Before you buy · Commercial property

Can foreigners buy commercial property in Dubai?

Yes: in Dubai’s freehold areas a foreigner can own an office, a shop or a warehouse outright, in their own name or through a company registered in a free zone in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah, and the title deed is the same as for a flat. What changes is the money: 5% VAT on the price and the rent in most cases, a tenant who needs a trade licence, shorter bank loans, and a service charge that comes off the rent. Here is each rule with its source, and what an office earns once all of it is counted.

Oston Property Investment · Last reviewed 6 October 2026

We are a Dubai brokerage, based in Business Bay, so one cost a buyer may pay is ours: a broker’s commission. The example below shows what it does to the yield. We took every rule from the authority that sets it and say so where we rely on anyone else; every market figure carries the name of whoever published it and when. We read them on 5 and 6 October 2026. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.

The short version

Yes, in the freehold areas. Dubai’s registration law lets foreigners own property in the areas the Ruler has designated, outright or for up to 99 years, and it makes no difference between a flat, an office, a shop and a warehouse. The Dubai Land Department’s (DLD) Property Status Enquiry shows whether a unit is freehold.
Buy a unit registered for commercial use. The DLD’s rule is short: units listed as residential can’t be used for commercial activities.
Your own name, or a company’s. You need no company. If you use one, the DLD’s registration page names companies registered in a free zone in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah; a company registered only abroad does not qualify. Rent an individual earns from property held privately is outside UAE corporate tax; a company’s falls within it.
VAT is 5% on the price and on the rent when the seller or landlord is registered for VAT, or must be; registering is how you can get the 5% on the price back. If you live abroad, the AED 375,000 registration threshold does not apply: you must register once you let the unit, unless your tenant is a UAE business registered for VAT, which then accounts for it.
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is a separate system, with its own law, registry and leases, and a transfer fee of 5% instead of the DLD’s 4%.
The Central Bank’s mortgage rules cover homes only; for commercial property each bank sets its own terms. Mashreq’s key facts statement covers commercial property, with up to 65% for non-residents and at most 15 years.
What it earns: our example office, AED 2 million in Business Bay at a published average rent, yields 7.55% gross and about 5.35% net once a month’s vacancy, management, the service charge and the DLD’s fees are counted, before any broker’s commission; 5.10% if you cannot get the VAT on the price back.

Yes, in the freehold areas, with the same ownership rights as a flat

Dubai’s 2006 registration law reserves ownership to UAE and GCC nationals and their companies, but lets foreigners, “in certain areas determined by the Ruler”, own property outright or hold it for up to 99 years (usufruct or leasehold). The regulation that designates those areas lists them by land plot on the DLD’s maps, and neither text distinguishes homes from offices, shops or warehouses: both speak of “Real Property”.

Commercial units are ordinary units in Dubai’s property law. The jointly owned property law, Dubai’s strata law, defines a unit as “A flat, shop, office, warehouse, floor, whole or part of a land plot, town house, or independent house”, intended “for residential, commercial, industrial, or any other use”, and it applies in free zones too. An office in a tower is such a unit: you own it, and share the building’s common parts with the other owners.

How to check a unit. The regulation’s maps are not published with it on the legislation portal, so check the unit itself: the DLD’s Property Status Enquiry, on dubailand.gov.ae, explains a freehold title as “Purchase is allowed for all Nationalities” and a non-freehold one as “Purchase is allowed for GCC Nationalities”.

And check its use. “Units listed as residential can’t be used for commercial activities,” the DLD says, and a unit’s use cannot be changed while it is let: “the property must be empty”. An apartment let as an office is not an office. Buy a unit the DLD lists as commercial, and get that in writing before you sign.

Off-plan or finished. Most office sales in Dubai are off-plan: 65% of deals in the first half of 2026, according to Cavendish Maxwell. The escrow law covers projects for “residential or commercial multiple storey buildings”, so the escrow rules that protect an off-plan flat also cover an off-plan office: see What can go wrong when you buy off-plan. But Mashreq’s key facts statement mentions off-plan loans only for homes, Emirates Islamic lends on completed commercial units, and an office earns nothing until it is handed over and fitted out.

