Not as a matter of law, but the payment rails effectively require one. The Dubai Land Department accepts mortgage registration fees through e-payment, the Sadad Dubai platform, Noqodi, or a manager's cheque drawn in favour of the Land Department — and a manager's cheque is an instrument only a UAE bank can issue. Beyond registration, the account is what you use for service charges, DEWA and district-cooling deposits, mortgage servicing, and collecting rent from tenants under a registered lease.
The alternative — settling in cash — creates a reporting event rather than a shortcut. The Ministry of Economy obliges licensed real estate brokers and agents to submit a Real Estate Activity Report to the Financial Intelligence Unit through the goAML platform where a freehold sale or purchase involves single or multiple cash transactions of AED 55,000 or more for the whole or part of the property value, where payment is made in virtual assets, or where the funds were converted from or to virtual assets at any point. Brokers must also keep the underlying records for at least five years. None of that makes a cash purchase unlawful; it does mean it will be documented, reported and revisited.
For the ownership question that sits underneath all of this — which areas a foreign buyer can hold freehold and where only leasehold or usufruct is available — start with the freehold and leasehold ownership guide, and use the Legal, Tax and Ownership hub as the map for the wider cluster.
Whatever the individual bank's list says. The list itself, and any minimum balance, are commercial terms each bank sets for itself, and anyone quoting you a universal UAE document list or a universal minimum deposit is describing one bank's policy, not a national rule. The disclosure duty most often waved at banks on this point — the requirement of "clear, transparent and consistent disclosure regarding the documentary requirements for the opening of a Customer Bank Account" — belongs to the SME Market Conduct Regulation (C 1/2021), which by its own scope provision applies to banks and finance companies in providing financial products and services to small and medium-sized enterprises. It is not an entitlement a non-resident individual can invoke over a personal account, and this guide does not present it as one. The individual-customer analogues sit in the Consumer Protection Standards, and they are narrower but real. Clause 5.1.2.1(f) requires a licensed financial institution to inform a consumer of the requirements and procedures to open and operate a bank account, and to disclose all fees that would be applied. Clause 2.1.2.3 requires it to disclose whether the account type needs an initial deposit and a minimum balance, and to warn you of the consequence of not maintaining that balance, including any fee. What those clauses fix is the disclosure, not the level: the size of the minimum balance and the contents of the document list remain each bank's commercial choice, but you are entitled to be told both, in terms, before you commit.
What the Central Bank does prescribe is the depth of the check. Its Guidance for Licensed Financial Institutions on Customer Due Diligence/Know Your Customer and Record-Keeping, in force from 7 November 2025, is explicit about non-residents:
- A bank may review more than a single identity document when onboarding a non-resident customer, and should understand which identification documents are legally valid in that customer's jurisdiction.
- Where the bank is unfamiliar with a foreign document, it can require a notarised or apostilled copy, or a copy certified by an embassy official.
- For non-resident companies with complex ownership structures, the ownership documents of the first layer should be notarised, and the remaining layers should have complete incorporation documents including ultimate beneficial owner information.
- Where the account is opened remotely, without the customer or an authorised representative physically present, the bank should use non-documentary verification sources as part of enhanced due diligence.
The guidance also separates two things investors routinely conflate. Source of funds is the direct origin of the money funding the account and moving through it — a salary, or the proceeds of a property sale. Source of wealth is what generated your total net worth, such as an inheritance or a business disposal. Verification requirements rise with risk: a customer statement about employment may satisfy a low-risk file, while a higher-risk file attracts a demand for bank or brokerage statements, housing deeds or court rulings.
The guidance lists the red flags that stall applications, and they are worth reading as a checklist of what not to submit. Generic descriptions such as "investment" or "self-funding" with no supporting documentation; a newly formed entity with no trading history funding an account with a large sum; funding from a third party with no apparent connection to the customer; ownership structures with multiple layers and no clear rationale. Enhanced due diligence is mandatory, not discretionary, for politically exposed persons with high-risk factors and for customers from high-risk countries.
