Question 1

What is op in dubai property?

Accepted Answer

OP stands for Original Price — the price the first buyer agreed with the developer when the unit was launched. When an off-plan contract is resold before handover, the resale price is described against that figure: at OP, below OP, or above OP. A price above OP is usually called a premium. You will also see OP used loosely to mean off-plan; when it appears next to a price, it means Original Price.

Question 2

What does below op mean?

Accepted Answer

Below OP means a resale priced under the original launch price. It is not the same thing as below market value, and treating it as one is the most common mistake buyers make. The original price was set when the project launched, sometimes years earlier, so it says nothing about what the unit is worth today. While the developer is still selling the same project, the developer's current price list — not the old launch price — is the number a resale has to beat. To judge whether a resale is genuinely cheap, compare the asking price against recorded sales of comparable units, not against OP.

Question 3

What is escrow and does it actually protect me?

Accepted Answer

Money paid for an off-plan property in Dubai goes into a project escrow account rather than straight to the developer. The account is governed by Law No. (8) of 2007 and supervised by RERA, and money leaves it under that law's controls rather than at the developer's discretion. What it protects is your payments being spent on the project you bought into. What it is not is a completion guarantee or a refund guarantee — if a project is cancelled, refunds run through the escrow account under the cancellation rules in Law No. (19) of 2020.

Question 4

What is oqood?

Accepted Answer

Oqood is the Dubai Land Department's register for property bought before handover. An off-plan purchase is recorded there instead of with a title deed — the title deed is issued once the unit is completed and handed over. If you sell the contract before handover, the Oqood record is updated to the new buyer at the DLD Trustee Office as part of the transfer. The interim register is established under Law No. (13) of 2008.

Question 5

Who pays the 4% dld fee, buyer or seller?

Accepted Answer

The Dubai Land Department charges a transfer fee of 4% of the sale value when a property changes hands. DLD's own fee page splits it 2% to the seller and 2% to the buyer. In practice, the settled convention in Dubai is that the buyer funds the whole 4%. Because it is a convention rather than a rule, who pays is agreed between the parties and written into the Form F contract — so read what your Form F actually says rather than assuming the default.

Question 6

Who pays the 4% dld fee, buyer or seller?

Accepted Answer

On top of the 4% transfer fee there are fixed costs at registration. The trustee office charges AED 4,000 plus VAT where the sale value is AED 500,000 or more, and AED 2,000 plus VAT below that — AED 4,200 and AED 2,100 at 5% VAT. Issuing the new title deed adds roughly AED 580 all-in on distress.ae's own figures: DLD's portal itemises the certificate and map fees separately and they come to less than that on their own, before the trustee office's handling charge. These are flat amounts rather than percentages, so they weigh far more on a small purchase than on a large one.

Question 7

What is an noc and why do i need one to sell?

Accepted Answer

An NOC is a No Objection Certificate from the developer, confirming it has no objection to the sale. A resale cannot be registered without one. In practice the developer is checking that service charges are settled and, on an off-plan unit, that you have paid enough of the price under your contract. There is no statutory minimum for that share — each developer sets its own and writes it into the sale agreement, so the figure that applies to you is the one in your contract. Developers charge for the NOC; the amount is set by the developer and there is no central register of these fees, with distress.ae typically seeing somewhere between AED 500 and AED 5,000.

Question 8

How do i check a title deed is genuine?

Accepted Answer

A title deed is the Dubai Land Department's record that you own a completed property. Off-plan units do not have one until handover; before that the purchase sits in the Oqood register. A deed can be checked against DLD's own records through its Verify Title Deed service, using the title deed number, its year and the property type, and it can also be checked against an owner's name. A photograph or scan of a deed proves nothing on its own — the number has to be checked against DLD.

Question 9

What does distressed mean on this website?

Accepted Answer

On distress.ae a distressed sale means the seller is under time or money pressure — a mortgage that has become hard to carry, a relocation with a deadline, an off-plan payment plan that no longer fits, or a bank selling a unit it has repossessed. It describes the seller's situation. It is never a description of a developer, a bank or a building, and we do not use it that way. The pressure is what creates the discount, so a small price cut in a slow market is not distress. In ordinary copy we say below market rather than distressed, because below market is what a buyer is actually looking for.

Question 10

What are service charges and who decides them?

Accepted Answer

A building's service charges are not set freely by the management company. Approval for each year's charges is applied for through the Dubai Land Department's Mollak system, and the application has to carry a detailed annual budget for the project along with no fewer than three tenders for each service provider, evaluated against the Real Estate Regulatory Agency's terms. Service contracts, maintenance and insurance contracts and the utility bills are submitted with it, together with an audit by a RERA-accredited auditor.

Question 11

What are service charges and who decides them?

Accepted Answer

Service charges are the annual cost of running a building or community — cleaning, security, lifts, chilled water, insurance, management — divided between the owners and charged per square foot. In a jointly owned building the owner is liable for them, and under Law No. (6) of 2019 that liability stays with the owner even where a tenant does not pay. If the amount is disputed, RERA-approved invoices are the reference point.

Question 12

How much does it cost to buy a property in dubai in total?

Accepted Answer

Buying in Dubai carries several separate costs, and it helps to see them as a list rather than one number. The Dubai Land Department registration fee is 4% of the sale value. The trustee office that handles the transfer charges AED 4,000 plus VAT where the sale value is AED 500,000 or more, and AED 2,000 plus VAT below that. Issuing the new title deed adds a further charge — DLD's portal itemises AED 250 for the certificate, AED 120 to AED 250 for the map depending on property type, and AED 10 each for the knowledge and innovation fees. Agency commission has no published rate, but the settled market standard on a sale is 2% of the price, on distress.ae's own observation of the market, and it applies to residential and commercial sales alike. There is one important exception: buying off-plan directly from a developer, the buyer normally pays no agency commission at all — the developer pays the agency, and that holds even where the buyer came through their own agent. Where there is a mortgage, the bank's own fees sit on top and are set by the lender, so ask for them in writing before you commit. There is still no single total that applies to everyone: it depends on the price, whether you borrow, and whether you are buying from a developer or a private seller.

Question 13

What are the costs of selling a property in dubai?

Accepted Answer

Selling costs far less than buying, and the most common mistake is assuming the large fees are the seller's. They are not. The Dubai Land Department's 4% registration fee and the trustee office's charge are both funded by the buyer under the settled convention in Dubai, and neither is a seller's cost unless the Form F says otherwise — so read it. What a seller actually pays is a short list. The developer charges for the No Objection Certificate, at an amount the developer sets with no central register to check it against; distress.ae typically sees somewhere between AED 500 and AED 5,000. Any outstanding service charges have to be cleared before a transfer can complete. Final utility bills need closing off too — DEWA for electricity and water, and the district cooling provider where the building has one, commonly Empower or Emicool. Agency commission is usually the buyer's, though a seller does sometimes agree to pay 2% under their own arrangement with their agent. If there is a mortgage on the property, the bank's early-settlement charge is capped by the UAE Central Bank at 1% of the outstanding balance or AED 10,000, whichever is lower, before VAT.

