General guidance on the Dubai market, not legal, tax or financial advice. Fees and regulations change. Ask one of our consultants to confirm the current position before you commit to anything.
The asking prices you see on the portals tell you what sellers hope for. Dubai Land Department transaction data tells you what buyers actually paid. Those two numbers can sit a long way apart in a moving market, and only one of them is evidence.
We price from recorded transfers in your building or cluster over the last six to twelve months, adjusted for floor, view, layout, upgrade level and whether the unit is vacant or tenanted. The DLD publishes transaction data and the Dubai REST app makes it accessible, so you can sanity-check anything we tell you.
A property listed 10 per cent above the evidence does not sell 10 per cent higher. It sits, accumulates viewing history, and eventually sells below where a correctly priced listing would have landed in the first month.
Vacant generally sells faster and for more than tenanted, because it opens the market to end users rather than only investors. If you have a tenant and want to sell to an owner-occupier, read the notice rules in our landlord’s guide before you do anything, because the required notice is far longer than most owners assume.
In our experience almost every sale that slips past its expected date slips for one of these reasons, and both are avoidable if you start them early.
Two smaller ones worth pre-empting: a Power of Attorney if you will be out of the country on transfer day, and the original title deed, which an alarming number of owners cannot locate when asked. A replacement is obtainable from the DLD but it takes time you will not want to spend.
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Brokerage commission | 2% of the sale price plus 5% VAT is the Dubai convention |
| Developer No Objection Certificate | Set by the developer, typically several hundred to a few thousand dirhams |
| Early mortgage settlement | A bank charge capped by Central Bank rules as a percentage of the outstanding balance, subject to a dirham cap |
| DLD transfer fee | Formally 2% from the seller, but by Dubai custom the buyer pays the full 4% |
| Blocking fee, where the buyer is mortgaged | A few thousand dirhams |
| Outstanding service charges | Cleared in full before the NOC is issued |
Confirm your mortgage settlement figure and the developer NOC charge in writing before you accept an offer, as both vary and both affect your net proceeds.
Your net proceeds are the sale price less commission, the NOC, any settlement charge and any service charge arrears. We will put that calculation in writing at the point you list, so there are no surprises on transfer day.
You can sell a tenanted property at any time. What you cannot do is hand it over vacant without having served proper notice, and a sale does not by itself end a tenancy. The buyer steps into your position as landlord on the existing terms until the tenancy runs out.
Under Dubai’s tenancy law a landlord who wants possession at the end of a term, including in order to sell with vacant possession, must give the tenant 12 months’ notice, served through the Notary Public or by registered mail. That requirement is in Article 25(2) of Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended, and an informally served notice is not valid notice.
If your plan depends on delivering a vacant property, start the notice clock a full year before you want to complete. This is the single most expensive mistake a Dubai landlord can make.
Many investors simply sell tenanted and let the yield do the selling. A unit with a solid tenant on a reasonable rent is an attractive proposition to the right buyer, and you keep collecting rent throughout the sale process.
Once you have an accepted offer, a cash buyer with no mortgage on either side can complete in two to four weeks. Add a mortgage, on either side, and four to eight weeks is realistic. Finding the buyer is the variable part, and that is largely a function of pricing.
The Dubai Land Department sets the registration fee as 2 per cent from each side, but Dubai’s established market custom is that the buyer pays the whole 4 per cent. It is negotiable in principle. In practice almost no transaction splits it.
Usually yes, but on the developer’s terms. Most require you to have paid a minimum percentage of the price, commonly between 30 and 40 per cent, and to obtain their No Objection Certificate, for which they charge a fee. Check your sale and purchase agreement, because the threshold and the charge vary considerably between developers.
No. A Power of Attorney, notarised in the UAE or attested and legalised if signed abroad, allows a representative to sign Form F and attend the transfer on your behalf. Arrange it before you list rather than once a buyer is waiting.
It is the Dubai Land Department advertising permit that every property advertisement in the emirate must carry. The permit number ties the listing to a registered broker and a real property. A listing without one is not lawfully advertised, and you should be able to see the number on your own.
We will give you a valuation based on what has transferred in your building this year, not on what the optimistic listings are asking.