The figure the market quotes is borrowed from a regulation written for a different customer, and the rule that does govern your account is both shorter and easy to miss. Clause 3.20 of the SME Market Conduct Regulation (C 1/2021) says licensed financial institutions "should seek to have appropriate systems in place to ensure the opening of a Customer Bank Account can be completed within 3 business days" where the institution has assessed the applicant as low money-laundering and terrorist-financing risk and can demonstrate it is satisfied with standard customer due diligence documentation. That is a real provision, accurately quoted — but the regulation's own scope provision applies it to banks and finance companies licensed by the Central Bank in the provision of financial products and services to SMEs, and the same subsection speaks of "SME account-opening requests". A non-resident individual opening a personal account is simply not within it. Three business days is therefore not the number that applies to you — a shorter one does, and it sits in a different instrument.
Two further provisions in that same SME subsection are worth reading, because they show what a hold on incoming money looks like when a regulator writes one down. Clause 3.22 confirms that opening an account does not oblige the bank to permit any transaction until all financial-crime due diligence, including sanctions screening, is complete. Clause 3.23 permits the bank to receive funds for account opening but makes the hold mandatory rather than optional: the funds "are to be blocked until the requirements for opening Bank Accounts are fulfilled, including those relating to Financial Crime Compliance", and the clause adds that customer consent must be obtained in such cases. Neither clause governs a personal account, so neither hands a non-resident individual a right or a protection — but between them they frame the question to put to a relationship manager before you move a deposit: on what terms will money transferred ahead of clearance be held, and what releases it.
The instrument that does address an individual retail customer is the Consumer Protection Standards (N 1158/2021), which form part of the Consumer Protection Regulation (C 8/2020) and are, in the Central Bank's own words, mandatory and enforceable in the same manner as the Regulation. Clause 5.1.2.1(b) provides that "Accounts must be opened within 2 complete business days from the date of application". The Regulation's scope provision applies it and the Standards to licensed financial institutions in the provision of financial products and services "to Consumers that are Natural Persons and Sole Proprietorships", and Article 1 defines a consumer as any natural person or sole proprietor who obtains or may prospectively obtain financial services or products to satisfy a personal need. Neither provision carries a residency qualification, so a non-resident individual opening a personal account is inside the Standards.
Read the exception alongside the rule, because on a non-resident file the exception is the likely case rather than the remote one. Clause 5.1.2.1(b) excepts a licensed financial institution acting in accordance with the UAE's Financial Crime Compliance requirements, and where other valid circumstances require additional time it obliges the bank to explain the delay to you and to document the reason for it. The clause expressly contemplates the account being opened and the number issued to a low-risk consumer while transactions stay limited until the missing documentation is resolved — which is why an account number and a usable balance are not the same milestone. Two complete business days is the standard the Central Bank sets, not a completion date you can safely underwrite a purchase against.
What the Standards do give you is a floor and a remedy. Clause 5.1.2.1(f) requires the bank to inform you of the requirements and procedures to open and operate the account and to disclose all fees that would be applied. The clause stops there: it says nothing about how long a document request may run, and our own view — that a request list with no stated end point sits uneasily beside a duty to state the requirements up front — is a reading of the standard rather than anything the standard says, so do not put it to a bank as a rule. Under clause 5.1.2.1(d), a refusal must be notified to you in writing immediately, the specific reason must be documented internally for the Central Bank's review, and the notice must tell you that you may file a complaint with the Central Bank. Ask the bank for its own service standard in writing as well, hold it to the two-day standard where no compliance exception is in play, and still carry slack in the transaction timetable.
No — and this is the single most commonly misapplied fact in the Dubai finance market. The Regulations Regarding Mortgage Loans define a mortgage loan, at Article (1), as "a loan that is collateralized against a residential property granted for the purpose of constructing, purchasing or renovating a house for owner occupier or investment purposes". The introduction to the same regulations reinforces the point, describing a distinction "between loans to owner occupiers of residential property and investors in residential property". An office floor, a retail unit, a warehouse or a staff-accommodation block is not within that definition, so the Article (3) ceilings are not the constraint. Bank credit policy is.
The absence of a cap is not the absence of a pattern, and the two should not be confused for one another. In practice banks in this market advance between 50% and 65% of value on commercial property — a deposit of 35% to 50% — with the asset, the strength of the tenant and the lease, and the individual lender deciding where inside that band a deal lands. That is market practice: what lenders actually allow, stated on our own reading of the market, not a figure drawn from the Rulebook or any published source. Nothing entitles a borrower to the top of it and nothing stops a lender going below the bottom of it. Treat it as the shape of the market you are borrowing into, size a budget on it, and then get your own advance rate in writing from the lenders you approach.