Question 14

How do i buy a bank repossessed property in dubai?

Accepted Answer

When a borrower defaults, a lender in Dubai cannot simply take the property and sell it. Mortgages here are registered and enforced under Law No. (14) of 2008, and enforcement runs through the courts, which is why these sales reach the public as auctions rather than private deals. Properties are listed on official auction platforms with a reserve price, a registration step and a deposit required before you may bid. Those mechanics — the deposit, the bidding window, what happens if a lot does not sell — are set by the court and the platform running the sale, and they are not published as a single fee schedule, so read the terms of the specific auction you are entering. Once you win, the transfer goes through the Land Department like any other sale: 4% registration fee, the trustee office fee, and the cost of issuing the new title deed. Unpaid service charges cannot follow a unit through a transfer: the jointly owned property law bars disposing of a unit until they are paid, so at a court sale they are settled before title passes, and the auctioneer's published terms say the bidder does not bear the previous owner's charges. Buying a repossessed unit privately, ask for the service-charge clearance before you commit.

Question 15

How do i stop my property being repossessed in dubai?

Accepted Answer

Repossession in Dubai is a legal process, not something a bank does on its own. Mortgages are registered and enforced under Law No. (14) of 2008, and a lender seeking to enforce has to go through the courts, which takes time and follows defined steps. That time matters: owners in this position are usually told to speak to the lender first, and selling the property yourself before enforcement completes is generally still possible, with the outstanding loan settled out of the sale proceeds at transfer. What applies in your case depends on your loan agreement and how far the process has gone, and neither is something a website can read. Speak to your lender directly, and to Dubai Courts about the enforcement itself. If you want independent help, the Dubai Land Department's Real Estate Regulatory Agency can point you to the right channel.

Question 16

What makes a seller motivated in dubai property?

Accepted Answer

A motivated seller is someone for whom time matters more than squeezing out the last of the price, and the reasons are usually ordinary rather than dramatic: a job moving abroad, an instalment falling due on another purchase, a mortgage that has become uncomfortable, an inheritance being divided, or a portfolio being rebalanced. What they have in common is a deadline the seller did not choose. That is different from a listing described as urgent, which is often just wording. The signals worth anything are the ones you can check: how long the property has been on the market, whether the asking price has already been reduced, and how the asking price compares against recorded sales of similar units nearby. A seller with a real deadline will usually say what it is when asked directly.

Question 17

Can i sell my off plan flat before handover?

Accepted Answer

You can usually sell an off-plan property before handover, but not freely — it depends on what your sale and purchase agreement says and how much of the price you have paid. There is no statutory minimum percentage in Dubai law: each developer sets its own threshold and writes it into the contract, so the figure that applies to you is the one in your agreement rather than a general rule you can look up. Once you meet it, the sale runs through the developer rather than privately: you need a No Objection Certificate from them, and the contract is reassigned to the new buyer and re-registered on the interim register that Law No. (13) of 2008 established for property sold before completion. The developer will charge for the NOC and may charge an administration fee for the transfer itself.

Question 18

I still have a mortgage — can i sell?

Accepted Answer

A mortgage does not stop you selling. Mortgages in Dubai are registered against the property under Law No. (14) of 2008, and that registration has to be released before the title deed can move to the buyer — so the loan is settled as part of the transfer rather than beforehand. In practice you ask your bank for a liability letter stating what is outstanding, that figure is settled out of the sale proceeds on the day, and the bank releases its registered interest so the transfer can complete. If you are settling early, the UAE Central Bank caps the bank's early-settlement charge at 1% of the outstanding balance or AED 10,000, whichever is lower, before VAT. Exactly how your bank runs this, and what it will accept, is a matter for them — ask your lender before you agree a completion date.

Question 19

How much commission does the agent take and who pays it?

Accepted Answer

Agency commission in Dubai is a matter of contract, not a published rate. Brokers must be licensed and entered in the brokers register kept by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency under Bylaw No. (85) of 2006, and the sale is documented on RERA's standard contracts — Form A between seller and agent, Form B between buyer and agent, and Form F for the sale itself. What the commission is, and who pays it, is agreed in that paperwork. RERA's own Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide sets out how brokers must operate and does not publish a commission rate or a cap, so treat any figure quoted to you as the market's habit rather than a regulated price, and get it in writing before you sign. One rule is statutory: where a broker markets an off-plan project, the sale proceeds must go into the project's escrow account, and the broker may not take their commission out of that money first.

Question 20

How do i check if a developer is registered?

Accepted Answer

Dubai keeps an official list of who is allowed to sell property off-plan. Under Law No. (8) of 2007, the Land Department maintains a Register of Real Estate Developers, and no developer may engage in the development business unless they are recorded in it and licensed. The same law bars a developer from advertising or exhibiting units for sale before meeting its requirements. Individual projects are registered separately with the Real Estate Regulatory Agency, and failing to register a project is one of the grounds on which the regulator can act against a developer. So there are two things to check rather than one: that the developer is on the register, and that the specific project is registered with an escrow account attached. Both are held by the Land Department, and you can ask them directly rather than relying on the seller's word.

Question 21

What happens if my project gets cancelled, do i get my money back?

Accepted Answer

Cancelling a development project in Dubai is a regulated decision, not something a developer announces. The Real Estate Regulatory Agency may cancel a project on the basis of a reasoned technical report, and the grounds are set out in law: the developer failing to start construction despite holding every approval, committing an offence under the escrow law, being shown to have no intention of implementing the project, losing the land plot through its own breach, or the plot being substantially affected by government planning. Buyers' money in these projects sits in a project escrow account governed by Law No. (8) of 2007, which exists precisely so that it is not the developer's to spend freely. What you are owed and how it is returned depends on the cancellation decision itself and on where the project had got to, and that is determined through the regulator and the courts rather than by the developer. If your project has been cancelled, or you believe it is heading that way, take it to the Land Department.

Question 22

What happens if my developer delays handover?

Accepted Answer

A completion date in a sale agreement is a contractual promise, and what you can do about a missed one starts with what your own contract says about delay. Dubai law does give buyers one firm protection at the end of the process: once the project is complete and the completion certificate has been obtained, the developer may not refuse to hand over or register the unit in your name, provided you have met your own obligations under the sale agreement — and that holds even if you owe the developer money for something else. The unit and its amenities, parking included, must be registered in your name. Delays before that point are governed by your contract and, where the delay reflects something more serious, by the regulator's own powers over the project. If handover has passed and the developer will not complete, raise it with the Land Department.

Question 23

What documents do i need to sell my apartment?

Accepted Answer

What you need depends on whether the property is finished or still off-plan, and the two lists are not the same. For a completed property: the title deed, your passport and Emirates ID, the signed sale agreement with the buyer, and the developer's No Objection Certificate. If there is a mortgage on it, add the bank's liability letter setting out what is outstanding, because the registered mortgage has to be released before the title deed can move. For an off-plan property, the title deed is replaced by your registration on the interim register — the Oqood entry — and the developer's involvement is heavier, because the contract is reassigned through them rather than transferred at a trustee office. Your agent will use RERA's standard forms for the appointment and the sale itself. The exact bundle varies by developer, so ask yours early: the NOC is usually the step that sets the pace.

