What buying property in Dubai costs on top of the price

We are a Dubai brokerage, so one cost on this page is ours: commission. We show it like every other cost, with what the rules say and what the market usually charges. Every amount comes from the authority or the company that charges it, or is our sum of their fees; we read them all on 5 October 2026.

The short version

• The Dubai Land Department (DLD) charges 4% of the price to register a sale. The law splits it equally between seller and buyer unless the contract says otherwise. Budget for all of it until your contract says otherwise.
• On a finished property, add AED 560 to AED 580 in smaller DLD fees and the registration trustee’s fee: AED 4,000 plus VAT, or AED 2,000 plus VAT below AED 500,000. On a flat at AED 2 million bought for cash, that makes AED 84,780 if the contract puts the 4% and the trustee’s fee on you.
• A broker you hired is paid what you agreed, plus VAT. On a resale, brokerages usually quote 2% of the price. With it, our AED 2 million example comes to AED 126,780, or 6.3% of the price.
• Off-plan, you pay the 4% through the developer, which must register your purchase within 90 days of signing, plus AED 20 or AED 40 in small fees; then AED 540 when the title deed is issued. The developer may add only administrative costs the DLD has approved.
• A mortgage adds 0.25% of the loan plus AED 290 at the DLD, perhaps a second trustee’s fee, the bank’s fees (at Mashreq, 1.05% of the loan, a pre-approval fee and a valuation) and insurance. The Central Bank caps the fee for repaying early at 1% of what you owe or AED 10,000, whichever is less, plus VAT; on a fixed rate, the bank may also charge its cost of breaking it.
• Every year: the service charge, at the rate RERA approved for your building, times your unit’s area. The DEWA bill, with the municipality’s housing fee and sewerage fee on it, goes to whoever holds the account: your tenant, if you let.
• Selling costs the seller’s half of the 4% unless agreed otherwise, a no-objection certificate, a broker if you hired one and, with a mortgage, its release and the bank’s fee. Corporate tax leaves out an individual’s gain on property held privately, not through a company or a licence; your home country may tax it.
• A home’s price carries no VAT: a resale is exempt and a developer’s first sale is zero-rated. The price and the rent of an office or a shop carry 5%.

Buying a finished property

The DLD’s fee: 4% of the price. Dubai’s fee resolution charges “4% of the value of the sale contract” to register a sale. “Unless agreed otherwise”, it says, the fee “will be shared equally by the seller and purchaser”, and the DLD’s service page lists 2% for each. Brokerages describe the practice as the buyer often paying all of it. So the sale contract decides: Form F, the DLD’s standard contract between seller and buyer, often called the MOU. Until you have read yours, budget for the whole 4%.

The smaller fees: AED 560 to AED 580. For a villa or an apartment, the DLD lists AED 250 for the title deed and AED 250 for the map, and a knowledge fee and an innovation fee of AED 10 each. Its Arabic page charges those two “for each fee”, which its English page leaves out. The DLD prints no total. If the 4% counts as one fee, the total is AED 560; if the seller’s and the buyer’s 2% count separately, it is AED 580, the figure brokerage sites quote. Budget AED 580.

The registration trustee: AED 4,000 plus VAT. A finished property changes hands at a registration trustee, an office that registers sales for the DLD. Its own fee comes on top of the DLD’s: AED 4,000 plus VAT (AED 4,200) if the price is AED 500,000 or more, AED 2,000 plus VAT below that. The DLD’s page does not say who pays it, so agree it in Form F.

The broker: what you agreed, plus VAT. In the DLD’s words, “the broker’s commission is determined according to the agreement”, and where the agreement says nothing, “the prevailing custom is adopted”. The broker is paid once the sale is registered, unless the brokerage contract says otherwise. A buyer’s contract with a broker is the DLD’s Form B, a seller’s is Form A. No law sets a rate; on a resale, brokerages usually quote 2% of the price, plus VAT at 5% if the brokerage is registered for VAT. Some also charge a fixed “sales progression” fee, AED 7,500 at Allsopp & Allsopp and at Betterhomes: it is their own charge, due only if your contract with them says so.

