If you are paying between 11 per cent and 20 per cent less than your neighbours a landlord can hike your rent by 5 per cent. If the rent is 21 per cent to 30 per cent less than the average then landlords can increase it by 10 per cent. If it is 31 per cent to 40 per cent less, then you may be looking at a 15 per cent rent hike.

Or, if your rent is more than 40 per cent below the market average you could end up forking out 20 per cent more to stay put. UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum issued the decree.

Engineers, legal advisors, financial planners, investment managers, Ruler’s Court employees, internal auditors, university teachers and specialised Human Resources and Information Technology employees will be receive a 50% increase of up to AED10,000 per month.  Night shift employees are eligible to a 25% increase.

The increase takes effect in December and will be paid retroactively to June 2013. 

"The allowance aims at empowering government departments to boost their capability to attract specialised and outstanding human resources, and retain them," state news agency WAM said in a statement.