Question 24

How does an off plan assignment work?

Accepted Answer

An assignment is how an off-plan purchase changes hands before the building exists to transfer. Rather than moving a title deed, you are passing your contract with the developer to a new buyer, and the record that changes is the interim register that Law No. (13) of 2008 established for property sold before completion. In practice the developer sits in the middle of it: they must consent, they issue the No Objection Certificate, the new buyer signs a contract with them, and the interim register entry is reissued in the new buyer's name. Whether you are allowed to assign at all, and at what stage, comes from your own sale agreement rather than from a general rule. Expect the developer to charge for the NOC and possibly for the transfer itself, and expect them to want their own outstanding instalments settled first.

Question 25

How long does it take to sell a property in dubai?

Accepted Answer

There is no published timetable for a Dubai property sale, and the honest answer is that the sequence is short but the waiting is not evenly spread. Once buyer and seller sign, the steps are: agree the sale contract, obtain the developer's No Objection Certificate, and complete the transfer at a registration trustee office where the new title deed is issued. Two things set the pace. The first is the NOC — the developer controls when it is issued and will usually want service charges settled before releasing it. The second is finance: a cash buyer waits on nobody, while a buyer taking a mortgage waits on their bank's valuation and approval, and a seller with a mortgage of their own must have the bank ready to release it on the day. If you need a date to plan around, ask the developer how long their NOC takes and ask the banks involved for their own timelines.

Question 26

Can i sell my dubai property from abroad?

Accepted Answer

You do not have to be in the country to sell, but someone has to be able to sign for you, and the paperwork that gives them that authority has to be recognised here. A document signed outside the UAE is not automatically valid inside it: the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs operates an attestation service, and attestation is what certifies the authenticity of the signatures and seals on a document issued outside the country. In practice that means a document you sign abroad is handled where you are — typically before a notary, then through the local authorities and the UAE mission in that country — before it is recognised in Dubai. The requirements differ by country, and the UAE mission where you are is the authority on what yours needs. Once the authority is in place, the sale itself proceeds like any other: the same No Objection Certificate, the same trustee office, the same registration fees.

Question 27

Can i transfer my apartment to my son instead of selling it?

Accepted Answer

Transferring a property to someone as a gift is a registered Land Department procedure with its own eligibility rules, not a private arrangement between family members. The Land Department's gift registration service describes it as transferring ownership without compensation, and the recipients it names are first-degree relatives — its own list is mother, father, spouse and children — or a company. Siblings are not on that list, and neither is any other relative, so anyone outside it is not covered by the service as published. The service is also limited by the property itself: it applies provided the property is not restricted and is not granted land. Where the recipient is a company, the Land Department requires the company to be registered first, and an unregistered entity has to complete a company registration before the gift can go through. The page does not set out every condition attached to gifting into a company, so ask a Real Estate Registration Trustee centre what your own case needs rather than assuming.

Question 28

How much does it cost to gift a property in dubai?

Accepted Answer

Registering a gift carries its own Land Department fee, and the published figure is 0.125% of the property valuation with a minimum of AED 2,000 — a different rate from the one that applies to a sale. That is the transfer fee itself. The service page then lists the fees that sit on top of it: AED 250 for issuing the title deed certificate, a AED 10 knowledge fee and a AED 10 innovation fee, and a map fee where a map is needed — AED 250 for an apartment or villa, AED 225 for a unified map with Dubai Municipality, and AED 100 for land outside its jurisdiction. Separately there are the service partner fees charged at the trustee office, which the page sets at AED 4,000 plus VAT where the value is AED 2,000,000 or more, and AED 2,000 plus VAT where it is below that. Every figure here is the Land Department's own published number rather than a market estimate, and published fees change — check the service page before you budget against them.

Question 29

Do i need a valuation to gift my property?

Accepted Answer

The gift fee is a percentage of the property's valuation, so the valuation has to exist before the transfer can be registered. The Land Department's gift registration service states that a property evaluation request must be submitted at one of the Real Estate Trustee Centres before applying for registration, and the fee is calculated on that valuation rather than on a figure the two parties agree between themselves. The valuation is a paid service in its own right. For a residential apartment the Land Department publishes AED 4,000, plus a AED 10 knowledge fee and a AED 10 innovation fee, and a service partner fee of AED 230 plus VAT where the request is made at a centre. Other property types are priced separately — vacant land, land for a major project, hotel buildings and agricultural land each carry their own figure — so if your property is not a residential apartment, ask the trustee centre which band it falls into rather than assuming this one.

Question 30

What documents do i need to gift my property to a relative?

Accepted Answer

Because the reduced gift fee depends on the relationship, the Land Department asks you to prove it, and proof issued outside the UAE has to be recognised here before it counts. The gift registration service lists proof of relationship — a marriage certificate or a birth certificate — along with an Emirates ID for citizens and residents or a valid passport for non-residents, and a legal power of attorney where somebody is signing on your behalf. For UAE citizens the page names the marriage contract or the Family Book instead. Where the certificate was issued abroad, the page says it must be translated and attested by the UAE embassy in the issuing country and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in that country. That chain runs in the country that issued the document, not at a counter in Dubai, and it is usually the slowest part of the whole procedure — start it first. Requirements differ from country to country, and the UAE mission where the document was issued is the authority on what yours needs.

Question 31

My father passed away, how do i put his apartment in my name?

Accepted Answer

When an owner dies the property does not move at the Land Department first — it moves at a court, and only then at the Land Department. The registration service is Inheritance Title Transfer, and what it asks for is proof that the succession has already been settled elsewhere: a legal notification of inheritance, and an official letter from Dubai Courts, another UAE court or the Awqaf, addressed to the Land Department. Alongside those it asks for Emirates ID copies for every heir who is a citizen or resident, passports for heirs living abroad, and — where the property still carries a mortgage — a no-objection letter from the entity holding it. The Land Department's own fee is AED 1,000 per property, collected from the heirs, plus AED 250 for issuing the title deed, map fees where a map is needed, a AED 20 knowledge and innovation fee for each drawing, and AED 130 plus VAT in service partner fees. Who inherits, and in what shares, is not a question the Land Department answers on this page, and it is not one this service decides — that comes from the court that issues the notification.

Question 32

We own the flat together and want to split it, how does that work?

Accepted Answer

Two or more people who own a property together can register the end of that joint ownership, and the Land Department's service for it is the registration of the distribution of owned property among co-owners. It settles who owns what share; it is not the service for physically splitting one unit into several, which is a different procedure with different requirements. What this one asks for is an agreement between the owners, certified by an official competent entity and then certified by the Land Department, together with Emirates ID for every owner who is a citizen or resident and passports for owners living abroad. The fee is 1% of the value of the shares being separated in each property, plus AED 250 for issuing the title deed, map fees where a map is needed, and a AED 10 knowledge fee and AED 10 innovation fee for each drawing. The agreement is the part the Land Department does not write for you: it decides who ends up with what, and it has to be certified before the registration can proceed.

