Can Foreigners Buy Apartments in Dubai? Rules, Fees, Steps

Can Foreigners Buy Apartments in Dubai? Rules, Fees, Steps

As of 28 October 2026, can foreigners buy apartments in Dubai as freehold owners, but only inside areas that the Ruler of Dubai has designated for non-UAE nationals. Dubai Law No. 7 of 2006 on real property registration limits ownership in the emirate to UAE nationals, nationals of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, companies wholly owned by them and public joint stock companies, and it allows non-UAE nationals to hold freehold title or rights of up to 99 years in areas the Ruler determines. Regulation No. 3 of 2006 and later instruments list those areas plot by plot, and the Dubai Land Department (DLD) registers every transfer. The text of the law is on the Dubai Legislation Portal, and the DLD publishes the fee schedule and the service pages that a buyer meets in practice.

This guide answers the question can foreigners buy apartments in Dubai in detail: the legal basis, the designated areas, who can buy and which documents are needed, how a resale and an off-plan purchase run, the DLD fees with worked arithmetic, brokerage and service charges, the Central Bank of the UAE limits on mortgages, property types, the property-linked residence routes, taxes, and the buyer protections written into Dubai law. Prices and fees are shown in dirhams with US dollars in brackets at AED 3.6725 per dollar, the rate on the Central Bank sheet for June 2026. The DLD service pages quoted here show a site update of 14 October 2026 and were read on 28 October 2026. Rules and fees can change, so the page named in each section is the one to open on the day of a transaction.

Can Foreigners Buy Apartments in Dubai? The Legal Basis

The starting point is Article 4 of Law No. 7 of 2006, issued on 13 March 2006. It says that the right to own real property in the emirate is restricted to UAE nationals, GCC nationals, companies fully owned by them and public joint stock companies. It then adds that, subject to the approval of the Ruler, non-UAE nationals may in certain areas determined by the Ruler be granted two kinds of right: freehold ownership without time restriction, and usufruct or leasehold for a period not exceeding 99 years. Article 26 makes any agreement or disposition in breach of the law null and void, and the same article extends that to arrangements made to circumvent it. A foreign buyer therefore does not need a special licence to buy an apartment, but the apartment has to stand on land that the Ruler has opened to non-UAE nationals.

The areas are not listed in the law itself. They sit in Regulation No. 3 of 2006, signed on 7 June 2006, whose Article 3 allows non-UAE nationals to acquire freehold ownership without time restriction, usufruct rights, or leasehold rights of up to 99 years over the land plots it lists. Later regulations and resolutions added plots. The English texts on the Dubai Legislation Portal carry a note that the Arabic original prevails in case of conflict, so the table below describes the instruments as published in English and is not a substitute for the Arabic text.

Three practical points follow from the text. First, the designation is tied to land, not to the buyer: u.ae, the UAE government portal, states that both foreigners who do not live in the UAE and expatriate residents may acquire freehold ownership in designated areas, and that Dubai has no age limit for owning property. Second, the DLD is the only body that registers real property rights, and Article 9 as replaced in 2019 means a signed sale contract alone does not transfer ownership until the transaction is recorded. Third, the rights open to foreigners are wider than freehold: the DLD’s 2017 guide for investors says foreign nationals in designated areas may also take musataha, usufruct and long-term leases of up to 99 years. The u.ae page on buying property as an expatriate summarises the same framework in plain language.

For readers who want the market side of the same question, our guide to freehold and leasehold in Dubai covers the practical difference between the two structures, and our UAE country page and Dubai page list the properties we track.

Where Foreigners Can Buy: Designated Freehold Areas

Regulation No. 3 of 2006 lists areas by their official names and plot numbers rather than by the names used in sales brochures. Its Article 3 includes, among its 23 entries, four plots in Dubai Marina (Nos. 007, 014, 015 and 033), Plot No. 001 on Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Hills 1, 2 and 3, nine plots in Jebel Ali, Plot No. 001 on the World Islands, three plots in Al Jaddaf, two plots on Sheikh Zayed Road (Nos. 118 and 147), and plots in Nad Al Sheba, Mirdif, Al Quoz, Warsan 1, Ras Al Khor, Al Barsha South, Umm Hurair 2, Sofouh and Palm Jebel Ali. Because the regulation works at plot level, an apartment’s marketing name is not proof that its land is designated. The check that matters is whether the plot is covered by the regulation or one of its amendments.