The DIFC and the free zones

The DIFC has its own property system. Its Real Property Law “applies to all Real Property within the jurisdiction of the DIFC”, and “Dubai Real Estate Laws do not apply to Real Property governed by this Law unless expressly stated in such law that it has application in the DIFC”. It has its own Registrar and register, and its own fee: “The Freehold Transfer Fee is calculated at the rate of five percent (5%)” of the price, or of the Registrar’s market value if that is higher, paid to the Registrar by the buyer, or by the developer on an off-plan sale. The DLD’s 4% does not apply there. Leases follow the DIFC’s own leasing law, and a lease of more than six months must be registered with the DIFC’s Registrar, not in Ejari. For the Golden Visa, see below.

A free zone licence is not a title deed. Free zones license companies and lease them space; that alone says nothing about whether you can own a unit there. Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) is both: a DMCC free zone, and a mixed-use master community whose declaration provides for its registration with the Land Department under the jointly owned property law. The Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), by contrast, offers its land “for short- and long-term leases”. Before you buy anywhere in a free zone, check the unit in the Property Status Enquiry, and ask the free zone which businesses may rent it.

In your own name, or through a company

In your own name. Nothing in the law requires a company. The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) itself describes “A foreign individual that owns property in the UAE in his or her personal capacity”, and the DLD registers a sale with a valid passport from buyers who do not live in the UAE, as for a flat.

Through a company. The DLD’s FAQ says property in the freehold areas may be registered in the name of a company owned by non-UAE citizens “provided that such companies are registered in one of Dubai free zones or any of the other emirates as per memorandums of understanding concluded thereof”. Its registration page is narrower: “Foreign companies (must be registered in a free zones in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah)”. The company first registers with the DLD at a registration trustee office, for AED 4,000 plus VAT if it has foreign shareholders, on top of the trustee’s fee for the sale itself. A free zone company also needs a no-objection certificate from its free zone “to own a property”, and the DLD’s list of documents asks for the owner’s passport, residence permit and UAE ID: if you live abroad, ask the trustee office before you set up a company to buy.

What the choice does to tax.

An individual: rent from property held privately is “Real Estate Investment” income, which UAE corporate tax leaves out whatever the amount, as long as you do not let it through a trade licence and do not need one to let it. The FTA’s guide lists “commercial property, showrooms, warehouses and storage rooms” among the property this covers.
A company: under the standard regime, corporate tax is 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it. A free zone company that qualifies for the free zone regime is taxed differently: rent from free zone businesses for commercial property in a free zone can be taxed at 0%, rent from anyone else at 9% with no AED 375,000 band, and too much rent from units outside the free zones can cost it the regime. Ask a UAE tax adviser before you buy through a company.
A company from abroad, registered in a free zone as the DLD requires, falls within UAE corporate tax on its rent: income from immovable property in the UAE, including from a lease, gives it a “nexus” here, under a 2025 Cabinet resolution that replaced a 2023 one.
At home: your own country may tax the rent and the gain, as for a flat: see the guides for buyers from Germany, from the UK, from Ireland, from the Netherlands and as a US citizen.

The transfer and its fees

A finished office changes hands like a flat: seller and buyer sign the DLD’s sale contract, Form F, and the sale is registered at a registration trustee office. If you cannot be there, someone can sign for you under a power of attorney.

The fees are about the same as for a flat: the DLD’s 4% of the price, which Dubai’s fee resolution splits equally between seller and buyer unless agreed otherwise, the small fees, and the trustee’s AED 4,000 plus VAT (AED 2,000 plus VAT below AED 500,000); see What buying property in Dubai costs on top of the price. Agree in Form F who pays what, and whether the price includes VAT. One exception: the same resolution lists a fee for registering the sale of a warehouse, AED 10 per square metre of its plot and at least AED 10,000. The DLD’s sale page does not mention it, so ask the trustee office which applies. In the DIFC, the fee is the DIFC’s own 5%.

VAT on commercial property: 5% on the price and the rent

The FTA puts it in one sentence: “All supplies of commercial properties are subject to VAT at 5%, and this includes all buildings or parts thereof that are not residential buildings.” That covers a sale, new or resale, and the rent, whenever the seller or landlord is registered for VAT or must be. A home is different: its resale is exempt, and its first sale or lease within three years of completion is zero-rated.

