Dubai property questions, answered honestly

Yes. Any nationality can buy freehold property in Dubai's designated freehold areas, and you do not need to live in the UAE or hold a residency visa to do it. Freehold means you own the property and, in most cases, the land outright, registered in your name at the Dubai Land Department. Outside the freehold zones, foreign buyers can hold leasehold or usufruct rights, usually for 10 to 99 years.

Less than most people expect. You need a valid passport, funds you can evidence, and a signed Form F (the standard DLD sale contract). You do not need a residency visa, a UAE bank account or a local sponsor to buy. If you are financing, the lender will ask for income documents and a credit check. Every transfer is registered at the Dubai Land Department, which is what makes your title real.

Six steps. 1. Agree the price and sign Form F with the seller. 2. Pay a deposit, normally 10 percent, held by the agent or a trustee. 3. If there is a mortgage on the property, the seller clears it and the developer issues a No Objection Certificate. 4. If you are financing, your bank issues a final offer letter. 5. Both parties attend a DLD registration trustee office. 6. Fees are paid, the title deed is issued in your name and keys are handed over. Cash purchases typically complete in 2 to 4 weeks, mortgaged ones in 4 to 8.

Yes, and a large share of Dubai buyers never set foot in the country before completing. You can complete remotely by giving a Power of Attorney to someone in Dubai, notarised and attested in your home country and legalised at the UAE embassy. We handle viewings on video, send you the full document pack, and represent your side at the trustee office.

Some developers and a small number of sellers accept crypto, usually converted to dirhams by a licensed exchange before the funds reach the escrow or trustee account. The registration itself is always settled in AED at the Dubai Land Department. Expect full source-of-funds checks. Tell us early if this is your route and we will confirm which sellers can actually take it.

Off-plan is where instalments live. Developers commonly split payments across construction, with something like 20 percent on booking and the balance on milestones or after handover. Post-handover plans stretching 2 to 5 years exist. True zero down payment offers are rare and usually mean the fees are folded into the price, so read the payment schedule before you judge the deal. Ready resale property is not sold on instalments; you pay in full or with a mortgage.

Budget roughly 6 to 8 percent of the price on top. The main items are the DLD transfer fee at 4 percent, a registration trustee fee of about AED 4,200 including VAT for properties over AED 500,000, agency commission usually 2 percent plus VAT, a developer No Objection Certificate fee between AED 500 and AED 5,000, and title deed issuance of about AED 580. With a mortgage, add a registration fee of 0.25 percent of the loan, a bank arrangement fee up to 1 percent and a valuation fee of around AED 2,500 to 3,500. We give you a written cost sheet for your exact property before you commit.

There is no annual property tax and no personal income tax on rental income in the UAE. What you do pay is the one-off 4 percent DLD transfer fee at purchase, annual service charges to the building or community, and a 5 percent municipality fee on residential rent, collected through the DEWA bill by the tenant. Corporate tax can apply if you hold property through a company, so take advice on structure before you buy in a company name.

Service charges cover the running of the building or community: security, cleaning, lifts, pools, landscaping, insurance and the reserve fund. They are charged per square foot per year and set against a budget approved by the RERA service charge index. Simple mid-market buildings sit at the low end and premium waterfront towers with heavy amenities sit far higher, so always ask for the current rate and the last 3 years of it before you buy. A high service charge quietly eats a good rental yield.

On a ready resale, 10 percent to the seller at Form F, plus your fees. If you are buying with a mortgage, UAE Central Bank rules mean an expat buying a first home under AED 5 million puts down 20 percent of the price, and 30 percent above that, with the fees payable in cash on top. Non-residents typically need 40 to 50 percent. Off-plan booking deposits usually start at 10 to 20 percent.

Yes to both. UAE residents can usually borrow up to 80 percent of the value on a first property under AED 5 million. Non-residents can generally borrow 50 to 60 percent, from a shorter list of banks, and will need to show income and bank statements from home. Terms run up to 25 years and most lenders cap the end age at 65 for salaried and 70 for self-employed borrowers.

Rates move, so a number published on a blog is worthless by the time you read it. Most UAE mortgages are fixed for 1 to 5 years then revert to a variable rate priced off EIBOR plus a margin. The margin, the early settlement penalty and the arrangement fee matter as much as the headline rate. We run a whole-of-market comparison against your actual profile and show you the total cost over the fixed period, not just the rate.

Yes. Pre-approval takes a few days, is usually valid for 60 to 90 days, tells you exactly what you can spend, and makes your offer far stronger against a cash buyer. Sellers in Dubai move quickly and a buyer without finance in place often loses the property.