For completeness, here is what Article (3) does set where it applies, as amended by Board Resolution 31/2/2020:
| Borrower and purpose (residential property) | Maximum LTV |
|---|---|
| UAE national — first house / owner occupier, value AED 5 million or less | 85% |
| UAE national — first house / owner occupier, value above AED 5 million | 75% |
| UAE national — second and subsequent house or investment property | 65% |
| Expatriate — first house / owner occupier, value less than AED 5 million | 80% |
| Expatriate — first house / owner occupier, value more than AED 5 million | 70% |
| Expatriate — second and subsequent house or investment property | 60% |
| Any category — property purchased off plan | 50% |
Per Mitchell's guidance as a RERA-licensed broker (BRN 68593), the off-plan 50% above is measured against the original purchase price rather than the current market value while the project is under construction. Once handover is imminent, roughly the final six to eight weeks, lenders may instead lend against market value, because completion is close enough to treat the unit as ready.
Note what the regulation does not do: it splits borrowers into UAE nationals and expatriates, and creates no separate non-resident band. Where a bank offers a non-resident less than the regulated ceiling, it is exercising a discretion the regulation expressly preserves — "nothing in these Regulations prevent mortgage loan providers from adopting more conservative limits in relation to granting mortgage loans where deemed appropriate". That is why quoted non-resident terms differ so widely between lenders, and why comparison across two or three banks is worth more than any published average.
Article (3) also caps the tenor of a residential mortgage loan at 25 years, caps total financing at seven years' annual income for expatriates and eight for UAE nationals, requires repayments at least quarterly, restricts deferred-principal (interest-only) structures to investment loans and to no more than five years from first drawdown, and requires the lender to take a first-class mortgage in its own name over the financed property. On a commercial facility, every one of those is a negotiation rather than a floor.
Two questions come up in almost every non-resident commercial enquiry. Neither has an answer published for a non-resident borrower, and this guide says so rather than filling the space with a number you might underwrite against.
What term will a bank give on a commercial facility? There is no regulated ceiling to reason from. The 25-year cap in Article (3) is written for residential mortgage loans, so on a commercial facility it is neither a limit nor a benchmark — it simply does not apply. Individual lenders do publish something, and it is worth reading precisely. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank's commercial property finance page advertises "Up to 10 years of flexible loan terms", "Up to AED 10M for purchase of property" and "Up to AED 2M of equity re-finance". Its own framing is the purchase of completed commercial property in the UAE for self-use or business purposes, though its eligibility list reaches further than that, as the next question shows. Read the eligibility line alongside the headline: the page offers those terms "For UAE registered businesses & Individual borrowers (UAE Nationals & Expats)", says nothing about a borrower resident outside the UAE, and closes with "Credit at sole discretion of the bank and on submission of acceptable documentation". Treat it as one bank's advertised ceiling for a resident applicant, not as a term available to you. Beyond that page, the published material is broker and lender marketing that contradicts itself by a wide margin and attributes no figure to a policy document. Of the other bank routes, Mashreq's commercial-loan route resolves to the bank's general loans hub, which lists personal and home-loan products only and does not mention commercial lending at all, and bankofbarodauae.ae is not reachable as at August 2026. No non-resident commercial tenor is quoted here, because none appears in any published lender material. Ask two or three lenders for a written indicative term sheet and compare the terms on paper rather than against a market average that does not exist.
Will a bank fund an off-plan commercial unit for a non-resident? Separate the machinery from the appetite, because the machinery is fully public and the appetite only partly. The machinery plainly exists: the Dubai Land Department publishes a service for registering a sale accompanied by an initial mortgage on the provisional (Oqood) register, with its own fee line of AED 5,000 plus VAT, so a mortgage over an unbuilt unit is a registrable thing. On the appetite, one lender does say something in print — ADCB's eligible-property list runs "office/office buildings, shops, retail outlets, industrial properties, warehouses, under construction warehouse (Abu Dhabi & Dubai)", which is a bank stating publicly that an under-construction asset of one specific type, in two named emirates, can be financed. That is also the outer edge of what is published. Which banks currently write off-plan commercial paper for a borrower resident outside the UAE, at what stage of construction they release funds, and on what advance rate, appears on no published lender page. Broker pages do quote construction-completion triggers and deposit percentages, but they are written about residential off-plan and are not attributed to any lender's own policy, so none of it is carried across here. Get the answer from the lender in writing before you sign an SPA that assumes debt, and note that CBUAE's 50% off-plan cap is a residential rule — it gives you no protection or entitlement on a commercial unit.