On the price. A seller who is registered for VAT, or must be, adds 5% to the price: AED 100,000 on an AED 2 million office. Ask whether the price you are quoted includes it. One question for your adviser if you buy a let unit with its tenant: the VAT law does not treat as a supply the transfer of a business, or an independent part of one, to a taxable person who carries it on.

Getting it back. “An owner of a commercial building is generally able to recover VAT in respect of expenses related to the supply of the commercial building,” the FTA says. In practice, that means being registered for VAT.

On the rent. A registered owner adds 5% to the rent, collects it from the tenant and pays it to the FTA, so agree in the lease that the rent is plus VAT.

Registering. The FTA says “the owner of any building that is not residential” must register once supplies pass AED 375,000 in twelve months. Registration is voluntary once taxable supplies or taxable expenses pass AED 187,500, and buying the office can be enough. If you live abroad, “this threshold is not applicable to foreign businesses”. The VAT law requires a person with no residence in the UAE to register when they make supplies there “and no other Person obligated to pay the Due Tax for such supplies is in the State”. If your tenant is a business resident in the UAE and registered for VAT, the VAT regulation makes the tenant account for the tax instead, as long as you do not charge it. With any other tenant, you must register, from your first rent, and the same rule applies when you sell. Which applies decides whether you can recover the AED 100,000: settle it with a UAE tax adviser before you sign.

Mortgages for an office or a shop, including for non-residents

The Central Bank’s mortgage rules, with their loan-to-value limits, define a mortgage loan as “A loan that is collateralized against a residential property”. For commercial property, each bank decides. What banks publish:

Mashreq: key facts statement of 19 June 2026, for “residential & commercial properties in Dubai and Abu Dhabi”; its percentages are not split by property type, and its web page on home loans for non-residents says up to 50%. Commercial Bank of Dubai’s commercial property finance is for businesses registered in the UAE. The banks’ own pages, read on 5 and 6 October 2026. Rates, fees and approval depend on the bank; get the terms in writing for the unit.
Bank	Lends up to	Years, commercial	Non-residents
Mashreq	80% for expats in the UAE, 85% for UAE nationals	15	Up to 65%
Dubai Islamic Bank	70%, office and retail space	15	Not stated for this product
Emirates Islamic	70% and AED 25 million, completed units in Dubai and Abu Dhabi	15	Not stated

A loan adds the DLD’s mortgage fee and the bank’s own fees: see What a mortgage adds.

Letting it: the tenant, the lease, the rules

Outside the DIFC, Dubai’s rent law applies to offices and shops. It covers property leased “for residential purposes or for practising any commercial activity, trade, profession, or other lawful activity”, and every lease must be registered with RERA, the DLD’s regulator, in Ejari.

Your tenant needs a trade licence. The DLD says a commercial lease can be registered in Ejari only “under authority’s name with a valid License”, and that an individual cannot register one. That is about the tenant: you can still own and let the unit as a private person. In practice, your tenant is a company or a licensed business.

The lease. Its length is agreed between you and the tenant; Ejari registers terms “From less than a year to a maximum of 10 years”. Bayut, the portal, describes one year as “the standard duration of a commercial property lease in Dubai”, with a deposit of 5% of the contract.

Rent increases are capped, in free zones and the DIFC too. The 2013 decree on rent increases applies to “landlords, whether private or public entities, in the Emirate of Dubai, including those in special development zones and free zones such as Dubai International Financial Centre”. At renewal, it allows an increase only where the rent is more than 10% below the average in the DLD’s rental index, by 5% to 20% depending on the gap, and either side must announce a change at least 90 days before the lease ends, unless agreed otherwise. The DLD’s rental index has a commercial calculator. If you buy a let unit, you buy its rent: ask for the lease and compare the rent with the index.

When you can end it. Before the lease runs out, you can seek eviction if the tenant has not paid within 30 days of a notice to pay, and on a ground that applies only to business premises: the tenant “leaves it unoccupied without a valid reason for a period of thirty (30) consecutive days or ninety (90) non-consecutive days in a year”. Both apply unless agreed otherwise. At the end of a lease, you may seek eviction only to demolish, with permits; for major works, confirmed by a Dubai Municipality report; to use the unit yourself or for a first-degree relative, if you own no other suitable property, and you may then not let it to anyone else for three years; or to sell it. You must give twelve months’ notice through a notary public or registered post.