The DLD’s 2017 guide introduces its own list as covering the most important designated areas, not all of them, and refers readers to the DLD for the rest. The 2025 announcement shows how the list keeps changing. According to the DLD, owners in the two named areas could confirm eligibility in the Dubai REST app, apply for a land assessment and valuation, pay a conversion fee of 30% of the property’s valuation based on gross floor area, and receive a map and a freehold title deed. For a buyer of an apartment in a building that was converted this way, the practical question is the same as anywhere else: does the title deed or e-certificate of title show freehold ownership for the unit.

How to check an address before paying a deposit

The DLD offers three online checks that do not depend on a seller’s or agent’s statement. The Property Status Enquiry lets anyone enter an area and land number on the DLD website or in the Dubai REST app and see the status the DLD holds; the page shows immediate service and lists no fee. The Title Deed Verification page asks for the title deed number, the deed year and the property type, and shows a valid certificate as digitally validated by blockchain.

So the answer to the question “can foreigners buy apartments in Dubai” is yes for a unit on a designated plot and no for one outside the lists. Anything outside the plots covered by these instruments falls back on Article 4: ownership is restricted to UAE and GCC nationals and their wholly owned companies. For that reason the legal text, not a listing description, is the reference when a building stands on the edge of a named area. Our article on areas to consider for an apartment in Dubai compares districts by price and building type, and the price per square meter guide gives area-level prices.

Who Can Buy, Which Documents Are Needed, and Buying Through a Company

The DLD sale registration service is open to all residency statuses. For an individual buyer or seller the page asks for the Emirates ID, which the DLD uses only to verify identity and does not copy, and states that a non-resident foreigner can present a valid passport instead. For a resale in a freehold area the page also asks for a no-objection e-certificate (e-NOC) from the developer, obtained through the Dubai REST app. If a representative acts, a legal power of attorney is needed; the DLD’s 2017 guide adds that a foreign-language document must be attested and submitted with a certified Arabic translation, and that the owner must attend either in person or through a representative acting under a notarized power of attorney.

Company or individual ownership

Both routes exist, and the DLD’s pages treat them differently. Where a company is a party to a sale, the sale page states that the company must first be registered through a company registration request. The DLD’s 2017 guide says companies registered with the Department of Economic Development, in Dubai or another emirate, may own real estate in designated areas if they are not wholly owned by UAE or GCC nationals, that companies registered in free zones such as the Jebel Ali Free Zone and DMCC may also do so, and that a foreign company must set up a free-zone company and register the property in that company’s name. It also states that any change in the shareholding of a company that owns Dubai real estate counts as a transfer that must be notified to the DLD with the applicable fees. An individual purchase avoids those steps but puts the owner’s own estate rules into play; our guide to inheritance and estate planning for foreign owners in Dubai covers that side. The structure also changes the tax analysis, which is described in the tax section below.

How a Resale Purchase Works, Step by Step

For a buyer working through “can foreigners buy apartments in Dubai” in practice, a resale means buying a completed unit from its registered owner. The DLD’s 2017 guide for investors lists the order of actions as legal due diligence, signing a sale and purchase agreement, obtaining a no-objection certificate from the developer, and attending the registrar at a trustee office for the transfer. The 2024 Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide from the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) adds the electronic contract system that brokers must use. The table sets the stages side by side, with the document or system involved at each one.

Two details are worth reading closely. The broker contracts are not the sale itself: Contract A and Contract B regulate the relationship between a party and the broker, while Contract F binds buyer and seller. The 2024 guide states that all real estate sales are handled through registration trustee offices acting for the DLD, and that brokers must use the electronic contracts to record sales. Payment at the trustee office can be made by ePay, Dubai Pay, a Noqodi wallet or a manager’s cheque, according to the sale page. The sale page does not state a deposit percentage, so the deposit amount, if any, is a term of the contract between the parties.

Cash buyers and mortgage buyers follow the same sequence; a bank adds a valuation, the lender’s letter and the mortgage registration at the same trustee office, covered in the mortgage section. A buyer who wants more detail on financing can read our mortgage guide for foreign buyers, and one who is looking at discounted resales can read our guide to distressed property in Dubai, which covers auctions and bank sales.

