United Arab Emirates (AE) Registering a Property

6 min readMar 27, 2022

This topic examines the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute. In addition, the topic also measures the quality of the land administration system in each economy. The quality of land administration index has five dimensions: reliability of infrastructure, transparency of information, geographic coverage, land dispute resolution, and equal access to property rights. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in May 2019.

What the indicators measure

Procedures to legally transfer title on immovable property(number)

Preregistration procedures (for example, checking for liens,notarizing sales agreement, paying property transfer taxes)
Registration procedures in the economy’s largest business city.
Post registration procedures (for example, filling title with municipality)

Time required to complete each procedure (calendar days)

Does not include time spent gathering information
Each procedure starts on a separate day — though procedures that can be fully completed online are an exception to this rule
Procedure is considered completed once final document is received
No prior contact with officials

Cost required to complete each procedure (% of property value)

Official costs only (such as administrative fees, duties andtaxes)
Value Added Tax, Capital Gains Tax and illicit payments are excluded

Quality of land administration index (0–30)

Reliability of infrastructure index (0–8)
Transparency of information index (0–6)
Geographic coverage index (0–8)
Land dispute resolution index (0–8)
Equal access to property rights index (-2–0)

Case study assumptions

To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the parties to the transaction, the property and the procedures are used.

The parties (buyer and seller):-

Are limited liability companies (or the legal equivalent).
Are located in the peri urban (that is, on the outskirts of the city but still within its official limits)area of the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city.
Are 100% domestically and privately owned.
Perform general commercial activities.

The property (fully owned by the seller):

Has a value of 50 times income per capita, which equals the sale price.
Is fully owned by the seller.
Has no mortgages attached and has been under the same ownership for the past 10 years.
Is registered in the land registry or cadastre, or both, and is free of title disputes.
Is located in a periurban commercial zone (that is, on the outskirts of the city but still within its official limits), and no rezoning is required.
Consists of land and a building. The land area is 557.4 square meters (6,000 square feet). A two-story warehouse of 929 square meters (10,000 square feet) is located on the land. The warehouse is 10 years old, is in good condition, has no heating system and complies with all safety standards,building codes and legal requirements. The property, consisting of land and building, will be transferred in its entirety.
Will not be subject to renovations or additional construction following the purchase.
Has no trees, natural water sources, natural reserves or historical monuments of any kind.
Will not be used for special purposes, and no special permits, such as for residential use,industrial plants, waste storage or certain types of agricultural activities, are required.
Has no occupants, and no other party holds a legal interest in it

Registering Property — United Arab Emirates

Procedures (number)

Time (days)

1.5

Cost (% of property value)

0.2

Quality of the land administration index (0–30)

21.0

Details — Registering Property in United Arab Emirates — Procedure, Time and Cost

Procedure 1:.

The parties’ submit the application at the Registration trustee’s office:

Agency Registration trustee

In October 2012, the Dubai Land Department started licensing companies to act in its behalf anduse its system for property registration, among other services. As of August 2013, all transactions must be made through the 13 Registration trustees throughout Dubai.Moreover, in April, 2014, the United Arab Emirates enacted administrative decree 52. It launched a standard contract for property transfers making it possible for parties to process a transfer without the need to consult a legal expert.The parties have to present themselves at one of the registration trustee’s office with the standard contract along with the following documents.

Company Trade License (Original or Copy)
Shareholder Certificate (Arabic & English)
Memorandum of the company (Arabic & English)
Board Resolution (Arabic & English)
Power of Attorney from Company (Arabic & English)
Passport copies of shareholders Parties then sign the contract and submit the application to one of the office’s employees

Time to Complete

1 day

Associated Costs

AED 4,000; (Registration trustee fee of AED 2,000(If the registered/transferred property value less than AED 500,000) or AED4,000 (If the registered/transferred property value equal or more than AED 500,000))

Procedure 2:.

Register title at the Dubai Land Department:

Agency Land Department

Once the documentation is submitted, the trustee proceeds to register the new owner on the Dubai Land Department. The offices have access to the Land Department system and registration is completed on the spot within a couple of hours.

Time to Complete

Less than one day,online

Associated Costs

AED 10,000; (AED 10 for registering each square meter of land, with a minimum of AED 10,000)

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United Arab Emirates (AE) Registering a Property

What the indicators measure

Case study assumptions

Registering Property — United Arab Emirates

Procedures (number)

Time (days)

Cost (% of property value)

Quality of the land administration index (0–30)

Details — Registering Property in United Arab Emirates — Procedure, Time and Cost

Procedure 1:.

Time to Complete

Associated Costs

Procedure 2:.

Time to Complete

Associated Costs

Written by Lamarsidwell