Question 33

Can i switch to a different unit with the same developer?

Accepted Answer

If you have bought from a developer and then agree with that developer to move to a different unit, there is a Land Department service for carrying the registration across rather than treating it as an unrelated purchase. It applies where there is an agreement between the developer and the purchaser to transfer the purchaser from one property to another in the same developer's projects — so it is a route inside one developer's own portfolio, and not a way to move to another company's project. The paperwork is substantial: an approval letter from the Legal Affairs Department, a details table covering both properties, the signed settlement agreement, the new sale and purchase agreement, identification, and the old title deeds. On fees the page lists 2% of the sale value from the seller and 2% from the purchaser, a AED 10 knowledge fee and a AED 10 innovation fee, and a AED 1,000 fee where a developer registers the transaction themselves through the Oqood portal for a provisional sale. On the money already paid the page is explicit: fees shall be charged in case of an increase in the price of the property transferred to, as the fees shall be charged for the price increase only. So moving to a dearer unit is charged on the difference rather than on the whole of the new price.

Question 34

The property is owned by a company — can i just buy the company?

Accepted Answer

Where a property is held by a company, the sale can be done by transferring the company's shares rather than the property itself, and the Land Department registers that as its own service. The fee structure has the same shape as an ordinary sale: 2% of the sale value from the seller and 2% from the purchaser as the registration fee, a AED 10 knowledge fee and a AED 10 innovation fee for each drawing, and AED 250 from the purchaser for issuing the certificate of title. Service partner fees at the trustee office are AED 4,000 plus VAT where the sale is AED 500,000 or more, and AED 2,000 plus VAT below that. What changes is the paperwork rather than the rate: the Land Department asks for the company's trade licence, its memorandum and articles of association, any amendments to them, and identification for the owners, and the exact list depends on whether the company is a sole establishment, a limited liability company, a joint stock company, a branch, a free-zone entity or a foreign company. Free-zone entities are asked additionally for a no-objection certificate for property purchases.

Question 35

How much can i borrow to buy a property in dubai?

Accepted Answer

The Central Bank sets a ceiling on what a lender may advance against a property, expressed as a share of the property's value rather than as an amount. For a UAE national buying a first home to live in, the maximum is 85% where the property is valued at AED 5 million or less, and 75% above that. For an expatriate buying a first home to live in it is 80% at AED 5 million or less, and 70% above it. That first-home category is limited by the regulation itself: each borrower can only claim one property under it. On a second or subsequent property, or one bought as an investment, the ceiling falls and stops depending on the value at all — 65% for a UAE national and 60% for an expatriate, regardless of what the property is worth. These are limits on what a lender is permitted to offer, not an entitlement to receive: a bank may lend less, or decline, on its own criteria.

Question 36

Can i get a mortgage on an off plan property?

Accepted Answer

Buying off plan changes what a lender is allowed to advance, and the Central Bank makes no exceptions to it. Where a property is being purchased off plan the maximum loan is 50% of the value, and unlike the ordinary limits this one does not vary: it applies regardless of purpose, value, or category of purchaser, so a UAE national buying a first home off plan and an expatriate buying an investment off plan meet the same ceiling. The regulation gives its own reason — the long-term nature of the development process and the higher level of risk to completion. What it means in practice is that half the value has to come from somewhere other than a mortgage, which makes an off-plan purchase a different financial shape from a completed one. It is a rule about what a bank may lend and nothing more; it is not a statement about any project, developer or building.

Question 37

How long can a dubai mortgage run, and is there an age limit?

Accepted Answer

Two more Central Bank rules shape a mortgage alongside the value ceiling. The first is the debt burden ratio: deductions from salary or regular income for all loans together — car and private housing loans, overdrafts and credit card facilities included — must not exceed 50% of gross salary and any regular income from a defined and specific source. Lenders are additionally required to stress test the loan at two to four percentage points above the current rate, and where the property is for investment they must deduct at least two months' rental income from the calculation to allow for empty periods. The second is the term: the maximum tenor of a mortgage loan is 25 years, and total financing is capped at eight years' annual income for a UAE national and seven years' for an expatriate. On age the regulation is explicit that it sets none — the maximum age at the last repayment is determined by the lender under its own risk management and lending policies. So an age limit quoted to you is that bank's policy, not a national rule.

Question 38

What does it cost to pay off my mortgage early?

Accepted Answer

There is a ceiling on what a bank may charge to settle a home loan early, and it is lower than most people expect. The Central Bank's schedule of maximum fees sets early settlement on a home loan at 1% of the outstanding balance or AED 10,000, whichever is less — so however large the balance, the charge stops at AED 10,000. Partial settlement carries the same cap. The same schedule caps several of the charges that surface when a mortgaged property is sold: issuing a no-objection certificate at AED 150, a liability letter at AED 85, a clearance letter at AED 95, and late payment on a home loan at AED 700. These are maximums a bank may charge rather than fees it must charge, and a figure quoted above one of them is worth asking about against the schedule it comes from.

Question 39

What does it cost to register a mortgage in dubai?

Accepted Answer

A mortgage over a Dubai property is registered with the Land Department, and the fee is charged on the loan rather than on the price you paid. For an ordinary mortgage the registration fee is 0.25% of the mortgage value, with AED 250 for issuing the title deed and a AED 10 knowledge fee and AED 10 innovation fee for each drawing. Service partner fees at the trustee office run from AED 4,000 to AED 5,000 plus VAT. Going through a trustee office, the Land Department asks for a letter from the mortgagee bank, three mortgage contracts certified by that bank and signed by both parties, an Emirates ID or a passport copy for non-residents, a no-objection e-certificate from the developer, and a power of attorney where one is being used. There is also a route where the bank registers electronically, which needs the developer's e-certificate through the Dubai REST app.

Question 40

How do i get the mortgage removed from my title deed?

Accepted Answer

Repaying a home loan does not by itself take the mortgage off the title — that is a separate Land Department registration, and it is inexpensive. Removing an ordinary mortgage costs AED 1,000, with AED 250 for issuing the new certificate of title and a AED 10 knowledge fee and AED 10 innovation fee for each drawing. Service partner fees are AED 300 plus VAT, far below what registering the mortgage cost in the first place. There are two routes. Through a registration office you bring a letter from the bank for the mortgage removal, and the owner's Emirates ID, which is shown for identification and not copied. There is also a route through the bank's own online mortgage system for ordinary mortgage removal, where the owner's Emirates ID is the only item listed — so this step does not necessarily need a visit to a trustee office at all.

Question 41

How much property do i need to buy to get a golden visa?