The practical consequence of both gaps is the same: on a commercial deal, the financing terms are the thing you negotiate, not the thing you look up. Build your programme around a signed term sheet, not an assumption. For background on how commercial facilities are structured in this market, see the article on commercial mortgages in Dubai; for the residential comparison that the regulations actually govern, see residential mortgages in Dubai.
It applies if you borrow in your own name. Article (7)(a) of the Regulations Regarding Bank Loans and Other Services Offered to Individual Customers provides that deductions from salary or regular income for all types of loans extended by banks and finance companies together "must not exceed 50% fifty percent of his gross salary, and any regular income from a defined and specific source at any time". The clarification issued with it obliges every lender to carry out due diligence on an applicant's existing liabilities and income sources so that total instalments, including credit-card payments, stay within that 50%.
Three mechanics inside the mortgage regulations change the arithmetic:
- Lenders must stress test the loan at two to four percentage points above the current interest rate, depending on where rates sit in the cycle. Where an introductory rate applies, the test uses the rate that takes effect afterwards.
- Where the property is held for investment, the lender must deduct at least two months' rental income from the DBR calculation, to allow for void periods.
- Where the repayment schedule extends beyond expected retirement age, the balance outstanding at that point must still be serviceable at a DBR of 50% of post-retirement income.
If a UAE company borrows in its own name, the Debt Burden Ratio is not the test; the bank's corporate credit assessment is. That is one of the real financing consequences of the ownership-structure decision, and it points in the opposite direction to the tax consequence described below.
Yes, and the two effects pull against each other, which is why the decision needs a lender and a tax adviser in the same conversation.
On the financing side, borrowing personally brings you inside the 50% Debt Burden Ratio and inside the individual-customer lending regulations generally; borrowing through a UAE entity takes you outside them and into corporate credit underwriting, where the asset's income and the entity's covenant carry the file.
On the tax side, the direction reverses. The UAE's General Interest Deduction Limitation Rule caps deductible net interest expenditure at the higher of 30% of adjusted EBITDA or a de minimis threshold of AED 12,000,000 for a twelve-month tax period, per Article (8) of Ministerial Decision No. 126 of 2023 and the Federal Tax Authority's Interest Deduction Limitation Rules guide. Crucially, that rule does not apply to natural persons undertaking a business or business activity in the UAE — but the FTA guide is explicit that where a natural person conducts business through a juridical person such as a one-person company, the company is subject to it. A single-asset holding company with a large facility and modest EBITDA is exactly the profile the cap was designed to catch.
Work the structuring question through the UAE corporate tax and VAT guide before you commit, and if residency is part of the objective, read the Golden Visa through property investment guide — the qualifying route has its own ownership and financing conditions that a mortgage can cut across.
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Take a completed office floor in a freehold commercial building at a purchase price of AED 4,000,000, with the bank agreeing an advance of AED 2,000,000. The advance rate here is an arithmetic assumption for the illustration, not a market or regulated figure — as set out above, there is no CBUAE cap on commercial lending. Every fee below is from the Dubai Land Department's own published service schedules.
