Buying property in Dubai: freehold areas, off-plan, Oqood and the DLD fee
Brits can own a Dubai flat outright, with their name on a Dubai Land Department title deed, but the off-plan market has its own rules and it pays to learn them before you hand over a deposit.
The short version
- Foreigners can own property in Dubai's designated freehold areas, set by Regulation No. 3 of 2006 [1]. The Dubai Land Department (DLD) issues the title deed.
- The DLD registration fee is 4% of the price. The DLD's own fee schedule splits it 2% seller and 2% buyer, plus smaller fixed fees and a trustee office charge of AED 4,000 plus VAT on sales of AED 500,000 or more [2].
- Off-plan sales are registered in the DLD's provisional register through the Oqood system, within 90 days of the contract being signed [3].
- Off-plan payments go into a project escrow account under Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007, and you can insist on proof of construction progress before paying an instalment [4].
- Expat mortgages are capped by the UAE Central Bank: 80% loan-to-value on a first home up to AED 5 million, 50% on off-plan [5].
Where Brits can buy
In Dubai, the UAE government portal explains, foreign ownership is permitted in areas designated as freehold, under Regulation No. 3 of 2006 [1]. That covers most of the places British buyers look at: the big master-planned communities, the Marina and the towers along Sheikh Zayed Road. Outside the freehold areas, the options for foreign buyers are much more limited.
Freehold in Dubai means you own the unit, with a share of the common parts in a building, and you pay service charges to the owners' association. The DLD monitors service charges through its Mollak system, so you can check what a building charges before you buy.
The FCDO's travel advice is direct about the risks: if you want to buy property in the UAE, get appropriate professional advice as you would in the UK, and the FCDO keeps a list of lawyers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi [6]. Its Living in the UAE guide likewise suggests an English-speaking lawyer before you buy [7]. In Dubai there's no conveyancing solicitor by default as there is back home, so you have to arrange your own.
The fees: more than the 4%
The fee that matters is the DLD transfer fee. For a completed (ready) property, the DLD's sale registration service lists [2]:
| Fee | Amount | Example on AED 1.5 million (about £303,090) |
|---|---|---|
| Registration fee, buyer's share | 2% of the price | AED 30,000 (about £6,060) |
| Registration fee, seller's share | 2% of the price | AED 30,000 (about £6,060) |
| Title deed certificate | AED 250 | about £51 |
| Map, villas and flats | AED 250 | about £51 |
| Knowledge and innovation fees | AED 10 each | about £4 |
| Trustee office (service partner) fee, price AED 500,000 or more | AED 4,000 plus VAT | about £808 plus VAT |
Source: Dubai Land Department, Property Sale Registration [2].
Who actually pays the 4% is set by your contract, so read that clause carefully. Then add your own costs: a mortgage arrangement fee and valuation if you borrow, the mortgage registration with the DLD, and legal fees. In practice the registration fee is Dubai's closest thing to stamp duty back home, so budget for it from the start.
Off-plan: payment plans, Oqood and escrow
Off-plan means buying from a developer before the building is finished, usually on a payment plan: a deposit, then instalments linked to construction progress or dates, with a final payment on handover. It's a huge part of the Dubai market.
Oqood: registering your purchase
The DLD's Oqood portal is the developers' system for registering off-plan sales in the provisional register [3]:
- You and the developer sign the sale and purchase agreement (SPA).
- The developer registers the sale on Oqood, with the SPA and your Emirates ID or passport (non-residents can buy with a passport) [3].
- The contract must be registered in the provisional register within 90 days of signing [3].
- You get a provisional registration e-certificate by email [3]. Keep it; it's your proof of ownership until the title deed is issued on completion.
The registration fees are the same 2% plus 2% of the sale value, plus the AED 10 knowledge and innovation fees [3]. On an off-plan unit at AED 2 million (about £404,110), the full 4% comes to AED 80,000 (about £16,170).