Accepted Answer

The published property-investment threshold is AED 2 million. ICP lists ownership of one or more UAE properties with that total value, including financing from an approved local bank. It also lists off-plan purchases totalling AED 2 million from an approved local real-estate company authorised by the competent local authority. Health insurance is required. GDRFA Dubai’s published criteria allow mortgaged property and require the qualifying property value, or the applicant’s share in joint property, to reach AED 2 million. Dubai Land Department’s own service description still asks for a bank letter proving AED 2 million paid; its terms ask for a bank no-objection letter showing the paid amount and remaining balance. These are separately published conditions, not one universal down-payment rule. Do not assume a mortgage disqualifies you, or that any financed or off-plan purchase qualifies automatically. Contact ICP for a federal application. For a Dubai application, contact GDRFA Dubai or Dubai Land Department to confirm the property, lender or developer and required evidence.

Question 42

How long does the property golden visa last?

Accepted Answer

The current ICP Golden Residency page gives real-estate investors a 10-year residence term. Dubai’s GDRFA investor service also specifies 10 years, extendable when the conditions continue to be met. Dubai Land Department describes its investor service as a renewable 10-year permit. These are the named services’ published terms, not a promise that an individual application will be approved. Contact ICP or GDRFA Dubai to confirm the term and renewal conditions for your application. An entry permit used to complete residence procedures is a different document from the residence permit itself.

Question 43

What do i need for the real estate investor entry permit?

Accepted Answer

ICP provides a real-estate investor entry-permit service to complete Golden Residency procedures. Its document list asks for a passport, a photograph and a land-registration letter confirming property ownership worth at least AED 2 million. It requires UAE health insurance, at least six months’ passport validity and property fully owned by the investor. That ownership wording must not be turned into a blanket ban on mortgages: ICP’s current Golden Residency guidance expressly includes financing through an approved local bank and qualifying off-plan purchases. Confirm the documents for your application with ICP. The entry-permit page lists AED 100 for the application, AED 100 for issuance and AED 100 for smart services: AED 300 for this step. This is not the total cost of obtaining residence; it does not include every later procedure or charge.

Question 44

Do i need a permit to renovate the property after i buy it?

Accepted Answer

Dubai Municipality publishes the procedure for building permits, and the first thing it settles is who applies. You do not. The procedure puts the request for a building permit on the consultant, and the inspection stages that follow on the consultant and the contractor together. Everything runs through one online system, Dubai BPS: the application arrives with all the required drawings and documents attached, the building card information filled in, and the permit fees paid. Government authorities with a say review it through that same window and upload the NOCs they require, after which the Municipality issues the permit and stamps all the drawings for the contractor or consultant to print. Changes to a property that already exists sit inside this process rather than outside it. The procedure names adjustments, additions and decor work directly, and says the inspection on those is done through the Municipality's Building Control Department alone, instead of the joint team of authorities that inspects a new building. Two silences in the procedure are worth knowing. It states no fee figure, so no amount is quoted here. And it never mentions an NOC from the master developer that built your community — the NOCs it describes are uploaded by government authorities. If your developer or owners association wants its own approval, that is a separate matter this procedure says nothing about, and the people to ask are the Municipality and the consultant who would file on your behalf.

Question 45

Can i do a small fit-out or decoration job without a permit?

Accepted Answer

Dubai has a lighter route for decoration works, often called a self-decor permit, and it is narrower than its reputation. The resolution that creates it applies to a structural unit, which it defines as an area of a building designated for commercial, professional, industrial or office use, or for providing consultations or services, and licensed as an independent business unit within that building. A home is not that, and nothing in the resolution extends it to a villa or a residential apartment. Where it does apply, decoration works in a unit larger than 100 square metres cannot start without a permit. The application and the plans are submitted by a contractor approved by the Municipality, through the Municipality's own electronic system, and the written consent of the unit's owner is required; a completion certificate is obtained the same way once the work is done. Two exemptions remove the permit: a unit of any size inside a trade centre, the resolution's term for a mall or commercial complex, and a unit of 100 square metres or less. What the exemption covers is the part that gets misread. It removes the paperwork, not the requirements. Exempt work must still be carried out by a Municipality-approved contractor, comply with Dubai's construction legislation, meet Civil Defence requirements, carry the owner's written consent, and stay inside the unit's boundaries without adding, removing, merging or separating built-up area. The Municipality says it audits decoration works including the exempt ones, and acts on violations. So no permit is not the same as no permission — and for a residence this route is not available at all.

Question 46

What happens if building work was done without a permit?

Accepted Answer

Dubai issued a new law on the quality and safety of buildings in February 2026, and it reaches a buyer as much as a builder, because its consequences attach to the building rather than only to whoever did the work. Its scope is deliberately wide: it applies to every building in the emirate, including those in special development zones and free zones such as the Dubai International Financial Centre, and it applies whether the building went up before or after the law took effect. The law sets the penalty range itself — a fine of not less than AED 100 and not more than AED 1,000,000, with the same violation repeated within two years doubling the fine, subject to a ceiling of AED 2,000,000. The fine is rarely the worst of it. On top of one, the competent entity may suspend the issuing or renewal of building permits for the owner of the building concerned until the violation is put right, or suspend or refuse any application relating to that building made to a government or private body — and the law names the attestation of tenancy contracts for units in that building among them, for a period set together with the Dubai Land Department. None of it displaces civil or criminal liability. For anyone buying, that is a due-diligence point rather than a technicality: unapproved work is not left behind with the previous owner. Two gaps should not be filled in by guesswork. Which specific acts count as violations, and the fine attached to each, are set by a separate resolution of the Chairman of the Executive Council, which is not part of the law. And the law comes into force sixty days after its publication in the Official Gazette, with owners, contractors and engineering firms given a year from then to comply.

Question 47

What can someone do on my behalf with a power of attorney?

Accepted Answer

A power of attorney is not one thing, and the difference decides whether it works at all. The federal civil law recognises an agency that is general, special, conditional, or postponed to a future date. What matters for property is the line it draws next: anything beyond managing and preserving an asset requires a special agency that specifies the type of act, and the law names sale and mortgage among those acts. So a document written in broad terms, giving authority over all your property matters, does not let someone sell for you. The law is explicit that an agency expressed in general terms, without saying what is intended, grants only acts of management. It even sets out what management covers: letting the property for a term of up to three years, preserving and maintaining it, collecting what is owed, paying debts. Selling is not in that list. A second point is often stated the wrong way round. A special agency for a specific type of act is valid even where the property itself is not specifically identified, the one exception being a gift, which does have to be specific. The requirement is that the POWER is named, not that a title deed number appears. Beyond that, an agency gives your agent authority only over the matters written into it and whatever those matters necessarily require, and the agent is not permitted to exceed the powers given. If you are having one drafted, the question is not how wide it can be made, but whether the specific act you need is named.

Question 48

How long is a power of attorney valid for selling property?

