Every few months the “new Dominican rental law” makes another lap around the news cycle — most recently in July 2026, when the first practical guide to the law was presented in Santo Domingo. So let’s get the facts straight first: Law 85-25 on Real Estate Rentals and Evictions is not new. It was promulgated on August 14, 2025 (Official Gazette 11211) and has been in force since. What it replaced was old: Law 4314 of 1955, its 17-88 amendment, and Decree 4807 of 1959 — a 70-year-old framework so landlord-hostile in practice that evictions could drag on for years.
The number that matters most: 90 days
Law 85-25 explicitly does not apply to tourist or recreational rentals of 90 days or less. That one sentence is the whole story for most Punta Cana investors: the typical short-term-rental model — nightly and weekly stays booked through Airbnb or Vrbo — sits outside the law. No new deposit rules, no rent-adjustment caps, no new contract registration for those bookings.
If your investment thesis is the one you have modeled in our ROI calculator — ADR × occupancy, guests measured in nights — Law 85-25 does not change your math.
But cross the 90-day line and you are inside the law. Monthly rentals to digital nomads, winter-season “snowbird” stays and conventional annual leases are all governed by Law 85-25. If you mix strategies — Airbnb in high season, a three-plus-month tenant in low season — the long stay is a regulated lease, and it needs the paperwork of one.
What the law actually says (long-term leases)
- Deposits are capped at two months’ rent for housing, and the parties can agree to place the deposit in Banreservas or Banco Agrícola — the receiving bank notifies the Housing Ministry (MIVHED) that the lease exists.
- Rent increases are capped at 10% per year for residential leases when the contract has no agreed adjustment mechanism.
- Written contracts are mandatory, with minimum required content (parties, property, use, rent, term), and leases are registered.
- Evictions require a court order — but the non-payment procedure is faster and more predictable than under the old regime. For landlords, this is the quiet win of the whole law: the 1959 framework’s multi-year eviction purgatory is gone.
- Old contracts transition gradually: leases signed before August 15, 2025 stay under the old rules until they are renewed or modified.
What is still unresolved
As of July 2026 the law’s implementing regulation is still pending. The operational details — exactly how contract registration works, the mechanics of the bank-deposit procedure — are not yet defined. Treat any confident description of those mechanics as premature, including from people trying to sell you a compliance service.
What this means for your numbers
For a pure short-term-rental play, nothing changes — model it as always in the calculator. If you are weighing the long-term-lease route (or a mixed strategy), the Scenario Lab’s long-term mode now applies the 10% adjustment cap to its projections and shows the two-month deposit cap for your rent level. As a benchmark, long-term gross yields in Punta Cana/Bávaro measure around 6.48% (early 2026) against the 7–8% short-term cap rates we measure across most zones — the long-term discount buys you lower turnover, lower operating costs and, under Law 85-25, a more predictable legal footing than it ever had.
Two closing cautions. First, Law 85-25 is about renting, not buying — the purchase process is unchanged, and so is the 9-step closing sequence. Second, do not confuse it with CONFOTUR (Law 158-01), the tax-incentive regime — one governs your lease, the other your taxes, and a good deal accounts for both.
Educational content, not legal advice. Law 85-25 facts per Official Gazette 11211 (Aug 14, 2025); its implementing regulation was pending as of July 2026 — confirm current status with a Dominican attorney before structuring leases.