Can Foreigners Buy Apartments in Dubai Off-Plan?

Yes, within the same designated areas. An off-plan unit is one sold before it is built or while it is unfinished, and Dubai records these sales in an interim register rather than the main register. Law No. 13 of 2008, issued on 14 August 2008, states that any disposition of a unit sold off-plan is entered in the Interim Property Register and that a sale or other disposition that transfers or restricts ownership is void unless it is entered there. The interim entry is commonly called Oqood; the DLD’s initial sale service issues a provisional registration e-certificate. Once the project is complete and the unit is handed over, the unit moves into the main register and a title deed is issued.

The DLD’s initial sale registration page sets the fees at 2% of the sale value for the seller and 2% for the purchaser, plus AED 10 each for the knowledge and innovation fees, and a developer self-registration fee of AED 1,000 on the Oqood developer portal; the page does not say who pays the small fixed fees. The sale and purchase contract must be signed by developer and purchaser and registered in the provisional register within 90 days from the date of signing. The page lists payment through a Noqodi wallet or by deduction from the escrow account. The page for a sale registration tied to an initial mortgage lists a map fee of AED 250 per unit and a title deed fee of AED 250 and gives a service time of six business days.

What a developer must have before selling

The Executive Council Resolution No. 6 of 2010, which implements Law No. 13 of 2008, requires a master developer or sub-developer to have taken possession of the land, received the demarcation certificate, hold actual control of the land and have the approvals of the competent entities before commencing a project or selling units off-plan. Article 11 of the resolution makes an off-plan disposition by a developer or broker void if it happens before the project is approved and registered with the DLD. The resolution also says that after the completion certificate the developer cannot refuse to hand over or register a unit to a purchaser who has met all contractual obligations, and that the developer may not charge purchasers any amount other than those approved by the DLD for a legal disposition of the unit. Article 13 adopts the net area of the unit for registration and obliges the developer to compensate the purchaser if the actual area falls short of the net area by more than 5%, calculated on the agreed unit price.

The 2017 DLD guide lists the questions a buyer should answer before signing an off-plan agreement: whether the project is registered with RERA, whether an escrow account exists and who the escrow agent is, the percentage of completion and expected completion date, whether the developer is registered with RERA and owns the land or holds a development agreement, and whether the developer has the permits to sell off-plan. The 2024 RERA guide adds that the Dubai REST app has a project-validation function called Mashrooi, and that brokers marketing an off-plan project must ensure that it is licensed and registered and that buyers deposit money only into the project’s escrow account. Our off-plan buyer guide looks at payment plans and handover.

If the buyer cannot keep paying

Law No. 19 of 2017 replaced Article 11 of Law No. 13 of 2008 and sets the process when a purchaser fails to meet obligations under an off-plan sale. The developer must notify the DLD; the DLD serves a 30-day notice and, where possible, mediates a settlement; if the buyer still does not perform, the DLD issues a document confirming the developer’s compliance and the project’s completion percentage. The developer’s measures then depend on that percentage, as the table shows. The law states that these rules are part of public order and that the purchaser keeps recourse to courts or arbitration if the developer abuses its powers.

The same law adds that if RERA cancels a project by a reasoned decision, the developer must refund the purchasers’ payments under the procedures in Law No. 8 of 2007. The legal text was read in the DLD’s 2019 compilation of Dubai real estate legislation.

Costs and Fees: What the DLD Lists on 28 October 2026

Dubai’s one-off costs are set by Executive Council Resolution No. 30 of 2013 and shown on the DLD service pages. Article 3 of the resolution states that, unless agreed otherwise, the fee for the sale of real property is shared equally by seller and purchaser. The sale registration page repeats this as 2% of the sale value for the seller and 2% for the buyer. Article 4 allows the DLD to verify or assess the value of the property where the contract value is below market value, and Article 6 sets a fine of double the fee for providing false information on value. The table collects the lines a buyer meets on a resale and on a mortgage. Where a page does not say who pays a fixed fee, the table says so.