| Item | Basis | On this deal |
|---|---|---|
| DLD sale registration — seller | 2% of sale value | AED 80,000 |
| DLD sale registration — buyer | 2% of sale value | AED 80,000 |
| Title deed certificate issuance | AED 250 | AED 250 |
| Knowledge and innovation fees | AED 10 + AED 10 | AED 20 |
| Trustee service-partner fee (sale value AED 500,000 or more) | AED 4,000 plus VAT | AED 4,000 + VAT |
| DLD mortgage registration | 0.25% of mortgage value | AED 5,000 |
| Title deed issuance on mortgage registration | AED 250 | AED 250 |
| Knowledge and innovation fees on mortgage registration | AED 10 + AED 10 | AED 20 |
| Service-partner fee on mortgage registration | AED 4,000 plus VAT (AED 5,000 plus VAT if provisional/Oqood) | AED 4,000 + VAT |
| Mortgage release, on refinance or exit | AED 1,000 + AED 250 + AED 10 + AED 10 + AED 300 service-partner fee plus VAT | AED 1,570 + VAT |
Two things to read off this. First, the 2% and 2% split is what the Dubai Land Department publishes; who actually bears the seller's half is a matter of contract, and in this market the buyer frequently ends up funding all four points. Negotiate it explicitly rather than assuming. Second, the release fee is a real cost of the financing decision, not of the purchase, and it lands again on every refinance. Model your costs with the buying costs calculator and your debt service with the mortgage calculator before you agree a payment structure.
Registration itself is quick once the paperwork is right: the Dubai Land Department gives a service time of 20 to 25 minutes for a mortgage registration and 10 to 15 minutes for a release. The delay is never the counter.
| Stage | What to confirm | Who holds the answer |
|---|---|---|
| Before opening the account | The document list, the initial deposit and minimum balance, and the fees — the bank must disclose all of these to you under CPS 5.1.2.1(f) and 2.1.2.3, so ask in writing; the level of the balance and the contents of the list remain commercial | The bank |
| Before opening the account | Whether the bank is applying the two-complete-business-day standard in CPS 5.1.2.1(b) or relying on the Financial Crime Compliance exception — and, if the latter, what it still needs from you | The bank |
| Before opening the account | Whether funds you transfer will be blocked pending compliance, and on what conditions | The bank |
| Before applying for finance | Whether the lender treats the asset as commercial or residential — it determines whether Article (3) caps apply at all | The lender's credit policy |
| Before applying for finance | The stress-test rate the lender will apply, and whether an introductory rate is being tested at its reversion level | The lender |
| Before signing the SPA | Who bears the seller's 2% DLD registration fee | The contract |
| Before signing the SPA | For off-plan, that the contract will be registered in the provisional register within 90 days of signature | The developer, via the Oqood portal |
| Before signing the SPA | That the developer's no-objection e-certificate can be issued through Dubai REST | The developer |
| Before drawdown | Three original mortgage contracts certified by the mortgagee bank and signed by both parties, plus the bank's letter | The bank |
| Before drawdown | For a company buyer, trade licence, shareholder certificate, and a Memorandum of Association legally translated into Arabic and attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a foreign company | Your corporate service provider |
| Before exit | The mortgage release cost and lead time | Dubai Land Department schedule |
The 90-day point deserves emphasis because it is a hard deadline hiding inside a service description. The Dubai Land Department's service terms for registering a provisional sale accompanied by an initial mortgage require the sale and purchase contract to be registered in the provisional register within 90 days of the date of signing, with a service time of six business days for the registration itself. The mechanics of Oqood and provisional registration are covered in the RERA, Ejari and Oqood guide, and the portals you will use to check status — Dubai REST for the developer's e-NOC, among others — in the government portals how-to guide.
One document detail catches foreign corporate buyers repeatedly: on the Oqood combined sale-and-mortgage route, the Dubai Land Department's service terms require a foreign company to be registered in a free zone — it names DMCC or JAFZA — and its document list requires a no-objection letter from the free zone valid for one year, alongside an Arabic-translated Memorandum of Association attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a shareholder certificate. Assemble those before, not after, the SPA is signed.
Individual bank products, current rates and Sharia-compliant structuring are deliberately out of scope — they move faster than any published comparison can track, and a stale rate table is worse than none. Free zone company banking has its own onboarding pattern that varies by zone. Once the asset is let, the rent-collection and rent-review framework sits in the commercial landlord and tenant law guide, and the broader purchase sequence for an overseas buyer is set out in the article on buying property in Dubai as a foreign investor.
We sequence the three timetables that non-resident buyers most often run in the wrong order: account opening and compliance clearance, credit approval, and the registration window on the contract. We introduce brokers and relationship managers who have actually closed non-resident commercial files, and we make sure the fee schedule you underwrite is the Dubai Land Department's published one rather than a rounded estimate. If you are weighing a Dubai commercial purchase and want the financing path mapped before you commit to a property, we are happy to talk it through.