It can. A property worth AED 750,000 or more can qualify you for a 2 year investor residency visa. A property worth AED 2 million or more can qualify you for the 10 year Golden Visa, renewable, and it covers your spouse and children. The property must be completed or, in many cases, off-plan from an approved developer, and it must be registered in your name at the DLD. Rules are set by the ICP and GDRFA and do change, so we confirm current criteria against your specific purchase.

In most cases yes. Mortgaged properties are generally accepted where the equity meets the threshold and the bank issues a No Objection Certificate. Off-plan property from approved developers is also accepted in many cases. This is the area of the rules that changes most often, so treat any answer older than a few months as out of date and ask us to check it before you buy on that basis.

You reserve the unit and pay a booking amount, normally 5 to 20 percent. The developer issues a Sale and Purchase Agreement, which you should read properly, particularly the handover date and the penalty clauses. Your payments go into a RERA-regulated escrow account tied to that project, not to the developer's general account. The DLD registers your interest as an Oqood, and the 4 percent DLD fee is paid at that point. On completion you pay the final instalment, the unit is inspected, snagged and handed over, and the Oqood converts to a title deed.

It is regulated, which is not the same as risk free. Escrow accounts, project registration and RERA construction monitoring protect your money against a developer spending it elsewhere. What they do not protect you from is delay, a weaker finished product than the render, or a market that moves against you before handover. The single biggest variable is the developer. We look at their delivery record, not their brochure.

Different jobs. Off-plan gives you a lower entry price, staged payments and the chance of capital growth before handover, but no rent until completion and real delivery risk. Ready property gives you rent from day one, a unit you can actually inspect, and a mortgage against it, at a higher price per square foot. If you need income now, buy ready. If you are investing over 3 to 5 years and can hold, off-plan can work harder.

They are capped. The RERA rental index sets what your property should rent for, and Decree 43 of 2013 limits any increase based on how far below that index your current rent sits. If your rent is within 10 percent of the market rate, no increase is allowed. Above that, the permitted increase steps up to a maximum of 20 percent. A landlord must also give 90 days written notice before renewal to change any term, including the rent.

Ejari is the Dubai Land Department system that registers every tenancy contract, and yes, it is mandatory. Without it you cannot connect DEWA, apply for a residence visa for family, enrol children in some schools, or file a case at the Rental Dispute Centre. Registration is quick and inexpensive and is usually handled by the landlord or the managing agent.

1 to 4 is normal, and fewer cheques usually buys you a lower rent. Some landlords accept 6 or 12, often at a premium. Expect a security deposit of 5 percent of the annual rent for an unfurnished unit and 10 percent for a furnished one, refundable at the end of the tenancy less any damage.

Get an honest valuation against actual recorded DLD transactions in your building, not against optimistic asking prices. Sign a Form A with your broker, which is what allows the listing to be legally advertised. Once you accept an offer, you sign Form F with the buyer, apply to the developer for a No Objection Certificate, then complete at a registration trustee office where the title transfers and you are paid. If there is a mortgage on the property it is settled at that point. Four to eight weeks is a realistic timeline.

Gross yields commonly land between 5 and 8 percent, which is high by global standards, and net yields land lower once service charges, management and vacancy are taken off. Smaller units and mid-market communities usually yield more than prime villas, which trade more on capital growth. Ask for the net number. A gross yield quoted without the service charge is a marketing figure, not an investment case.

It depends entirely on whether you want yield, capital growth, or a place you will actually use. Established communities near the beach and the metro tend to hold value and rent easily. Newer outlying communities show higher headline yields and more price volatility. Rather than sell you an area, we will pull the transaction history and rental performance for the two or three you are weighing up and let the numbers decide.

Three checks, all of which you can do yourself in a minute. Every legal property advertisement in Dubai carries a Trakheesi permit number, so if there is no permit number on the listing, walk away. Every broker holds a RERA broker card with a registration number you can ask to see. And every genuine listing is backed by a signed Form A between the owner and the brokerage. We publish the permit number on every listing we run.

On a ready resale, the standard Dubai commission is 2 percent of the price plus VAT, paid by the buyer, and we tell you the number in writing before you commit to anything. On off-plan, the developer pays us, so the price you pay is the same as going direct, with the difference that you have someone on your side reading the SPA. We do not take money from both sides of a deal.

We would rather lose a deal than push you into the wrong one. That means telling you when a yield does not work, when a building has a service charge problem, or when the honest answer is to wait. One team runs the whole journey from first conversation to keys and everything after, so nothing gets handed off and dropped. Every listing carries its permit number and every cost is in writing before you sign.

Tell us the situation, not the property. Budget, timeline, whether you need income or growth, and whether you are here or overseas. We come back with the honest options, including the option of doing nothing yet. No pressure and no obligation.