If you live in the UAE, two things are open to you. The DLD’s sale service in the Dubai government’s Dubai Now app charges AED 1,000 plus VAT instead of the trustee’s fee (AED 500 plus VAT below AED 500,000), with AED 30 each in knowledge and innovation fees; it is only for holders of a UAE identity card, and only for apartments, offices and townhouses in freehold areas that are free of any mortgage or restriction. And the DLD’s first-time buyer scheme lets residents pay the DLD’s fees in interest-free instalments on certain credit cards, for a home below AED 5 million.

Buying from abroad. You can sign with a valid passport, or give someone a power of attorney: the guides for buyers from Germany, from the UK, from Ireland, from the Netherlands and as a US citizen explain how. The DLD accepts a manager’s cheque among the ways to pay at the trustee. If your money is not in dirhams, the exchange margin is a cost too: on AED 2 million, each percentage point of spread is AED 20,000 (see Source of funds).

The deposit you pay when you sign Form F is part of the price, not a cost; what is common, and what happens to it if either side does not complete, is under Form F in the glossary. If you are buying for the Golden Visa, its fees come on top: see Getting a Golden Visa through Dubai property.

Buying off-plan

You pay the 4% through the developer. The developer must register your purchase in the DLD’s interim register within 90 days of signing, through the DLD’s Oqood portal, which is why the registration and its fee are often called “the Oqood” (see Oqood). In a notice to developers, the DLD says they register the sale “after the buyer would have submitted the required fees (4% of the property’s value)”, and that who pays the 4% is “based on the agreement concluded between the seller and the buyer”. The seller here is the developer. If a developer offers to pay part or all of the 4%, make sure your sale and purchase agreement (SPA) says so.

The small fees: AED 20 or AED 40. The DLD charges 2% to the seller and 2% to the purchaser, and a knowledge fee and an innovation fee of AED 10 each, which its Arabic page charges “for each fee”: AED 40 if each half of the 4% counts.

The developer’s fees: only those the DLD approves. The DLD charges the developer AED 1,000 to register your sale. Beyond that, the law lets a developer charge on a sale, a resale or any other disposition only “those administrative costs which are approved by the Department”. Its implementing bylaw adds that a developer may not charge purchasers “any amounts, other than those approved by the DLD, in return for any legal disposition of their Real Property Units”. Ask for every fee in writing before you sign.

When the title deed is issued: AED 540. AED 250 for the deed and AED 250 for the map, each with its AED 10 knowledge and AED 10 innovation fee. The 4% is not charged again if it was paid at registration.

What it adds up to. On an off-plan unit at AED 2 million: AED 80,000 plus AED 20 or AED 40 within the first 90 days; AED 540 when the title deed is issued; then the deposit and connection for electricity and water (AED 2,155 for a flat, AED 2,000 of it refunded only when you sell) and the service charge. Off-plan, the developer usually pays the broker’s commission: ask your broker to confirm in writing that you pay none.

Then the running costs start, with the service charge from completion or handover as your contract says, and in some cases earlier: see What can go wrong when you buy off-plan in Dubai. What else comes on top of a payment plan is in Off-plan payment plans in Dubai.

What a mortgage adds

On a loan of AED 1 million against an AED 2 million flat: AED 2,790 at the DLD, and at Mashreq AED 1,050 for pre-approval, AED 10,500 for processing and AED 2,625 for the valuation. That is AED 16,965 before any second trustee’s fee and insurance.

The second trustee’s fee may be waived. The DLD’s page for buying a property whose seller still has a mortgage says the trustee charges nothing for the buyer’s mortgage if it is registered on the day of the sale, and AED 4,000 plus VAT if it is registered the next day. Ask the trustee office whether that applies to your purchase.

Who pays the DLD’s mortgage fee. Unless agreed otherwise, Dubai’s fee resolution puts it on the party the right passes to, which is the bank. Your loan offer may put it on you.

