Dubai Property Purchase Costs: DLD 4%, Fees and Mortgage Charges

The price on the listing is only part of what you'll pay. You'll also have the Dubai Land Department fee, the Trustee office, the Title Deed and your agent's commission. With a mortgage, add the bank's charges and the cost of registering the mortgage. On a resale purchase with a mortgage, that comes to a sizeable sum you need in cash on top of the down payment. I've listed every cost below with official figures, and there's a worked example further down.

Summary table

The 4% DLD fee

This is the biggest item, so I always start a budget with it. On its property sale registration ↗ page, DLD sets 2% of the sale value for the seller and 2% for the buyer. Together they make up the "4% DLD" everyone has heard about.

How the fee is split in your deal is down to the contract between buyer and seller, and no legal rule fixes it. Before anyone signs, I check exactly what the contract says on this point, and I ask clients to do the same. The gap between 2% and 4% of an apartment's price is too large to discover at the transfer.

When a mortgaged property is sold, DLD's process includes a separate manager's cheque to the Department for the 4% fee.

Title Deed, map and small fees

There are also some fixed amounts. For apartments and villas, DLD lists:

• AED 250 for issuing the Title Deed;
• AED 250 for the property map;
• AED 10 knowledge fee;
• AED 10 innovation fee.

That's AED 520 in total. It's a small sum, but it still belongs in the budget.

Trustee office

Sales are registered at a Real Estate Registration Trustee centre, usually called the Trustee office. DLD gives its fee as:

• AED 4,000 + VAT if the price is AED 500,000 or more;
• AED 2,000 + VAT if the price is below AED 500,000.

UAE VAT is 5%, so for most apartments you'll pay AED 4,200.

Off-plan from a developer

For purchases from a developer, DLD also lists 2% + 2% ↗ plus AED 10 each for the knowledge and innovation fees. The developer registers the sale in Oqood itself, and DLD charges the developer AED 1,000 for that.

The sale and purchase agreement sets out how the fee is split between you and the developer. Some developers run offers where they pay part of it. The SPA can also include the developer's own administrative fees, so read those clauses before you reserve.

If you resell an off-plan unit before handover, you'll need a developer NOC. The developer sets the price, and you'll find it in their fee schedule.

Agent commission

On resale, the buyer's commission is set by your agreement with the broker (Contract B). Here are my terms:

After the purchase I handle monthly payments, snagging, utility connections and key collection at no extra cost, and I help with finding tenants and with resale.

Mortgage costs

DLD mortgage registration

DLD ↗ charges 0.25% of the loan amount to register a mortgage. You also pay AED 250 for issuing the Title Deed and AED 10 each for the knowledge and innovation fees. If a DLD service partner handles the registration, its fee is AED 4,000 + VAT. Banks often register the mortgage themselves through DLD's online system, in which case ask your bank which fees it will debit.

Bank fees

The Central Bank of the UAE expects lenders to be transparent. Every fee has to appear in a separate schedule attached to the loan contract, and the borrower must be shown the total cost of the loan over its full term. You'll find this in the CBUAE mortgage regulations ↗. Banks pull it together in a Key Facts Statement (KFS) for each mortgage product.

For a sense of scale, here are the figures from the Emirates NBD KFS ↗:

• a processing fee of 1.05% of the loan amount, non-refundable if you withdraw the application;
• a valuation fee of AED 3,150 for a completed property, VAT included;
• life insurance at 0.018% of the loan amount per month;
• property insurance at 0.01% + VAT of the property value per month.

Other banks charge differently. Compare the whole KFS, because the interest rate alone won't show you the full cost.

Early repayment and bank letters

Keep this in mind if you might sell or refinance later. Under CBUAE rules, the fee for full or partial early settlement of a home loan is capped at 1% of the outstanding balance or AED 10,000, whichever is less. The same CBUAE appendix lists AED 150 for a home loan NOC and AED 85 for a liability letter.

If the seller's unit is mortgaged, DLD charges AED 1,290 for the mortgage release plus a AED 315 registrar fee at transfer. The seller's side pays these, but they're useful to know when you negotiate.

Worked example

Take a ready resale apartment at AED 1,500,000 with a 70% LTV mortgage, so a loan of AED 1,050,000. I've used Emirates NBD's fees. For this example I've put the whole DLD fee on the buyer to show the upper end. In a real deal the split depends on your contract, and if you pay only your 2% share, that line is halved.

Here the costs on top of the price come to about AED 113,000, roughly 7.5% of the property value. That leaves out monthly insurance, the annual service charge and utility connections. Treat it as an illustration rather than an offer, since your bank and your deal will give different numbers.

From my practice. On one deal the bank valued the property below the price. The buyer was expecting 60% LTV and got 50%, so the gap had to be covered with an additional loan. The deal still closed successfully, but ever since I've kept a buffer for this in every budget. I explain what to do when a valuation comes in low in Low bank valuation gap.

What people often leave out

• Service charges, the annual fee for running the building. You can check the rate in the DLD index, and I go into detail in Dubai service charges.
• DEWA and cooling connections. Providers charge deposits and connection fees, and the current amounts are on their official websites.
• Furniture and appliances, if you're buying to let.
• Exit costs. If you're planning a resale, there will be fees when you sell as well.

From my practice. Whenever I talk about past deals, I point out that the purchase and sale prices are before costs. For example, clients bought a studio in Pearl House, JVC, for AED 570,000 on a payment plan up to handover, and after handover it sold for AED 770,000. Both prices are before DLD fees, commissions, NOC and service charges. The real result only shows once every cost in this article has been taken off.

Getting your budget right

1. Work out the mortgage and down payment in the calculator.
2. Add your share of the DLD fee as set by the contract, plus the Trustee office and the small fees.
3. Ask two or three banks for their KFS and compare the fees.
4. Keep a buffer in case the valuation comes in low.
5. Check the service charge for the specific building.

The documents behind each of these payments are covered in Documents to buy property in Dubai.

If you'd like a full budget for your apartment, open the mortgage calculator or message me on WhatsApp with the price and your scenario. I'll send you a line-by-line breakdown.