The fit-out. A shell-and-core office comes “without fixtures and furnishings” (Bayut), so the tenant fits it out first. If you give a new tenant rent-free months for the fit-out, each one costs you a twelfth of the year’s rent.

From gross to net rental yield: one office, every assumption shown

The service charge comes first. Outside the DIFC, you pay the building’s service charge on your unit’s area as recorded in the property register, and a management company may not charge anything RERA has not approved. The DLD’s Service Charge Index shows the approved rate: search by the title deed number, or by project, usage (such as offices) and year.

Illustration on round figures. Sourced: the rent, Engel & Völkers’ Business Bay office average for 2026 to May (Property Monitor data), and the DLD’s fees, with the 4% counted in full, as when the contract puts it on you. Assumed: the price, close to Cavendish Maxwell’s Dubai average of AED 2,012 per sq ft in the first half of 2026; one month empty, more than the 6.1% office vacancy JLL reported for Dubai in the second quarter; management; and the service charge. No broker is included: with 2% plus VAT, the net yield is 5.25%, or 5.01% if the VAT stays a cost. If you are not registered for VAT, any VAT on the management fee is a cost too. Replace each assumption with the unit’s real figures.
AED 2 million office, 1,000 sq ft, Business Bay	AED
Price, AED 2,000 per sq ft (assumed)	2,000,000
DLD fee 4%, small fees, trustee	84,780
Total cost	2,084,780
VAT 5% on the price, if you cannot get it back	100,000
Rent a year, AED 151 per sq ft	151,000
One month empty a year	−12,583
Management, 5% of the rent collected	−6,921
Service charge, AED 20 per sq ft	−20,000
Net income a year	111,496
Gross yield: rent ÷ price	7.55%
Net yield: net income ÷ total cost	5.35%
Net yield if the VAT on the price stays a cost	5.10%

Published averages disagree, so test your own rent. The same office at other rents:

The same AED 2 million office and assumptions in every row; only the rent changes. This tests the rent, not the yield of an office in JLT.
If the rent were, per sq ft a year	Net yield
AED 135, the JLT average to May 2026 (Engel & Völkers)	4.68%
AED 151, the Business Bay average to May 2026 (same)	5.35%
AED 189, the Dubai average, first half of 2026 (Cavendish Maxwell)	6.94%

A rental guarantee does not change this arithmetic; if its cost is in the price, you pay for it there: see What a guaranteed return is actually worth.

Using it for your own company

“All businesses in the UAE must have a physical address to operate,” the UAE government’s portal says, and for a mainland licence the “Office and warehouse rental agreement must be provided”; “In Dubai, the agreement must be registered with Ejari”. As a commercial Ejari must be in the name of a licensed tenant, an office you own in your own name is normally let to your company under a registered lease. Whether the licensing authority accepts a company’s own title deed instead, we did not find published; ask before you rely on it. If the office is let, you can take it back for your own use only at the end of the lease, on the terms above; the law speaks of the owner’s own use, so ask a lawyer whether use by your company counts.

The Golden Visa with an office

GDRFA Dubai, the emirate’s residency authority, describes the property route as “Owning a property or a group of properties within UAE (mortgaged property is acceptable, and includes all types of properties)”, worth at least AED 2 million and certified by a property status certificate from the DLD. No official page we found excludes commercial units. Applications still go through the centres the DLD accredits; under an agreement announced on 11 April 2026, the service is moving into GDRFA Dubai’s system, and no date has been published.

Ask in writing before you buy for the visa in two cases. In the DIFC: Al Tarish, which runs one of those centres, writes that DIFC title deeds are not accepted there. Through a company: the federal authority, ICP, asks for property “registered in the investor’s name”. What counts and what it costs: see Getting a Golden Visa through Dubai property.

Claims you will meet, checked

“As per the property law in the UAE, freehold commercial property in Dubai must be owned under the company’s name.” No law says so. The DLD registers sales to buyers on a valid passport, and the FTA writes about foreign individuals who own UAE property “in his or her personal capacity”.
“Rental returns range from 7% to 10% on commercial properties.” No source is given, and no word on whether that is gross or net. Read as gross, it fits our example, where 7.55% gross is 5.35% net.
“For commercial properties, leases range from five to ten years.” The length is whatever you agree: Ejari registers up to ten years, and Bayut’s renting guide calls one year standard.
“Lenders may finance between 50% and 75% of the property value,” or “up to 80%”. Neither names a bank or says whether a non-resident qualifies. Mashreq’s key facts statement gives up to 80% for expats living in the UAE and 65% for non-residents, without splitting by property type; the two Islamic banks publish up to 70% without saying for whom.