Worked example: a cash purchase of an apartment at AED 1,200,000

Take a completed apartment sold for AED 1,200,000 ($326,752), bought with cash, where the buyer pays the buyer’s 2% and the fixed DLD lines, and the 5% VAT rate on the trustee fee comes from the u.ae taxation page. The arithmetic is shown step by step in the table. Agent commission, any developer NOC fee and bank charges are not included, because the DLD pages do not set them.

The total is AED 28,720 ($7,820), which is 2.39% of the price. The seller’s own 2% share of the registration fee is another AED 24,000 ($6,535), so the DLD percentage fee on the whole sale is AED 48,000 ($13,070). If the parties agree that the buyer pays the whole 4%, the buyer’s total would rise by AED 24,000 ($6,535). The figures change in proportion to the price: the 4% registration fee scales with the sale value, while the title deed, map, knowledge, innovation and service partner lines stay fixed. For a wider budget view that includes the purchase price by size, our guide to how much an apartment costs in Dubai sets out price levels.

Agent Commission, Service Charges and the RERA Service Charge Index

Brokerage fees under Bylaw No. 85 of 2006

The DLD’s published rules on brokers do not set a commission percentage. Bylaw No. 85 of 2006, read in the DLD compilation, says in Article 26 that a brokerage agreement must be in writing and state the parties, the property specifications and the brokerage terms. Article 27 says broker fees are determined by agreement and, if there is none, according to the prevailing customary practice. Article 28 says a broker is entitled to fees only if the brokerage leads to a contract, and is entitled to them on signing the sale contract and registering it with the DLD unless the brokerage agreement says otherwise. Article 33 says a broker can claim fees only from the party who engaged him, and where both parties engaged him each is severally liable for his own share. Article 23 says a broker forfeits fees if he acts in the interest of the other party or accepts a benefit from that party in circumstances the rules of good faith prohibit.

A buyer can check a broker on the DLD side. The RERA guide states that brokers need a licence registered in the Trakheesi system and a broker card, that every advertisement needs a permit number displayed on the ad, and that brokers may contact only owners who are on the green list. The DLD also publishes lists of licensed brokers and brokerage offices on its website. The written agreement, not a market habit, is what fixes the fee in a given transaction.

Service charges and the RERA index

A freehold apartment is jointly owned property. Law No. 6 of 2019, in the DLD compilation, defines service charges as the annual charges collected from owners to cover the management, operation, maintenance and repair of jointly owned real property, and its Article 16 says that unless the unit lease says otherwise the owner is liable for service charges and usage charges and is not discharged if a tenant fails to pay. The DLD’s Service Charge Index service lets a user pick a project, the use and the year, and view the RERA-approved service fees for joint-ownership properties; the page lists channels through the DLD website, the Mollak system and the Dubai REST app, gives immediate service time and shows no fee.

The index is per square foot, so the annual cost is the approved rate multiplied by the unit’s area. The RERA brokerage guide includes a sample calculation that shows the method, with an illustrative rate of AED 8 per square foot for the suite area and balcony charged at 25% of that rate. The table applies the same method to an apartment of 60 square meters with a 10 square meter balcony. The AED 8 rate is the guide’s sample figure, not a current rate for any building, and 1 square meter is taken as 10.764 square feet, as in the guide.

Before buying a resale unit, a buyer can read the approved rate for the project in the index, ask the seller for the service charge statement, and rely on the developer’s e-NOC, which the 2017 DLD guide describes as confirming that the seller has paid the service charges on the unit. Our Dubai real estate market guide puts recurring charges in the wider context of ownership costs.

Can Foreigners Buy Apartments in Dubai With a Mortgage?

Yes. The DLD’s 2017 guide states that an investor may obtain mortgage financing from any bank or financial institution licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE, in conventional or Islamic form, and that a mortgage must be registered at the DLD to be valid. The Central Bank rulebook sets the national limits in Regulations Regarding Mortgage Loans, Circular 31/2013, effective 28 December 2013 and amended by Board Resolutions 96/2019 and 31/2/2020. The version on the rulebook site, read on 28 October 2026, is marked in force and consolidated as of 8 April 2020. The rulebook sorts borrowers into UAE nationals and expatriates; it does not set a separate cap for non-residents, and it says lenders may adopt more conservative limits than the minimums it sets, so an individual bank can ask for more than the figures below.