Accepted Answer

There is a widely repeated rule that a power of attorney used to sell property in Dubai expires after two years. We could not find it in the law. What the federal civil law says is simpler: an agency ends when the work it was given for is completed, when the term specified for the agency expires, or on the death or loss of legal capacity of either the person who gave it or the person who holds it. Duration is whatever the document itself sets; the law imposes no ceiling of its own. Nothing in Dubai's law on notaries public, its notary fee schedule, or its rules for digital notary services sets one either. That is not proof that no limit is applied in practice. A registration trustee or the Land Department may decline a document they consider too old, and if you are relying on an older power of attorney the sensible step is to confirm it will be accepted before you commit to a completion date. What it does mean is that we will not state a number that no published rule supports. The provision most owners should actually know is a different one. A power of attorney does not survive the person who gave it. If the owner dies, the authority ends at that moment, however recently the document was signed and whatever term it states, and the property then follows inheritance rather than the agent's instructions.

Question 49

How do i cancel a power of attorney?

Accepted Answer

You can normally cancel a power of attorney whenever you want. The federal civil law lets the person who gave it revoke or restrict the agent's authority at any time, and the agent's agreement is not required. There are two exceptions, and they are the ones worth knowing because they reverse the answer. If the agency involves the right of a third party, or if it was issued in the agent's own interest, it cannot be ended or narrowed without the consent of the person it was made for. That covers the case where a power of attorney was given as part of a deal rather than as a convenience. And even where you can revoke freely, you may owe compensation if you do it at an inappropriate time or without acceptable justification. Cancelling is also not the end of the job, and the law explains why. Where both your agent and the person they are dealing with are unaware that the authority has ended, the effects of a contract they sign can still fall on you or on your heirs. Telling people is not a formality; it is what closes the exposure. One further provision helps: if your agent had passed authority down to a substitute, revoking the main agency cancels every sub-agency under it automatically. The practical order is to revoke before a notary public, then make sure the agent, and anyone likely to deal with them over the property, actually knows.

Question 50

Can my agent sell my property to themselves?

Accepted Answer

The federal civil law addresses this directly. A person is not permitted to contract with themselves in the name of someone they represent, whether for their own account or for another person's, without the principal's authorisation. Applied to property, an agent holding your power of attorney cannot simply sell your property to themselves; the authority has to have been given. The same provision adds something usually left out, and it changes the picture: the principal may ratify the contract afterwards. So a sale made without that authority is not automatically beyond rescue, it is subject to your approval rather than valid on its own. Two related rules sit alongside it. Your agent may not use your property for their own benefit, and if they do they owe you compensation for the loss. And an agent cannot hand the job to a substitute unless you allowed it; where they do so without permission, they stay responsible for the substitute's acts as though they were their own. One thing this card will not tell you, because the law we read does not say it, is whether the same restriction automatically extends to a sale to your agent's spouse or close relatives. It is widely stated that it does. The provision here is about the agent contracting with themselves, and if that distinction matters to your situation it is a question for a notary public or a lawyer rather than something to assume.

Question 51

What do i actually own in my apartment and what is shared?

Accepted Answer

In a jointly owned building the law draws the line between your unit and the parts everyone shares, and it matters because the line decides who pays to fix what. Your unit runs to the base of the joists under the floor, and takes in the plaster and other ceilings, the internal area, the non-support internal walls and the walls surrounding the unit, the windows and glass, doors and frames, the lighting and the equipment and fixtures that serve the unit, the bathrooms, and the balconies and other ancillary parts allocated to you. It also takes in facilities attached or allocated to your unit such as a garden, a car park, a storage room or a watchman's room, and those count as yours even where they are not next to the unit, provided their area is not counted in the unit's net area. The shared side covers the structure — main supports, foundations, columns, structural walls, ceilings and joists, stairs and stairwells, facades and roofs — along with lifts, tanks, the main utility systems, and the pipes and wiring serving more than one unit. Two qualifications are worth knowing. Nearly all of this applies unless the site plan for your building says otherwise, so the site plan is the document that settles an argument. And a wall dividing your unit from your neighbour's is shared between you both. One rule catches sellers out: a car park allocated to a unit is treated as an integral part of it, cannot be sold separately, and a unit cannot be sold or disposed of without the car parks designated to it.

Question 52

How is my service charge amount calculated?

Accepted Answer

Your service charge is not a figure someone picks for your flat. The law sets how the share is derived: each owner pays a share of the annual service charges covering the management, operation, maintenance and repair of the common parts, and that share is calculated on the ratio of the area of your unit to the total area of the jointly owned property, using the method approved by the Land Department's director general. The area used is not the one in a brochure or a listing — the law says the calculation is based on the area of your unit as recorded in the property register. So the register entry, not the marketing material, drives your annual bill, and it is worth checking before you buy rather than after. A developer pays the same way on units it has not sold, and on sold units where the sale contract or reservation agreement makes the developer liable for the purchaser's charges. Two things you cannot do, and both are spelled out. You may not withhold payment of charges that RERA has approved because you disagree with them. And you may not give up your interest in the common parts in order to escape paying — declining to use the pool, the gym or the lifts does not reduce what you owe. If the amount itself is what you are disputing, that is a question about the approved budget, and the route runs through RERA rather than through non-payment.

Question 53

Who runs my building and what can the owners committee do?

Accepted Answer

Buyers often expect to join an owners association that votes on budgets and hires the managing agent. In Dubai that is not how it works, and the law that changed it repealed the earlier statute outright. Jointly owned property is sorted into three categories. In a major project the developer is responsible for managing, operating, maintaining and repairing the common parts. In a hotel project the developer must outsource that to a hotel project management company, and an owners committee exists only if that company asks for one — and it is expressly not authorised to take part in managing the project or its common parts. Everything else falls into a third category, where the common parts are managed by a specialised management company that RERA itself selects and contracts. Committee members are selected or appointed by RERA rather than elected by the owners. What the committee may do is a closed list. It verifies that the management entity is doing its job; reviews the annual budgets, makes recommendations on them and can request the property's financial reports; raises problems with the management entity or RERA; receives complaints from owners and occupants, and escalates them to RERA if the management entity has not dealt with them within fourteen days; reports structural defects and damage needing urgent repair; and, in that third category only, can ask RERA to replace the management company and advise on choosing a new one. It can also propose changes to the building management regulation, though RERA must approve them. Running the building is not on that list.

Question 54

Can the management company spend the reserve fund on running costs?

Accepted Answer

Service charges are not a general fund the manager may dip into. The law requires a service charges account to be opened for each jointly owned property, at a bank licensed in the emirate and recognised by RERA, and what is collected must be paid into it within seven working days. Money in that account is protected from the management entity's own creditors, so if the managing company gets into trouble the building's money is not available to them. What it may be spent on is a closed list: cleaning the common parts; security and safety; operating, maintaining, repairing and improving the common parts and keeping them in good condition; the building's insurance premiums; the audit of the accounts and budgets; the management company's fees at the amount and in the manner RERA determines; a developer's approved administrative expenses on major projects; RERA's own inspection and oversight costs; costs set out in the master community declaration and approved by RERA; and building the cash reserve. The reserve is the part worth understanding. It exists to cover emergencies and to replace equipment in the common parts, it must sit in an account separate from the service charges account, and it may not be spent on anything other than a critical emergency without RERA's approval first. So a manager using the reserve to plug an ordinary shortfall is not making a judgement call, it is doing something the law does not permit without RERA agreeing. The owners committee can ask for the property's financial reports, which is where a concerned owner starts.