Before you buy: eight checks

Freehold: the Property Status Enquiry says “Purchase is allowed for all Nationalities”.
Use: the DLD lists the unit as commercial, in writing.
DLD or DIFC: which register, and so which fee, 4% or 5%, and which lease rules.
VAT: whether the seller charges 5%, whether the price includes it, and whether you must or can register.
Service charge: the approved rate in the DLD’s Service Charge Index, times the registered area, and proof from the seller that it is paid.
The tenant: a licensed business, the lease registered in Ejari, its term and its rent against the rental index, the deposit, the fit-out and any rent-free months.
The loan: the bank’s terms in writing for this unit, including for non-residents.
Name or company: the tax in the UAE and at home, the DLD’s documents for a company, and the Golden Visa.

Questions and answers

Can foreigners buy commercial property in Dubai?

Yes, in the freehold areas the Ruler has designated: outright, or on a lease of up to 99 years. Dubai’s registration law makes no difference between a flat, an office, a shop and a warehouse. Check a unit in the Land Department’s Property Status Enquiry, which explains a freehold title as “Purchase is allowed for all Nationalities”, and buy a unit registered for commercial use: units listed as residential can’t be used for commercial activities.

Do I need a company to buy an office in Dubai?

No. A foreigner can own an office in their own name. If you use a company, the Land Department’s registration page names companies registered in a free zone in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah, so a company registered only abroad does not qualify, and its list of documents asks for the owner’s residence permit and UAE ID. For tax, an individual’s rent from property held privately is outside UAE corporate tax; a company’s falls within it.

Is there VAT on buying commercial property in Dubai?

Usually: 5% on the price when the seller is registered for VAT or must be, and 5% on the rent when the landlord is. A buyer who registers for VAT and lets the unit can generally recover the VAT on the price. Homes are different: a resale is exempt, and a developer’s first sale within three years of completion is zero-rated.

Do I have to register for VAT to let an office in Dubai if I live abroad?

Possibly, and earlier than a resident would: the AED 375,000 threshold does not apply to foreign businesses. As a non-resident landlord, you must register once you let the unit, unless your tenant is a UAE business registered for VAT, which then accounts for the tax instead, as long as you do not charge it. Registering is also how you recover the VAT on the price, so settle it with a UAE tax adviser before you sign.

Can non-residents get a mortgage for commercial property in Dubai?

Some banks lend for it, on their own terms: the Central Bank’s mortgage rules cover only residential property. Mashreq’s key facts statement of June 2026 covers residential and commercial property, with up to 65% for non-residents and at most 15 years for commercial property. Get the terms in writing for the unit.

How is buying an office in the DIFC different?

The DIFC has its own property law, registry and leasing rules, and Dubai’s real estate laws apply there only where they say so. Its transfer fee is 5% of the price, or of the Registrar’s market value if that is higher, instead of the Land Department’s 4%. If you want the Golden Visa, ask first: one of the centres that take applications writes that DIFC title deeds are not accepted there.

Does commercial property count for the Golden Visa in Dubai?

GDRFA Dubai’s page for the property route says it “includes all types of properties”, mortgaged ones too, for a total value of at least AED 2 million, and no official page we found excludes offices or shops. Ask in writing first if the office is in the DIFC or owned by a company: one of the centres that take applications does not accept DIFC title deeds, and the federal authority, ICP, asks for property “registered in the investor’s name”.

Is rent from an office in Dubai taxed?

For an individual who owns it privately, the rent is real estate investment income, which UAE corporate tax leaves out, as long as the letting does not need a trade licence. A company pays 9% on taxable income above AED 375,000 under the standard regime; a free zone company may be taxed differently. A landlord who is registered for VAT, or must be, adds 5% to the rent, and your home country may tax the rent as well.

How are service charges for offices set in Dubai?

Outside the DIFC, RERA approves each building’s service charges, and you pay your share on your unit’s area as recorded in the property register. A management company may not charge anything RERA has not approved. The Land Department’s Service Charge Index shows the approved rate, by title deed number or by project, usage and year.

Related guides

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