The rulebook’s wording for the first-home bands is ‘less than AED 5 million’ for 80% and ‘more than AED 5 million’ for 70%, and it does not state which band applies to a price of exactly AED 5,000,000. For UAE nationals the same article sets 85% and 75% for a first home and 65% for a second home. Each borrower can claim only one property under the first-home category.

Other conditions in the rulebook

• Debt burden ratio: the maximum is 50% of gross salary and regular income from a defined source, and lenders must stress-test the loan at 2 to 4 percentage points above the current rate.
• Tenor: the maximum term is 25 years, and the lender sets the maximum age at the last repayment under its own policy.
• Financing amount: the cap is up to 7 years of annual income for expatriates and up to 8 years for UAE nationals.
• Down payment: it should come from the borrower’s own resources and not from other borrowing such as personal loans or credit cards.
• Repayment source: repayment should come from salary or verifiable business or rental income, and end-of-service benefit may not be used.
• Valuation: before any irrevocable commitment, a qualified third party independent of borrower, seller and developer must value the property on site.
• Interest-only periods: deferred principal applies only to investment loans and may not exceed 5 years from the first drawdown.
• Early repayment and refinancing: the maximum charge is the lender’s actual cost to break a fixed loan and/or fees set out in Regulations No. 29/2011, and there should be no impediment to refinancing.

Worked example: AED 1,200,000 first home, expatriate borrower

A completed apartment priced at AED 1,200,000 ($326,752) falls in the first-home band below AED 5 million. At the 80% maximum the loan is AED 960,000 ($261,402) and the down payment is AED 240,000 ($65,350). The mortgage registration lines from the DLD page are 0.25% of the loan, AED 250 ($68) for the title deed, AED 10 ($2) each for the knowledge and innovation fees, and the service fee of AED 4,000 ($1,089) plus 5% VAT of AED 200 ($54). The table adds them to the purchase costs calculated earlier.

The total is AED 275,590 ($75,041), or 23.0% of the price. Bank arrangement fees, valuation fees and insurance are set by each lender and appear in its offer letter. If the same apartment were bought off-plan, the 50% cap would limit the loan to AED 600,000 ($163,376). Our mortgage guide and our article on buying without a large down payment take the financing side further.

Property Types and Ownership Rights Open to Foreign Buyers

The DLD’s pages distinguish registered units by how they are held and what document proves them. An apartment in a completed building is a unit in jointly owned property with a title deed; an apartment bought off-plan is held under an interim registration until handover; villas and apartments both appear in the DLD fee line for the map; and land plots carry a separate unified map fee. The sale page also covers full or partial sales of land, property or a completed real estate unit.

Most readers who type “can foreigners buy apartments in Dubai” into a search engine mean the first two rows: completed or off-plan units held as freehold. The DLD guide’s statement that freehold ownership extends to the land and all buildings on it applies to the designated areas, and it is the reason the title document, not the brochure, defines what is owned.

Residence Routes Linked to Dubai Property

A purchase does not issue a residence permit by itself. The owner files a separate application with the authority concerned, and the permit is issued only if the conditions on the official page are met. Searches for “can foreigners buy apartments in Dubai” often continue with a question about residence, and three property-linked routes appear on the DLD’s service pages. The table lists the condition for each exactly as the page states it.

The AED 2 million Golden Visa condition is the one our Dubai Golden Visa guide reads across three official pages: the DLD service page measures AED 2 million at the time of purchase, the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security describes one or more properties totalling at least AED 2,000,000 fully owned in the investor’s name, with a loan from an approved local bank allowed and, for off-plan, units bought from a developer approved by the competent authority, and the u.ae portal lists a minimum capital of AED 2 million for real estate investors with 5 years’ validity. The DLD and ICP service pages state 10 years for the real estate route, so the validity printed on the permit application on the day of filing is the figure that applies.

A threshold test is worth putting in numbers. A unit priced at AED 2,000,000 ($544,588) bought with an 80% loan means a loan of AED 1,600,000 ($435,670) and a down payment of AED 400,000 ($108,917) under the rulebook’s first-home band; the DLD page measures the AED 2 million at purchase, so the test is applied to the price recorded for the sale and not to the amount paid in cash. An apartment sold at AED 1,999,999 does not meet a threshold of AED 2 million, and a financed purchase has no margin below the line. The Investor Residence page on the DLD site, by contrast, states no minimum value for a sole owner.