Question 55

What happens if service charges are not paid?

Accepted Answer

Unpaid service charges attach to the property, and that is the fact a buyer and a seller both need. The management entity has a lien on every unit for the charges owed on it, and the law states plainly that a unit may not be disposed of unless those charges are paid. A sale does not move the problem on; it stops until the arrears are cleared. The enforcement route is set out. Where an owner does not pay, the management entity must ask for payment within thirty days of serving a written notice approved by RERA, and RERA decides how that notice is served. If the money is still unpaid the claim becomes enforceable by the execution judge at the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre, and where necessary that judge may order the unit sold at public auction to recover the charges. An owner who has defaulted also pays the court fees, costs and advocates' fees the judge awards. There is a protection running the other way, and it is worth knowing if pressure is being applied. A developer or management entity must not take action against an owner to stop them taking possession of or using their unit, or using the common parts and facilities, in order to force payment outside the procedures this law lays down. In other words the route above is the route, and being locked out of your own building is not part of it.

Question 56

Is there any distress in dubai hills?

Accepted Answer

People ask whether there is any distress in a particular area. The honest answer is that distress is not a feature of a place. On distress.ae it describes a seller's situation, and below-market stock reaches the market by three roads that can open at any address. The first is a bank enforcing a mortgage: under Dubai's mortgage law a lender that has served the required notice and obtained an order from the execution judge has the property sold at public auction. The second is a developer whose buyer has stopped paying an off-plan instalment: after the Land Department's notice procedure the developer may terminate the contract and re-sell the unit, or ask the Department to auction it. The third, and by far the most common, is an owner with a deadline they did not choose — a job abroad, a payment falling due elsewhere, a mortgage that no longer fits. None of these depends on the building or the district. A tower with no such sale this month may have one next month, and a district with several today may have none by the time you have read about it. So a list of distressed areas is not something anyone can honestly give; what is offered under that name is marketing. What can be checked for any place is what is actually for sale there today and what units there have sold for in the Land Department's records, which is the number an asking price has to be judged against. If nothing below market is listed in the area you want, that is a fact about today's shelf, not about the area.

Question 57

How do i know if a discount is real or just marketing?

Accepted Answer

A discount is only as real as the number it is measured against, and three different numbers get used. The weakest is the original launch price, OP: a resale can sit below OP and still above what comparable units sell for today. The next is a market value quoted by the seller or an agent, which is worth exactly what its source is worth. The one that can be checked is recorded sales. The Dubai Land Department publishes every registered transaction as open data — date, area, project, property type, size and amount — searchable and downloadable by anyone, so what units of similar size in the same building or project changed hands for in recent months is a matter of record, not opinion. Compare the asking price per square foot against those sales; that is the whole test. On distress.ae the badge on a listing is calculated from the prices themselves: the asking price against the market price the listing states, or against the developer's price for an off-plan resale. The percentage is always rounded down, never up, a gap under one percent gets no badge at all, and a listing whose market price cannot be supported is left without one. A claimed saving that cannot be traced to a recent recorded sale or a current price list is a headline, not a discount.

Question 58

What happens if i miss an off-plan instalment?

Accepted Answer

If you cannot make a payment under an off-plan contract in Dubai, the developer cannot simply keep your money and cancel. Article 11 of Law No. (13) of 2008, as replaced by Law No. (19) of 2020, fixes the sequence. The developer must first notify the Land Department, on the Department's own form, of what you have failed to do. The Department then serves you a written, dated notice giving thirty days to perform — in person, by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt, by email or another means it prescribes — and, where possible, mediates a settlement, which is attached to your contract as an addendum. Only if the thirty days pass with neither performance nor settlement does the Department issue the developer a document confirming the procedure was followed and stating the project's percentage of completion under RERA's standards. What the developer may then do depends on that percentage. Above 80% complete: keep the contract and claim the balance; ask the Department to sell the unit at public auction, with you liable for the costs; or terminate and keep up to 40% of the unit's price in the contract. Between 60% and 80%: terminate and keep up to 40%. Below 60%, with construction under way: terminate and keep up to 25%. Whatever exceeds the retained share must be refunded within one year of termination or within sixty days of the unit's resale, whichever comes first. If the developer never started work for reasons beyond its control, or RERA cancels the project, every payment must be refunded under the escrow law. The procedure is public order — a termination that skips it is void — and it does not remove your right to go to court or arbitration. The thirty-day window is when a settlement is still on the table; that is the moment to speak to the developer and the Department.

Question 59

How long does the bank have to give me before they sell my home?

Accepted Answer

A bank in Dubai cannot sell a mortgaged home on the day a payment is missed. Law No. (14) of 2008, the emirate's mortgage law, sets the sequence. When a debt is in default, or a condition requiring early repayment has been met, the lender may start foreclosure and forced-sale proceedings only after the borrower, or whoever is in possession of the property, has been served at least thirty days' notice through the Notary Public. If the debt is still unpaid when that period ends, the lender applies to the execution judge, who issues an attachment order so that the property can be sold at public auction under the Land Department's procedures. The borrower may ask the judge to postpone the auction once, for no more than sixty days, and the judge may grant it on being satisfied either that the debt can be repaid within that time or that the sale would cause the borrower gross damage. Otherwise the property is to be sold no later than thirty days after the period expires. One more provision of the same law matters to an owner in this position: the debt, with everything ancillary to it, may be repaid before its maturity date, so a sale you arrange yourself, settling the loan from the proceeds, remains open to you until the auction happens. Each of these steps runs on dates the law fixes; the lender and the court hold the actual dates in your case, and the lender is the first call.

Question 60

How do i bid at a dubai court property auction?

Accepted Answer

When a court in Dubai orders a property sold, the sale is run as a public auction by Emirates Auction on the court's assignment, and the terms a bidder actually meets are the ones that company publishes. You register an account, then lodge a deposit before you may bid: a manager's cheque for 20% of the property value payable to Emirates Auction, or a bank transfer to its account. Personal cheques are not accepted, and each property you bid on needs its own deposit. If you win, the balance plus fees must be paid within ten days of the bid's approval; miss that and the entire deposit is forfeited and the property goes back to auction. A highest bid cannot be withdrawn. Winning is not yet ownership: an offer at least 10% above the final price can still be submitted within ten days of the winner's payment, and the property is yours only when title is issued in your name under the court's orders and procedures. The property is sold as it stands, without the movable contents, and can be viewed only if it is vacant and the court has handed the keys to the auctioneer; otherwise you bid on the published details, and inspecting them is your own responsibility. The debtor, the judges, prosecutors and court staff involved, and their relatives to the second degree, may not bid. Two points from the same terms matter to a buyer of a repossessed unit: the bidder does not bear the previous owner's service charges at registration, and if a tenant is in place the buyer deals with the tenancy only after ownership, through a legal notice or the Rental Dispute Centre. Financing is at the bidder's own risk — the ten-day clock does not wait for a bank — and the auctioneer completes the transfer formalities, so no separate visit to a government office is needed.