This guide is for general information only and is not financial, legal or tax advice. Regulated figures are cited to the responsible authority and were current in August 2026; commercial terms offered by individual banks are not regulated and will differ. Confirm current terms with a licensed mortgage broker or bank relationship manager, and your structuring with a legal and tax specialist, before making a financing decision.
In closing
Key Takeaways
- The Central Bank's loan-to-value caps do not govern commercial property. Article (1) of the Regulations Regarding Mortgage Loans defines a mortgage loan as one "collateralized against a residential property", so the ceilings in Article (3) bite on homes and residential investment units — not on an office floor, a shop or a warehouse. Commercial advance rates are each bank's own credit policy — and in practice that policy lands between 50% and 65% of value, a market pattern rather than a rule anyone is bound by.
- Where those caps do apply, expatriates are limited to 60% on a second or investment residential property, 80% on a first owner-occupied home valued at less than AED 5 million, 70% where the value is more than AED 5 million, and 50% on anything bought off plan regardless of purchaser category (CBUAE Circular 31/2013, Article (3), as amended by Board Resolution 31/2/2020).
- The 50% Debt Burden Ratio is a real regulation, not market folklore. Article (7) of the Regulations Regarding Bank Loans and Other Services Offered to Individual Customers caps total instalments across all UAE lenders at 50% of gross salary and regular income — for individual borrowers.
- The Central Bank's account-opening standard for a personal account is two complete business days — not the three days the market quotes. Clause 5.1.2.1(b) of the Consumer Protection Standards (N 1158/2021) requires accounts to be opened within 2 complete business days from the date of application, and the Consumer Protection Regulation behind them reaches any natural person, with no residency condition. It is a standard rather than a guarantee: the clause excepts a bank acting under the UAE's Financial Crime Compliance requirements, which is where most non-resident files sit. The three-business-day figure repeated across this market is the SME Market Conduct Regulation (C 1/2021), which does not cover personal accounts.
- Registering a mortgage at the Dubai Land Department costs 0.25% of the mortgage value, plus AED 250 for the title deed, AED 10 knowledge and AED 10 innovation fees per drawing, plus a service-partner fee of AED 4,000 plus VAT (AED 5,000 plus VAT on a provisional Oqood registration).
- Releasing that mortgage later costs AED 1,000, plus AED 250, AED 10, AED 10 and an AED 300 service-partner fee plus VAT — a cost most investors omit from their exit and refinance models.
- Cash is the wrong instrument. Brokers and agents must file a Real Estate Activity Report with the UAE Financial Intelligence Unit via goAML where a freehold purchase involves single or multiple cash payments of AED 55,000 or more, or any virtual-asset leg.
- Published commercial terms exist, but they are written for resident borrowers. ADCB advertises commercial property finance of "Up to 10 years of flexible loan terms" and "Up to AED 10M for purchase of property", with credit "at sole discretion of the bank" — but its stated eligibility is "For UAE registered businesses & Individual borrowers (UAE Nationals & Expats)", and it says nothing about a borrower resident outside the UAE. No published lender page states a commercial tenor or an off-plan commercial advance rate for a non-resident. Both remain questions to put to lenders in writing.
This page is general information based on primary sources as at August 2026. It is not financial advice. Where a figure below is not cited to an authority, it is not stated at all.
Frequently asked questions
0901Can a non-resident foreigner open a UAE bank account to buy commercial property?
Yes. UAE banks do open accounts for non-residents, subject to the customer due diligence standards the Central Bank of the UAE sets for licensed financial institutions. Expect the bank to want more than one identity document, to ask for notarised or apostilled copies of foreign documents it does not recognise, and to test your source of funds and source of wealth. Minimum balances and the exact document list are set by each bank, not by the Central Bank — though the Consumer Protection Standards require the bank to disclose the account-opening requirements, the fees, and any initial deposit or minimum balance to you.
02What is the maximum loan-to-value a non-resident can get on a Dubai commercial property?
There is no Central Bank cap on commercial property lending. The loan-to-value ceilings in the Regulations Regarding Mortgage Loans apply to loans collateralised against residential property, per the definition in Article (1). An office, shop, warehouse or labour-accommodation building falls outside them, so the advance rate is set by the individual bank's credit policy and negotiated deal by deal. What banks do in practice is advance 50% to 65% of value, meaning a 35% to 50% deposit — market practice rather than a regulated ceiling, and no entitlement to either end of it. Use it to frame a budget, then ask two or three lenders for a written figure.
