is not registered. At that point you either wait for registration — which is not instant — or you change contractor, having already agreed commercial terms and a programme with the first one.

In 2026 registration is verified before NOC release rather than at gate-pass stage, which makes late discovery more disruptive than it was previously.

The check takes minutes. Ask the contractor for evidence of current TECOM registration before appointing. If they cannot produce it, that is information you want before signing, not after.

Work through this before anything goes to the portal. A complete submission clears faster than a partial one filed early — admin rejection resets you and you resubmit as a new application.

Commercial:

☐ Trade licence current, and the listed activity matches the proposed works

☐ Lease agreement current and covering the correct unit

☐ Authorised signatory passport and Emirates ID

☐ Tenant entity company documents and signatory authority

☐ Building management NOC, describing the actual scope rather than generic wording

☐ Head-permit NOC where the building holds a master permit

Technical:

☐ Architectural drawings — existing and proposed

☐ Reflected ceiling plan with sprinklers and detectors shown

☐ MEP drawings — electrical with load calculation, HVAC, plumbing

☐ Fire strategy — sprinkler and detection layout, escape routes

☐ Occupancy load and means-of-escape calculations shown on the drawings

☐ Shopfront and signage details where applicable

☐ Circular 400 format — Monochrome DWF, yellow and red clouding applied

☐ File naming follows Discipline-Level-Serial convention

☐ Consultant is DDA-registered, stamp applied

☐ Consultant undertaking signed

Contractor:

☐ Current TECOM registration verified

☐ Trade licence covering the scope

☐ Insurance at the level the building management NOC specifies

☐ Personnel list with ID copies for gate passes

Parallel workstreams:

☐ Civil Defence package opened alongside, where fire systems are affected

☐ Completion inspection allowed for in the construction programme

If a submission has already been returned, our TECOM rejection and delay guide covers the causes and fixes. Or hand the whole checklist to our TECOM approval team.