The Central Bank caps some fees, not all. Its fee table for home loans caps the fee for repaying early, the bank’s letters and the late-payment fee (at most AED 700). It sets no cap on the processing fee or the valuation, so compare those between banks. On a fixed rate, the Central Bank’s mortgage regulation also lets the bank charge its “actual cost (to break fixed loans)”. Banks must tell you whether you can repay early and which fees then apply: ask each one for its key facts statement, the summary of a loan’s costs.

You may choose the insurer. Where insurance is a required part of the loan, the bank must tell you its cost in writing and let you choose from at least three insurers it approves.

How much you can borrow. The Central Bank caps loans on property bought off-plan at 50% of its value. Banks may lend buyers who live abroad less than residents: HSBC lends them up to 60% of the value. More is under Mortgage in the glossary.

When you get the keys

Electricity and water. DEWA asks for a deposit of AED 2,000 for a flat or AED 4,000 for a villa, which an owner gets back only when the property is sold, and AED 125 to connect (AED 300 for large meters), plus AED 30 in fees. If you let, your tenant opens the account, with the lease’s Ejari number.

District cooling. Where the building has it, the cooling company may charge a one-time connection charge, an activation fee and a deposit. Dubai’s regulator, the RSB, caps the activation fee at AED 200 and the deposit at eight months of capacity charges; connection charges are approved for each provider.

Insurance. The building’s insurance is part of the service charge. Insuring your contents is your choice.

Every year you own it

The service charge is the one to check before you buy. It is calculated on your unit’s area as recorded in the property register, at the rate that RERA, the DLD’s regulator, approved for the building. At AED 10 per sq ft, a 1,000 sq ft flat pays AED 10,000 a year: a round number to show the sum, not a typical rate. A management company may not collect “any amounts whatsoever” without RERA’s approval, and the approved rates for existing buildings are in the DLD’s Service Charge Index. For a building not yet finished, the figure you are quoted is an estimate, not an approved rate. An unpaid charge blocks a sale: “A Unit may not be disposed of unless these charges are paid”. More on the service charge and a rental yield: Guaranteed rental returns.

If you let, your tenant pays the DEWA bill, with the housing fee and the sewerage fee on it: unless the lease says otherwise, a tenant pays the government’s fees for using the property. The service charge stays yours.

District cooling is billed by the cooling company. Empower, for example, lists AED 750 per refrigeration ton a year and AED 0.568 per ton-hour of cooling used. The RSB caps the consumption charge at AED 0.643 per ton-hour, including the fuel surcharge, and the billing fee at AED 30 a month. Ask whether the building’s service charge already includes the capacity charge.

Letting it out

A long let. Every lease must be registered, in the DLD’s Ejari system: AED 177.75 through the Dubai REST app or the DLD’s website, AED 220 at a trustee centre. A home let for more than six months, or to a tenant with an Emirates ID, is exempt from VAT. For an individual, rent from a lease registered in Ejari is real estate investment income, which corporate tax leaves out. A broker who finds the tenant, or a company that manages the letting, is paid what you agree.

An office or a shop is different: its rent carries VAT at 5%, and you may have to register for VAT in the UAE; if you live abroad, see the registration rule below.

A holiday home. Letting to visitors needs a permit from Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET): AED 370 for a studio or a one-bedroom home and AED 300 for each further bedroom, at most AED 1,270. Under the 2020 bylaw, a permit is valid for a year and can be renewed. Guests pay the Tourism Dirham, AED 15 per occupied room per night in a deluxe holiday home and AED 10 in a standard one, which the holiday home collects and pays over by the 16th of the following month. Before you buy for this, ask whether the building allows it (see Holiday home in the glossary).

Tax on a holiday home is different. The FTA treats a holiday home let under a DET permit in your own name as a business conducted through a licence. For an individual, resident or not, corporate tax applies only once business turnover passes AED 1 million in a calendar year. For VAT, the exemption for homes covers leases of more than six months and tenants with an Emirates ID, and a holiday home run like a serviced apartment may not count as a home at all. If you do not live in the UAE, there is no registration threshold to stay under: the VAT law requires a person without a residence in the UAE to register when they make supplies there and no one else in the UAE must pay the tax. If an operator lets the home for you, who holds the permit changes the answers; ask a tax adviser before you start.