Taxes on Dubai Property: What the Official Pages Say

The UAE government portal states that the country does not levy income tax on individuals and that it levies 5% value added tax on the purchase of goods and services. The same taxation page names corporate tax on the net income or profit of corporations and businesses and excise tax on specific goods that are harmful to health. It does not list an annual property tax among the federal taxes. The one-off DLD fees described above are registration fees under Executive Council Resolution No. 30 of 2013, not annual levies, and the recurring cost that the legislation does impose on owners is the service charge under Law No. 6 of 2019.

Two cautions apply to reading this table. The FTA’s guide on real estate investment is written for natural persons and says it is not legally binding, so it does not describe how a company that owns property is taxed. And the VAT guide is dated April 2021, so it is worth opening the Federal Tax Authority’s guide page for a newer edition before relying on a rate. How these rules apply depends on the owner’s own circumstances, including whether the property is held by a person or a company and whether a licence is involved in the activity.

Buyer Protections and Checks Before Signing

Dubai’s protections for buyers are written into several instruments, and the main ones can be read in the text. Our guide to buyer protection in Dubai covers them in more detail; the table below lists the core provisions with the instrument that contains them.

The texts above are the framework. They do not remove the need for checks specific to the unit, and the list below pulls the checks named across the official sources into one order.

1. Check the plot against the designated areas using the Property Status Enquiry, the Dubai REST app or the legislation, and ask the DLD about areas not in the lists.
2. Verify the title deed through the DLD’s Title Deed Verification service and confirm that the seller’s name matches the registered owner.
3. Confirm there is no mortgage, lien or other charge on the unit before signing Contract F.
4. For a broker, check the licence and broker card in the Trakheesi system and that the advertisement shows a permit number.
5. For off-plan, confirm the project is licensed and registered, the escrow account number and the escrow agent, the percentage of completion and the expected completion date, and pay only into the escrow account.
6. Read the approved service charge for the project in the DLD Service Charge Index and ask for the seller’s statement and the developer e-NOC.
7. Check the unit’s net area in the sale agreement and plan, since the developer must compensate a shortfall of more than 5%.
8. If the purchase is meant to support a visa application, compare the price recorded for the sale with the condition on the relevant DLD, ICP or GDRFA page, because the DLD Golden Visa page tests AED 2 million at the time of purchase.

For buyers who are comparing prices after a market change, our article on what published data show about Dubai property declines sets out the transaction record from 2008 to 2026, and our guide to below-market-value property explains how a valuation gap arises.

How Other UAE Emirates Differ

Rules for non-UAE nationals vary by emirate, and the u.ae portal describes the position outside Dubai. The facts below come from its page on expatriates buying property in the UAE, which shows an update date of 27 October 2026. Our article on Oman compared with Dubai and our guide on foreign ownership in Oman cover the Omani system with that market’s own sources.

The page does not cover Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah or the other emirates, so the local land authority is the source for those.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can foreigners buy apartments in Dubai without living in the UAE?

Yes, which answers “can foreigners buy apartments in Dubai” for non-residents as well. The DLD sale registration page accepts a valid passport from a non-resident foreigner instead of an Emirates ID, and u.ae states that foreigners who do not live in the UAE may acquire freehold ownership in designated areas. The owner can attend in person or through a representative with a notarized power of attorney, according to the DLD’s 2017 guide.

Can foreigners buy apartments in Dubai in any district?

Foreigners can buy freehold in the plots listed in Regulation No. 3 of 2006 and the later instruments that added plots, such as Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Hills and Jebel Ali plots in the original list. The DLD’s 2017 guide also names Downtown Dubai, Business Bay, Jumeirah Lakes Towers and Jumeirah Village among the most important designated areas.

How much are the government fees when buying an apartment?

The DLD sale registration fee is 4% of the sale value, shared 2% each by seller and buyer unless agreed otherwise. Fixed lines add AED 250 for the title deed, AED 250 for the map, AED 10 each for the knowledge and innovation fees, and a service partner fee of AED 4,000 plus VAT for sales of AED 500,000 or more. On a AED 1,200,000 apartment the buyer’s lines total AED 28,720 ($7,820) in the example above.