Question 61

Can i sell my property if i owe more than it is worth?

Accepted Answer

If a property is worth less than the loan secured on it, you can still sell — but the gap has to be closed before the title can move, and Law No. (14) of 2008 is why. A mortgaged property may be sold, given away or otherwise disposed of only with the lender's approval, and only where whoever takes it agrees that the obligations under the mortgage contract pass to them; the contract may also make seller and buyer jointly liable for those obligations. Separately, the mortgage itself ends only on full repayment of the debt it secures — a part payment does not release it, and while it stands the property cannot transfer free of it. So the difference between the price and the settlement figure has to come from somewhere on the day: your own funds, or an arrangement your lender agrees to. The law does allow the debt, and everything ancillary to it, to be repaid before its maturity date, which is what makes a negotiated sale possible at all. One thing to weigh before deciding to do nothing: if the property is instead sold under enforcement and the proceeds fall short, the balance stays owed. What your lender will accept is theirs to decide, and it is the first conversation to have rather than the last.

Question 62

If the bank sells my property for less than the loan do i still owe the difference?

Accepted Answer

A forced sale does not automatically clear a mortgage debt. Dubai’s Law No. (14) of 2008 allows the lender to claim a balance when sale proceeds do not cover the debt. It also requires enforcement against the mortgaged property before other property; a contract cannot authorise the lender to take the property or sell it without the required legal procedure. The Central Bank’s Consumer Protection Standards require a warning that a residential-mortgage borrower may still owe money after repossession and sale, including applicable interest or profit and related costs. Only the lender and court file establish the actual outstanding amount. For a complaint about a licensed bank’s conduct, complain to the bank first. Sanadak’s published eligibility process requires 15 calendar days to have passed, with no written response or an unsatisfactory response. A matter being handled by a court may be rejected, and other eligibility rules apply. This complaint route does not itself cancel the debt or stop court enforcement.

Question 63

What does my bank have to do if i cannot pay my mortgage?

Accepted Answer

For mortgage payment difficulties, UAE banks must provide qualified debt counselling, consider alternative payment arrangements reasonably and offer help when payments first become irregular. So far as reasonably possible, they must discuss financial difficulty before collection or legal action. If arrears remain at 30 calendar days, the bank must contact the customer; beyond 60 calendar days it must issue written notice, followed by monthly updates while arrears persist. An agreed revised payment plan must be explained in writing within 10 complete business days; a rejected proposal needs a written explanation. Home or workplace visits require consent or a court order. Collection calls and visits are restricted to 9am–8pm. Disclosure to others is restricted, with exceptions for credit-information agencies, authorised collectors, legal requirements or the customer’s express consent. None of this requires the bank to accept a particular repayment proposal. To complain about your bank’s conduct, use its formal complaints process first. After 15 calendar days, Sanadak may consider escalation if there is no written response or the response is unsatisfactory, subject to its other eligibility rules. Matters already being handled by a court may be rejected. A complaint does not itself suspend enforcement or erase a debt.

Question 64

Can i keep the buyer's deposit if they pull out of the sale?

Accepted Answer

A deposit does not by itself buy either side the right to walk away, which is the opposite of what the market usually assumes. Under the Civil Transactions Law in force since 1 June 2026, paying earnest money when the contract is concluded indicates that the contract has become final and may not be withdrawn from — unless the agreement or custom provides otherwise. So the first question is never whether the deposit can be kept, but what the signed contract says about withdrawal. Where the parties did agree that the deposit is the penalty for withdrawing, the law makes it cut both ways: a buyer who walks away from a signed sale can lose the deposit they paid, and a seller who walks away can be required to return it and the same amount again. Neither follows automatically from a buyer or a seller failing to appear on the transfer date — it follows from what the contract says. Even an agreed figure is not the end of it. A court may reduce agreed compensation where the amount is shown to be excessive, or where the obligation was partly performed, and any agreement contrary to that rule is void — so a clause declaring the forfeiture final does not make it final. Where nothing was agreed, compensation is assessed at the damage actually sustained, and the first remedy is performance of the obligation rather than a payout. In Dubai there is a step before court: the Real Estate Regulatory Agency runs an amicable settlement service for disputes on contract (F), applied for through the Trakheesi system, where the department meets the parties to discuss the breach; only where no settlement is reached must the parties resort to the judicial authorities. What none of this can do is decide a particular case. Whether a deposit is forfeit turns on the words of the contract that was signed, and reading those words for you is a lawyer’s job, not a listing site’s.

Ask anything about Dubai property

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What it will and will not do

Answers it already has

What “OP” (Original Price) means

What “below OP” means, and when it is a real discount

What an escrow account is, and what it does not cover

What Oqood is

The 4% DLD transfer fee — who pays it

Trustee office and registration fees

What an NOC is and why a resale needs one

Title deed — what it is and how to check one is genuine

What “distressed” and “below market” mean on distress.ae

How a building's service charges get approved

Service charges — what they are and who pays them

What buying a property costs, item by item

What selling a property costs

Buying a repossessed property at auction

If your lender is moving to repossess

What makes a seller genuinely motivated

Selling an off-plan property before handover

Selling a property that still has a mortgage on it

What the agent's commission is, and who sets it

Checking a developer and project are registered

What happens if a development project is cancelled

If handover is late

The documents a seller needs

How an off-plan assignment works

How long a sale takes

Selling from outside the UAE

Who can receive a gifted property

What registering a gifted property costs

The valuation that sets the gift fee

Proving the relationship for a gifted property

Putting an inherited property into the heirs' names

Dividing a property owned with someone else

Moving your purchase to another unit with the same developer

Buying the company that owns the property

How much a bank may lend against a property

Borrowing against an off-plan property

The debt limit, the loan term and the age question

What a bank may charge to pay a mortgage off early

Registering a mortgage at the Land Department

Getting a repaid mortgage off the title deed

What property qualifies for a Golden Visa

How long a property Golden Visa lasts

The entry permit that comes before the residency

Who applies for the permit to change a property

Whether a small fit-out needs a permit

What building work done without approval costs

What a power of attorney lets someone do

How long a power of attorney lasts

Cancelling a power of attorney

Whether your agent can sell the property to themselves

What you own in a building and what is shared

How your share of the service charges is worked out

Who actually runs your building

Where your service charge money is allowed to go

What unpaid service charges cost

Where distressed property comes from, and why no area is “distressed”

A real discount or a marketing one — checking a “below market” price against the register

Missing an off-plan instalment — what the developer may keep, and what the Land Department does first

The notice a lender must serve before it can sell your home

Bidding at a court auction — registration, the deposit, paying the balance

Selling when the property is worth less than the loan

If a forced sale does not cover the loan

What a bank must do when you fall behind on payments

What happens to the deposit when a sale falls through

Where to go next