How to Sell Property in Dubai (Including as an Overseas Owner)

Stripped of marketing language, a Dubai sale is a linear process with a small number of fixed checkpoints. It starts with a realistic valuation, checked against recent comparable transactions rather than a single agent's asking-price opinion. Engaging a broker is meant to be documented on RERA's Form A listing agreement, which fixes the commission and the agent's authority to market the unit, not left as a verbal understanding.

Marketing follows: every advertisement from a licensed broker needs a valid Trakheesi permit number, checkable through DLD's Real Estate Ad Permit e-service. Once a buyer is found, the agreed terms go onto Form F, RERA's standard Memorandum of Understanding, fixing the price, deposit, transfer date, and which side carries which fee. Before registration, the seller obtains a No Objection Certificate from the developer or owners' association confirming the service-charge account is clear — the most common reason an NOC is delayed. Only then can both parties attend a Real Estate Registration Trustee office, one of 19 centres across Dubai, to complete registration and have a new Title Deed issued in the buyer's name (Dubai Land Department).

The Dubai Land Department's own published fee schedule for a standard sale splits its 4% transfer fee evenly — 2% to the buyer, 2% to the seller — alongside smaller fixed charges: AED 250 for Title Deed issuance, a AED 10 knowledge fee, a AED 10 innovation fee, and a trustee-office charge of roughly AED 4,000 plus 5% VAT for sales at or above AED 500,000, or AED 2,000 plus VAT below that (Dubai Land Department).

In practice, this 2%/2% split is rarely how Dubai deals settle. Current market convention overwhelmingly assigns the full 4% to the buyer, with the seller's nominal share passed across in the Form F MOU as standard practice rather than an exception. A seller should not assume their exposure is capped at 2% — the specific MOU, not the DLD schedule, fixes who actually pays.

Beyond the DLD fee, a seller typically covers the developer or owners' association NOC fee — commonly AED 500 to 5,000, set individually by each developer or community rather than by DLD — and their agent's commission, covered in more depth below.

An outstanding mortgage does not prevent a sale; it adds one clear extra step. The seller requests a liability letter from their lender confirming the exact settlement figure — commonly issued within five to seven working days and valid for only 15 to 30 days, so timing it against the transfer date matters. At the Trustee office, sale of a mortgaged property follows the Department's dedicated procedure: both parties attend together, the property is blocked pending settlement, and payment typically splits across three manager's cheques — one to the bank for the outstanding debt, one to the seller for the balance, one to the Department for its fee. Mortgage-release and registrar charges add roughly AED 1,000 to 1,600 on top of the transfer fee itself (Dubai Land Department).

One more figure worth knowing before instructing a bank: the Central Bank of the UAE is commonly reported to cap early-settlement fees at 1% of the outstanding balance or AED 10,000, whichever is lower; confirm the current cap with the Central Bank of the UAE or your bank before relying on it, and query any early-settlement charge larger than that against the loan balance.

A related, more recent change affects every overseas seller regardless of which route above they use. Reporting around the same circular describes a specific tightening: the manager's cheque for sale proceeds must now be issued in the name of the person on the Title Deed, not a power-of-attorney holder, even where that POA was court-attested. A representative can still sign documents and attend the Trustee office under a valid POA; what has changed is where the money goes. The practical consequence: an overseas owner without a UAE bank account in their own name should open one before a transfer date is agreed, since a mismatch between the Title Deed, passport, and receiving-account names is now, by report, a reason for a cheque to be rejected at settlement.

Nothing legally requires a Dubai seller to use a broker, but most do, and the commission is worth understanding rather than accepting at face value. Market-customary commission is 2% of the sale price plus 5% VAT, documented on RERA's Form A listing agreement — a market rate that RERA's forms structure and record, not a fee fixed by regulation, and negotiable between the parties before a listing goes live. Where a separate broker represents the buyer, that side typically pays its own 2% plus VAT under Form B, rather than the seller's commission covering both sides.

For an overseas seller specifically, a broker's value goes beyond marketing reach: confirming the buyer is genuinely qualified, coordinating the NOC and Trustee-office steps with a representative or via the remote system, and being locally contactable when a document needs an original signature at short notice. Before instructing anyone, confirm their Broker Registration Number or the brokerage's Office Registration Number through the Dubai REST app — an agent unable to produce one is not a discount, it is an unlicensed transaction.

There is no dedicated personal capital gains tax in the UAE. Cabinet Decision No. (49) of 2023 excludes a natural person's real estate investment income, including gains from sale, from Corporate Tax scope, provided the activity is not conducted through, or does not require, a business licence; whether this applies without qualification to a large-scale or frequently-transacting individual seller, rather than a single personal sale, is less well established, so confirm your own position with a tax adviser before relying on it. This says nothing about the seller's tax position at home — a separate question for a tax adviser there, not a Dubai-side one.

Most delays trace back to the same handful of points covered above, arriving later than expected. A service-charge balance the seller didn't know about holds up the NOC. A liability letter expires because the transfer date slipped past its validity window, forcing a second bank request. A power of attorney is rejected because its wording doesn't expressly name the specific transaction, a requirement Circular No. (29/R/2025) is reported to enforce more strictly than before. An overseas seller arrives at completion without a UAE bank account in their own name, unable to receive the manager's cheque under the current payment rule. None of this is exotic — each is a known, checkable item, which is why confirming them early, not in the week of a planned transfer, actually keeps a sale on schedule.