Dubai property, explained › Buying
What it costs to buy in Dubai
Everything a buyer pays on top of the price, in cash, on the day — the Dubai Land Department’s fees, the commission, the bank’s charges — and a worked example so the total is a figure, not a feeling.
Written September 2026 · 5 min read
A Dubai purchase has one price on the listing and a second, smaller one that nobody advertises: what it costs to complete. For a cash buyer it comes to a little over 6% of the price; for a mortgaged buyer, more. None of it can be borrowed. Every fee is paid on the day, at the trustee's office, on top of the deposit, and the buyer who discovers that at the counter is a buyer who offered too much. Here is every item, who pays it, and a worked example, so the total is a figure rather than a feeling.
The Dubai Land Department
The department's fees are regulation, published, and the same at every office.
| Fee | Amount | Paid by |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer fee | 4% of the purchase price | The buyer |
| Title deed | AED 580 | The buyer |
| Registration trustee office | AED 4,000 + VAT, or AED 2,000 + VAT under AED 500,000 | The buyer |
| Mortgage registration | 0.25% of the loan + AED 290 | The buyer, if there is a mortgage |
| Mortgage release | A fixed departmental fee | The seller, if there is a mortgage to release |
| Developer's NOC | Set by the developer, commonly AED 500 to AED 5,000 | Conventionally the seller |
The transfer fee is the one that matters: four per cent of the price, and the buyer pays it. Every sale contract in the market says so, and a buyer who has budgeted less will be short at the counter by the difference. The trustee office is the private, department-licensed office where the transfer is actually done, the seller's title deed cancelled and the buyer's issued, and its fee is fixed by the department, not by the office.
The agent
Agency commission is convention, not law: 2% of the price, paid by the buyer to the agent who brought them the home. It carries 5% VAT, charged on the commission rather than on the price, so the all-in figure is 2.1% of the price. A seller with their own agent conventionally pays the same 2% to that agent; where one agent has both sides, the arrangement is whatever the two contracts say. Commission is paid on completion, by manager's cheque like everything else that day, and it is not in the price on the listing.
The bank
A mortgage adds three things. The department's registration fee, above, which is regulation. A valuation, which the bank commissions before it lends and charges to you: a few thousand dirhams plus VAT, and the figure varies by lender. And the bank's own arrangement fee on the loan, commonly up to 1% of the amount borrowed plus VAT, sometimes capped and sometimes waived in a promotion. Lenders also require life cover and buildings insurance for the term of the loan, which are monthly rather than one-off. The mortgage calculator carries all of these and the Central Bank's deposit rule, so a price goes in and the cash for the day comes out. A rent to own, the developer's scheme or an Islamic bank's Ijarah, pays the same 4% on the day it is registered and a quarter per cent on the lease itself, and that page has the department's schedule for it.
The seller's side
The seller conventionally pays for the developer's no-objection certificate, which confirms the service charges are settled on Mollak and the developer has no claim on the unit, and without which the trustee office will not transfer. The developer sets the fee. If the seller has a mortgage, the bank issues a liability letter with the payoff figure, the buyer's funds, or the buyer's bank's, clear it at completion, and the department charges a fixed fee to release the old charge from the title. The seller's own agent's commission is the seller's. Service charges are apportioned to the day of transfer.
Two million, worked
A completed apartment at AED 2,000,000, bought by an expatriate as a first home.
| Item | Cash buyer | With an 80% mortgage |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer fee, 4% | AED 80,000 | AED 80,000 |
| Title deed | AED 580 | AED 580 |
| Trustee office, with VAT | AED 4,200 | AED 4,200 |
| Commission, 2% with VAT | AED 42,000 | AED 42,000 |
| Mortgage registration, 0.25% of AED 1,600,000 + AED 290 | — | AED 4,290 |
| Valuation and arrangement, illustrative | — | AED 20,000 |
| Fees on the day | AED 126,780 | AED 151,070 |
| Deposit | AED 2,000,000 | AED 400,000 |
| Cash to complete | AED 2,126,780 | AED 551,070 |
Fees of 6.3% for the cash buyer and around 7.6% for the borrower, before the bank's insurance. Change the price and the department's percentages scale with it while the fixed fees do not, which is why the buyer of a studio pays a higher percentage than the buyer of a villa. The DLD fee calculator does this table for any price, on the buyer's side or the seller's, with or without a mortgage, and prints the department's own itemised figures beside each line with the day they were read.