And at home, your country may tax the rent, or in the Netherlands the property itself: see the guides for buyers from Germany, from the UK, from Ireland, from the Netherlands and as a US citizen.

Selling

The no-objection certificate. Off-plan, the DLD puts it plainly: “Resale is possible after obtaining a No Objection Certificate from the developer.” For a finished property in a freehold area, the DLD’s sale page asks for an electronic NOC, requested through the Dubai REST app; the DLD’s 2017 guide for investors says its purpose is to show that the seller has paid all service charges. For ready units whose service charges are invoiced through Mollak, the DLD runs an e-NOC service that takes three to five working days. Ask the trustee office what your unit needs. The law allows developers only administrative costs the DLD has approved; we found no published list of them. What two developers publish for a resale before completion:

• Dubai Properties: AED 5,000 in administration fees and AED 500 for a pre-NOC, once at least 40% of the price is paid and the pre-title deed is registered.
• Ellington: AED 5,250 to process the NOC and the new SPA, once at least 30% of the price is paid (50% and the next instalment for ten named projects).

For a finished property, the DLD’s 2017 guide gave AED 500.

With a mortgage, your bank is paid first. If you still owe the bank, part of the buyer’s money pays off your loan. The DLD first registers the sale of a mortgaged property, and completes it once your bank’s release letter arrives.

Tax on the gain. In the UAE, a gain an individual makes on property held privately, not through a company or a licence, is real estate investment income, which corporate tax leaves out; the FTA’s guide gives the sale of a home as an example. If you hold the property through a company, or let it under a holiday-home permit in your own name, ask a tax adviser before you sell. Your home country may tax the gain, though the Netherlands, under today’s rules, has no separate tax on it: see the guides for buyers from Germany, from the UK, from Ireland, from the Netherlands and as a US citizen.

Claims you will meet, checked

• Budget 7% to 10% on top. On our AED 2 million flat, the costs on top of the price come to 4.2% for a cash buyer without a broker, and 7.2% with an AED 1 million loan and a broker at 2% plus VAT. Off-plan, with the broker paid by the developer, about 4%.
• The 4% is the buyer’s fee. By law it is shared equally unless agreed otherwise. In practice the buyer often pays it all, which is why your contract decides.
• Title deed fees of AED 520. That reads the DLD’s English page literally. Its Arabic page charges the AED 10 knowledge and innovation fees on each fee: AED 540 for the title deed after an off-plan purchase, AED 560 to AED 580 on a sale.
• Mortgage registration at 1% of the loan. The DLD charges 0.25% of the loan, plus AED 290 on a finished property. A fee of 1% is a bank’s processing fee.
• An Oqood fee of AED 5,000 plus VAT. The Oqood fee is the DLD’s 4%, with AED 20 or AED 40 in small fees. AED 5,000 plus VAT is the trustee’s fee for registering a mortgage on an off-plan unit.
• A NOC for AED 500 to AED 5,000. We found no official fee or range. For a resale before completion, two developers publish more: AED 5,500 at Dubai Properties and AED 5,250 at Ellington, paperwork included.
• A year’s service charge before the keys. A developer or management company may not keep you from taking possession of your unit to force you to pay service charges outside the law’s procedures, and may charge only what RERA has approved.
• A refundable DEWA deposit. For an owner, it comes back only when the property is sold.
• No tax on rent or on a sale. In the UAE, that holds for an individual’s long lets registered in Ejari and a private sale. A holiday home under your own DET permit is a business, taxed above AED 1 million of turnover a year, and your home country may tax both.

Before you sign: five checks

Questions and answers

Related guides

• How off-plan payment plans work in Dubai
• What can go wrong when you buy off-plan in Dubai
• What a guaranteed return is actually worth
• Proving where your money came from
• Dubai property terms, explained
• Buying property in Dubai from Germany
• Buying property in Dubai from the UK
• Buying property in Dubai from Ireland
• Buying property in Dubai from the Netherlands
• Buying property in Dubai as a US citizen
• Property scams in Dubai: how they work, and the checks that stop them