Is there a fixed agent commission in Dubai?

The DLD’s Bylaw No. 85 of 2006 sets no percentage. Article 27 says broker fees are determined by agreement and, without one, by customary practice, and Article 26 requires the brokerage agreement to be in writing. Article 33 says the broker may claim fees only from the party who engaged him.

Can foreigners buy apartments in Dubai with a mortgage?

Yes, from banks licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE. For an expatriate buying a first home below AED 5 million, the rulebook sets a maximum loan-to-value of 80%; for a second home or investment property it is 60%, and for any off-plan purchase it is 50%. The debt burden ratio is capped at 50% and the maximum tenor is 25 years.

Does buying an apartment in Dubai give me a residence visa?

No. A purchase does not issue a visa; the owner files a separate application. The DLD Golden Visa (Investor) page requires property worth AED 2 million or more at the time of purchase, wholly owned by the applicant, and the 10-year permit carries government fees of AED 9,884.75 ($2,691) on that page. The Investor Residence route has a 2-year permit with no minimum value for a sole owner.

What is Oqood and when is it used?

Oqood is the common name for the interim registration of an off-plan sale. Under Law No. 13 of 2008 a disposition of a unit sold off-plan must be entered in the Interim Property Register or it is void, and the DLD page requires the contract to be registered within 90 days of signing. The unit moves to the main register and receives a title deed after completion and handover.

Is there an annual property tax or income tax on Dubai rental income for individuals?

The u.ae portal states that the UAE does not levy income tax on individuals and does not list an annual property tax among the federal taxes. The FTA guide for natural persons states that income from selling, leasing or renting UAE property, where no licence is required, is excluded from corporate tax. The recurring cost the law imposes on apartment owners is the service charge.

Can a foreign company buy an apartment in Dubai?

A foreign company can buy through a company registered in a free zone. The DLD’s initial-sale pages require a foreign company to be registered in a free zone, DMCC or JAFZA, and to supply an attested Memorandum of Association, a free zone no-objection letter valid for one year and a shareholder certificate. The 2017 DLD guide adds that DLD does not allow foreign companies to own real estate directly.

What happens to my money if an off-plan project stops?

Payments sit in the project’s escrow account, which creditors of the developer cannot attach under Article 9 of Law No. 8 of 2007. If a project is not completed, Article 15 requires the escrow agent, after consulting the DLD, to take measures to complete it or refund depositors, and Law No. 19 of 2017 says that if RERA cancels a project the developer must refund purchasers’ payments under Law No. 8 of 2007.

Last checked: 28 October 2026. Sources: Dubai Law No. 7 of 2006 (Dubai Legislation Portal); Regulation No. 3 of 2006 (Dubai Legislation Portal); Regulation No. 1 of 2010; Regulation No. 1 of 2011; Resolution No. 14 of 2015; Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007 on escrow accounts; Dubai Law No. 13 of 2008 on the interim register; DLD compilation of Dubai real estate legislation (2019); DLD service page: Property Sale Registration; DLD service page: Request to Register the Initial Sale; DLD service page: sale registration associated with an initial mortgage; DLD service page: Mortgage Registration; DLD service page: Golden Visa (Investor); DLD service page: Investor Residence Application; DLD service page: Golden Visa (Retired); ICP: UAE Golden Residency; u.ae: Golden visa; Central Bank of the UAE Rulebook: Regulations Regarding Mortgage Loans; DLD/RERA Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide (second edition, November 2024); DLD, Know Your Rights for Real Estate Investors in Dubai (2017); DLD announcement, 19 January 2025; DLD service page: Service Charge Index; DLD service page: Property Status Enquiry; DLD service page: Title Deed Verification; u.ae: Expatriates buying a property in the UAE; u.ae: Taxation; u.ae: Corporate tax; Federal Tax Authority, Corporate Tax Guide: Real Estate Investment for Natural Persons (October 2024); Federal Tax Authority, Real Estate VAT Guide VATGRE1 (April 2021); Central Bank of the UAE, exchange rate sheet for June 2026.