If a developer refuses or delays registering your contract, you can apply to the DLD's Real Estate Registration Assurance section yourself, with your documents [4]. A buyer without an Oqood certificate is in a weak spot, so chase it.
Escrow: where your money goes
Under Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007, every developer selling off-plan must pay buyers' money into a project escrow account, managed by an approved bank, to make sure it's spent on building that project [4]. Some protections worth knowing:
- Pay into escrow only. The law covers all developers in Dubai selling off-plan, so the escrow account details should be on your SPA and payment requests.
- Proof of progress. Where your instalments are tied to completion stages, you're entitled to ask the developer for a letter from the DLD-approved project consultant confirming the stage has been reached, and you're not obliged to pay until it is confirmed [4].
- Independent audit. You can also ask the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) for a technical report on the project's completion, for an audit fee of AED 15,000 (about £3,030) [4]. You can track projects on the DLD website and app.
- The 5% retention. Article 14 keeps 5% of the money in escrow for a year after completion as a guarantee that defects get fixed [4].
- Cancelled projects. If a project is cancelled, RERA's liquidation section asks the developer to repay buyers within 60 days, and the matter goes to court if the developer doesn't [4]. Recovery can still take a long time.
The DLD's own FAQ talks about stalled and cancelled projects, and the lesson is simple: check the developer, the project registration and the escrow account before you pay a dirham.
Mortgages for expats
UAE banks lend to resident expats, and some lend to non-residents. The UAE Central Bank's mortgage regulations cap the loan-to-value (LTV) for expatriates [5][8]:
| Purchase | Maximum loan for an expat |
|---|---|
| First home, value AED 5 million (about £1.01 million) or less | 80% |
| First home, value over AED 5 million | 70% |
| Second home or investment property | 60% |
| Off-plan, any buyer | 50% |
Source: CBUAE Regulations Regarding Mortgage Loans, as amended with effect from 8 April 2020 [5][8].
So a first home at AED 1.5 million needs a deposit of at least AED 300,000 (about £60,620), before fees. Other limits: a maximum term of 25 years, and total debt repayments capped at 50% of your gross salary, with lenders stress-testing the rate [5]. Banks set their own maximum age at the final repayment [5].
Because of the 50% cap, off-plan buyers often pay the developer's plan in cash and take a mortgage only at handover. Make sure you'll qualify then: your salary, age and the bank's appetite may all have changed by the time the keys arrive.
The UK side
- Owning in Dubai doesn't change your UK tax residence, but if you're still UK resident, HMRC taxes rent and gains from your Dubai flat. See UAE taxes for Brits.
- Keeping a UK home as well can count against you in the Statutory Residence Test; our guide to UK tax ties explains why.
- Residence through property. Buying above certain values can support a long-term UAE residence visa; our guide to UAE residence for Brits covers the Golden Visa routes.
- Weighing it up. If you're torn between Dubai and back home, our comparison of buying property in Dubai vs the UK sets them side by side.
Ask around before you commit: off-plan experiences, good and bad, come up regularly in our community group for Brits in the UAE.
Pound conversions use £1 = AED 4.9491, derived from the Bank of England USD spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = USD 1.3476) and the dirham's fixed peg of AED 3.6725 per US dollar.
Sources
- UAE Government portal (u.ae): Expatriates buying a property in the UAE
- Dubai Land Department: Property Sale Registration
- Dubai Land Department: Request to register the initial sale (Oqood)
- Dubai Land Department: Frequently asked questions (escrow, registration and project cancellation)
- UAE Central Bank Rulebook: Regulations Regarding Mortgage Loans
- GOV.UK (FCDO): United Arab Emirates travel advice, safety and security (still current at 7 November 2026, updated 27 October 2026)
- GOV.UK (FCDO): Living in the United Arab Emirates (updated 11 December 2025)
- UAE Central Bank Rulebook: Amendments to Circular No. 31/2013 on mortgage loans (2020)