03What loan-to-value applies if I buy a residential investment unit instead?
For expatriates, 60 per cent of the property value on a second or subsequent house or investment property, regardless of value; 80 per cent on a first owner-occupied home worth less than AED 5 million, and 70 per cent where the value is more than AED 5 million. Anything bought off plan is capped at 50 per cent regardless of purpose, value or purchaser category. These figures are set by CBUAE Circular 31/2013 as amended in 2020.
04Does the 50 per cent Debt Burden Ratio apply to me?
It applies if you borrow as an individual. Article (7) of the Regulations Regarding Bank Loans and Other Services Offered to Individual Customers caps total instalments across all UAE banks and finance companies at 50 per cent of gross salary and any regular income from a defined and specific source. Lenders must also stress test the loan at two to four percentage points above the current rate, and deduct at least two months' rental income where the property is an investment.
05How long does it take to open a UAE bank account as a non-resident?
The Central Bank does set a standard, and it is shorter than the figure the market quotes. Clause 5.1.2.1(b) of the Consumer Protection Standards (N 1158/2021), which accompany the Consumer Protection Regulation (C 8/2020) and are enforceable in the same manner, provides that accounts must be opened within 2 complete business days from the date of application. The Regulation applies to licensed financial institutions serving consumers that are natural persons and sole proprietorships, and Article 1 defines a consumer as any natural person or sole proprietor obtaining or prospectively obtaining a financial product or service for a personal need — there is no residency condition, so a non-resident opening a personal account is within it. Read the exception with the rule: clause 5.1.2.1(b) excepts a bank acting in accordance with the UAE's Financial Crime Compliance requirements, and a non-resident file attracting enhanced due diligence is exactly that case, so two days is the standard rather than a guarantee. Where other valid circumstances need more time, the bank must explain the delay to you and document the reason. If the account is refused, clause 5.1.2.1(d) requires immediate written notice and tells you that you may file a complaint with the Central Bank. The three-business-day figure repeated across this market is a different rule — clause 3.20 of the SME Market Conduct Regulation (C 1/2021), whose scope covers banks and finance companies serving small and medium-sized enterprises, not personal accounts.
06What does registering a mortgage cost at the Dubai Land Department?
0.25 per cent of the mortgage value, plus AED 250 for issuance of the title deed, AED 10 knowledge fee and AED 10 innovation fee per drawing, plus a service-partner fee of AED 4,000 plus VAT — AED 5,000 plus VAT on a provisional (Oqood) mortgage registration. Releasing the mortgage later costs AED 1,000, plus AED 250, AED 10, AED 10 and an AED 300 service-partner fee plus VAT.
07Should I buy commercial property personally or through a company?
The financing answer and the tax answer point in different directions, so take both together. Borrowing personally brings you inside the 50 per cent Debt Burden Ratio. Borrowing through a UAE company takes you outside it but inside the corporate tax interest cap, which limits net interest deductions to the higher of 30 per cent of adjusted EBITDA or AED 12 million. Natural persons carrying on business are outside that cap; a one-person company is not.
08Can I pay for a Dubai property in cash instead of using a bank?
It is a poor idea and it is reportable. Real estate brokers and agents must file a Real Estate Activity Report with the UAE Financial Intelligence Unit via goAML where a freehold purchase or sale involves single or multiple cash payments totalling AED 55,000 or more, where payment is made in virtual assets, or where funds were converted from or to virtual assets. Dubai Land Department fees are settled by e-payment, Sadad, Noqodi or a manager's cheque drawn in its favour.
09How soon must an off-plan purchase be registered?
The Dubai Land Department's own service terms for registering a provisional sale accompanied by a mortgage require the sale and purchase contract to be registered in the provisional register within 90 days of the date the contract is signed. That registration is the developer's to file through the Oqood portal, but it is your interest that is protected by it, so track it rather than assume it.
Next step
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Tell us what you are weighing up — a building, a project, an area, or a rule you need to get right — and we will come back with the specifics that apply to it.
Updated 17 August 2026 by Mitchell's Commercial Real Estate. Market figures quoted reflect the data available at that date.
