Every citation to Articles 872 to 896 of the UAE Civil Code became a citation to a repealed law on 1 June 2026. Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 replaced Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 in full on that date, and the muqawala chapter that governs construction contracts now runs from Article 812 to Article 839. The decennial liability provisions moved from Articles 880 to 883 to Articles 821 to 824. The mapping is confirmed in K&L Gates' analysis of the new muqawala chapter and Mayer Brown's review of the new Civil Code. Contracts, pleadings, arbitration memorials, and legal opinions drafted from June 2026 onward need the new numbers, while documents governing pre-June contracts keep the old ones.

This page maps the construction provisions of the old Civil Code to their new equivalents. It flags where the substance changed rather than the number alone. It is maintained by the construction lawyers in Dubai at Kayrouz & Associates and was last reviewed in July 2026. Practitioners citing the new law in formal documents should verify wording against the official Arabic text. The English version on the UAE legislation portal is a translation.

Which code applies to which contract

The transition rule is contract date, not dispute date. Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 applies to contracts concluded from 1 June 2026. Contracts concluded before that date remain governed by Federal Law No. 5 of 1985, even where the dispute arises years later. A project let in 2024 and disputed in 2028 is still an old-code case. Onshore courts may nonetheless draw on the new code's reasoning when exercising discretion in old-code disputes, so the new provisions matter even for legacy projects.

One transitional wrinkle deserves attention on long projects. Limitation rules sit apart from the contract-date principle. New limitation provisions apply from 1 June 2026 to periods that have not yet expired. The transitional rules sit in Articles 6 and 7 of the new code. Parties calculating claim deadlines that straddle the changeover should check both regimes.

Concordance table for the muqawala chapter

Provision Old Civil Code (Federal Law No. 5 of 1985) New Civil Code (Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025) Substance
Muqawala (contract for work) chapter Articles 872 to 896 Articles 812 to 839 Chapter expanded. Most provisions remain default rules that yield to the parties' contract.
Contractor's duty to notify impediments No express equivalent Article 816(3) New. The contractor must notify the employer immediately of circumstances that may impede proper execution.
Decennial liability of contractor and supervising engineer Article 880 Article 821 Preserved. The text now says "engineer" rather than "architect", states the joint and several nature more explicitly, and carves the contractor's recourse against subcontractors out of the strict regime.
Design-only engineer limited to design defects Article 881 Article 822 Preserved.
Anti-exclusion rule and three-year claim window Articles 882 and 883 Within Articles 821 to 824 Preserved. Clauses excluding or reducing decennial liability remain void, and the three-year window from collapse or discovery remains.
Contractor recourse against subcontractors for decennial defects Not addressed Within Articles 821 to 824 New. Recourse is expressly preserved but runs as an ordinary fault or breach claim, outside the strict decennial standard.
Additional payment under lump sum contracts Article 887(2) Article 829(2) Amended. Agreement remains the route to extra payment for increased scope, and a new entitlement is added where the change results from the employer's fault.
Hardship within muqawala contracts No express equivalent Article 829(3) New. Courts may extend time, adjust remuneration, or terminate where unforeseeable general circumstances undermine the contract's basis.
Termination of the muqawala Article 892 Article 836 Amended. Termination for convenience by the employer is codified, with compensation payable to the contractor.

Note: Chapter boundaries and the decennial mapping are consistent across the leading published analyses. Sources differ on the exact sub-article layout inside Articles 821 to 824. Check citations to a specific paragraph against the official Arabic text before filing.

The recourse carve-out is the change with the longest tail. A decennial claim can land on a main contractor in year nine. Its recovery claim against the responsible subcontractor runs on the five-year commercial limitation period from the subcontract. Our guide to decennial liability for contractors and engineers in 2026 works through that timing gap and the drafting responses to it.

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General provisions construction lawyers cite alongside the muqawala chapter

Construction disputes rarely stay inside the muqawala chapter. The general contract provisions most often cited in construction cases also carry new numbers, and two of them changed in substance.

Provision Old Civil Code New Civil Code Substance
Good faith performance of contracts Article 246 Article 221 Preserved. The new code adds express good faith duties in pre-contractual negotiations at Article 121.
Agreed compensation and liquidated damages adjustment Article 390 Article 340 Amended. Courts retain the power to adjust agreed compensation, and published analyses report that upward adjustment above the agreed amount now requires proof of the debtor's dishonesty or gross fault.
Hardship in contracts generally Article 249 Article 224 Preserved. Unforeseeable exceptional circumstances allow the court to reduce an oppressive obligation or rescind, and contrary agreement remains void.
Rescission by mutual consent, litigation, or law Article 267 Articles 232 to 234 Preserved. A binding contract still cannot be terminated unilaterally without an express clause, mutual consent, or a court order.
Automatic rescission clauses Article 271 Article 235 Preserved. Parties may agree the contract rescinds without a judgment, and notice is still required unless expressly waived.
Force majeure rescinding the contract Article 273 Article 236 Preserved. Impossibility extinguishes the corresponding obligations, with partial and temporary impossibility addressed expressly.
Abuse of rights Article 106 Article 106 Same number. The new code restates the test with a clearer structure, including disproportionality between the interest pursued and the harm caused.

Note: New-code numbers for the good faith, hardship, dissolution, and force majeure rows are taken from the official English translation of Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025.

The Article 390 to Article 340 change matters most for delay damages. Under the old code, either party could ask the court to align agreed compensation with actual loss in both directions. The reported narrowing of upward adjustment shifts the balance toward employers holding contractors to the agreed rate. How UAE courts and tribunals apply agreed compensation clauses is covered in our guide to liquidated damages enforcement in the UAE.

What to update before citing the new code

Templates come first. Construction contracts, subcontracts, and consultancy appointments citing Articles 872 to 896, Article 880, or Article 390 need updating for projects let from 1 June 2026. A citation to a repealed provision will usually be read as a reference to its successor. It still invites argument in a dispute that careful drafting avoids.

Claims documents come second. Notices, expert reports, and memorials drafted after 1 June 2026 should cite the code that governs the contract in question. That means old numbers for pre-June contracts and new numbers for later ones, stated expressly. A single arbitration can now involve contracts under both regimes. The wider 2026 compliance picture for Dubai contractors, including registration under Law No. 7 of 2025, is set out in our guide to Dubai's new construction law. The full statutory framework is covered in our UAE construction law legal guide.

How should construction parties handle the UAE Civil Code renumbering in 2026?

The renumbering of the UAE Civil Code's construction provisions is mechanical on its face and substantive underneath. Most muqawala rules carried over intact. The exceptions each shift risk to one side of the contract. The decennial articles add the recourse carve-out, Article 829(3) adds the hardship power, and Article 836 codifies termination for convenience. Article 340 reportedly narrows upward adjustment of agreed compensation.

The time-sensitive step is a template audit before the next contract is signed. Standard forms citing 1985 numbers will circulate for years unless someone corrects them. The parties least likely to have updated are the subcontractors and consultants furthest down the chain. Checking counterparty documents for stale citations is a cheap way to find out who has read the new law.

Legal advice is usually needed to work out which code governs a specific dispute and what the substantive changes mean for a live claim. Our construction lawyers in Dubai advise employers, contractors, and consultants on contract updates and disputes under both the 1985 and 2025 codes.

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