What the fees are not
They are not a tax that comes back every year: Dubai levies no annual property tax, and the one recurring public charge on a home, the municipality's housing fee, is five per cent of a rent, paid by whoever lives there rather than by an owner who lets. They are not part of the yield. A one-off cost belongs in the payback period, not in the annual return, and the rental yield calculator keeps it there. They are not negotiable with the department, though the commission is a conversation and the bank's arrangement fee often is. They are not the same for a home passing inside a family: a transfer between first-degree relatives, a parent and a child or two spouses, is registered as a gift at 0.125% of the department's valuation instead of the 4%, and gifting property has that procedure, its documents and how many families use it. And they are not quite the same for an off-plan purchase, where the 4% is registered on Oqood, the interim register, the deposit rule is 50%, and the developer may be paying the fee as an incentive; off-plan or resale has the differences. And they are the same for everyone: a foreign buyer pays no more than a national at the counter, and the purchase itself, from who can buy where to the deed, is in buying property in Dubai as a foreigner.
Where this leads
The pages that pick up from here
Buying property in Dubai as a foreigner →
The purchase these fees close: who can buy and where, what you need, the steps to the deed, and what a home sells for from the register.
The trustee office →
Where every fee on this page is paid: the morning in the department’s order, what each side brings, and the nineteen offices by area with their hours.
The DLD fee calculator →
This table for any price, on either side of the sale, with the department’s itemised figures and the day they were read.
The mortgage calculator →
The monthly repayment and the cash you need on completion day, for a price of your choosing.
How much can I borrow? →
The other direction: your income and deposit in, the price a lender lets you reach out — with these fees on it — and where that price buys.
Mortgage brokers in Dubai →
What a broker does between pre-approval and this day, the Central Bank’s caps, and what buyers in your district actually borrowed.
Sell property in Dubai →
The same morning from the seller’s chair: what a seller pays, the NOC, a mortgage released, and what a home is worth from its building’s register.
Conveyancing in Dubai →
Who gets the file to the desk complete: the steps from the Form F to the deed with who does each, the conveyancer’s own fee beside these, and the purchase from the UK.
Off-plan or resale →
How the fees, the deposit and the registration differ when the home is not built yet.
The rental yield calculator →
If you are buying to let: what the purchase returns, and how long the fees take to earn back.
The housing fee →
What Dubai has in place of an annual property tax: 5% of a rent, on the DEWA bill, paid by whoever occupies.
Mollak →
The account the NOC is read from, and the charge that begins to run to you from the day of transfer — how it is invoiced and paid.
The rent vs buy calculator →
These fees are the reason a short stay rarely pays. The calculator says how many years it takes.
The cheapest areas →
Where a budget goes furthest: every community ranked by what completed homes resold for a square foot.
Property for sale →
What is on the market with McCone today.
Rent to own →
The purchase that pays the four per cent at registration and the price over a lease — and what the department charges on the lease itself.
Property investment in Dubai →
Where these one-off costs go in the sum — the round trip against the yield, and what the register says the price did while you held.
Gifting property →
The transfer that does not pay the four per cent: a home passing between first-degree relatives, at 0.125% of its value, and how many families use it.
The Dubai Land Department →
The department behind the deed, the lease, the fee and the app: how it is divided, which of its services you will actually use, what each costs, and where it is.
Moving to Dubai from the UK →
The move itself: the visa and who applies for it, what a home really lets for where Britons settle, the schools, the bills in order, and HMRC’s side of it.
Rental yields in Dubai →
The yield those costs are set against, area by area and tower by tower, from registered rents over registered prices.
Questions people ask
The cost of buying, answered
What are the DLD fees when buying property in Dubai?
The transfer fee is 4% of the purchase price, paid by the buyer, plus AED 580 for the title deed. The registration trustee office that handles the transfer charges AED 4,000 plus VAT, or AED 2,000 plus VAT for a price under AED 500,000.
How much is the agency commission on a purchase?
Conventionally 2% of the price, and 5% VAT is charged on the commission, so 2.1% of the price all in. It is paid on completion, in cash.
What does it cost to buy a property for AED 2,000,000?
About AED 127,000 on top of the price for a cash buyer: AED 80,000 to the DLD, AED 580 for the title deed, AED 4,200 to the trustee office and AED 42,000 in commission — a little over 6%. With a mortgage, add the registration charge of 0.25% of the loan plus AED 290 and the bank’s own valuation and arrangement fees.
Can the fees be added to the mortgage?
No. The transfer fee, the commission and the registration charges are paid in cash on completion, on top of the deposit. Banks may no longer lend them.
Who pays the NOC fee?
The developer’s no-objection certificate confirms the seller owes nothing on the home, and the seller conventionally pays for it. The developer sets the amount, commonly between AED 500 and AED 5,000.
What does the seller pay?
Conventionally the NOC, the release of any mortgage on the title, and their own agent’s commission if they have one. The buyer carries the transfer fee, the trustee office, the title deed and their own commission.
Regulation here is stated as regulation, and what the market merely does is marked as convention. Figures were checked in September 2026; the rest of the set is written the same way.
