How does a foreigner buy property in Dubai?

A foreigner buys property in Dubai in a designated freehold area, with a valid passport and no residence visa (Government of Dubai, Law 7 of 2006; Dubai Land Department, 2026). A ready home is contracted on Form F and transferred at a trustee office for a 4 per cent fee; an off-plan home is paid into escrow and registered as an Oqood (Dubai Land Department, 2026). A power of attorney lets a representative complete either for you.

Key facts

• Ready-home transfer: 4 per cent fee, AED 250 title deed, AED 20 fixed fees, trustee AED 4,000 plus VAT at or above AED 500,000 (Dubai Land Department, 2026).
• Off-plan payments go into a project escrow account and the sale must be registered within 90 days (Government of Dubai, Law 8 of 2007; Dubai Land Department, 2026).
• AED 2 million qualifies for a ten-year Golden Visa through the Land Department (Dubai Land Department, 2026); any Dubai title deed qualifies a sole owner for the two-year investor visa (Khaleej Times, 29 Apr 2026).

Who may buy, and where?

Law No. 7 of 2006 reserves Dubai land to UAE and GCC nationals and companies they wholly own, then opens designated areas to everyone else: freehold without time restriction, or usufruct and leasehold of up to 99 years, and an unrecorded disposition is not valid (Government of Dubai, Law 7 of 2006). Ownership means an entry at the Dubai Land Department, not a signed contract.

Regulation No. 3 of 2006 first listed the designated areas by plot, Dubai Marina and Palm Jumeirah among them (Government of Dubai, Regulation 3 of 2006); later decisions have extended the list.

What do you need to buy?

A valid passport. The Land Department's sale registration service lists an Emirates ID or "a valid passport for non-resident foreigners", with no residence visa among the requirements; the same rule applies to off-plan registration (Dubai Land Department, 2026).

How does a ready property purchase proceed?

Four steps, two to ten weeks from offer to title deed (Property Finder, 10 Jul 2026).

1. 01 Sign Form F, the contract of sale (Bayut, 21 Oct 2025); a 10 per cent deposit is the market norm, not a Land Department rule (Property Finder, 10 Jul 2026).
2. 02 Obtain the developer's no-objection e-certificate through Dubai REST (Dubai Land Department, 2026): AED 500 to AED 5,000, two to three working days (Property Finder, 1 Apr 2026).
3. 03 Attend a Real Estate Registration Trustee Centre with the manager's cheque, identification, NOC and Form F (Property Finder, 10 Jul 2026); the appointment takes 25 minutes (Dubai Land Department, 2026).
4. 04 Receive the title deed, the same day if submitted early (Property Finder, 10 Jul 2026).

Sources: Dubai Land Department, 2026; Property Finder, 1 Apr 2026; Bayut, 21 Oct 2025.

How does an off-plan purchase proceed?

1. 01 Reserve the unit and pay the first instalment; Emaar asks for at least 20 per cent at purchase (Emaar, 2026).
2. 02 Sign the sale and purchase agreement; the payment schedule and any resale threshold sit there.
3. 03 The developer registers the sale through the Oqood portal within 90 days of signing, for 2 per cent from each side plus AED 20 (Dubai Land Department, 2026); an unregistered off-plan sale is void (Government of Dubai, Law 13 of 2008).
4. 04 Pay each instalment into the project's escrow account by bank transfer (Government of Dubai, Law 8 of 2007; Nakheel, 2026).
5. 05 On completion, the title deed issues through the Oqood portal for AED 250 plus an AED 250 map and AED 20 fixed fees, within six business days (Dubai Land Department, 2026).

Can you buy without travelling to Dubai?

Yes, through a representative holding a legal power of attorney, which the Land Department requires whenever somebody acts for a party (Dubai Land Department, 2026). A document signed abroad is attested through the UAE mission in the country of issue and then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2026); ask your lawyer for the current sequence.

The Land Department's digital channel, Buy or Sell Property via Dubai Now, completes a sale online with an instant e-title deed, but only for individuals holding an Emirates ID and UAE PASS (Dubai Land Department, 2026). A non-resident therefore attends a trustee office in person or acts through a power of attorney.

For Davies+Harrison clients, the purchase runs through D+H Invest, our private investor platform: a single, organised view from strategy and curated projects to financial clarity and documents. After purchase, payments, handover progress and portfolio updates live there too; your adviser is a message away.

Can a non-resident get a mortgage?

The Central Bank's regulation covers loans to UAE nationals, GCC nationals and expatriates and draws no separate line for non-residents (Central Bank of the UAE, Circular 31/2013). Banks set their own terms within its ceilings; the table is the legal maximum, not a bank's offer.

Source: Central Bank of the UAE, Circular 31/2013, Article 3.

The same article caps the term at 25 years, repayments at 50 per cent of income and total borrowing at seven years' income for an expatriate (Central Bank of the UAE, Circular 31/2013).

What taxes and ongoing costs apply?

For an individual, none: the UAE levies no income tax on individuals (u.ae, 2026). Residential resales are exempt from VAT, and the first supply of a new home within three years of completion is zero-rated (Ministry of Finance, 7 Sep 2026). Corporate tax does not reach an individual's income from selling or letting UAE property without a licence, regardless of amount (Ministry of Finance, Cabinet Decision 49 of 2023).

Two costs continue. Service charges are approved by RERA each year and published per project in the Service Charge Index, free in Dubai REST, where they can also be paid (Dubai Land Department, 2026). A municipal housing fee of 5 per cent of annual rent, or of RERA's rental-index value for an owner-occupier, is collected monthly through the DEWA bill from whoever lives in the property (Khaleej Times, 16 Jan 2015; Bayut, 13 Mar 2025).

Does buying give you residency?

Two routes. Property worth at least AED 2 million at purchase qualifies for a ten-year renewable Golden Visa through the Land Department; the property may be mortgaged with a bank no-objection letter, the applicant must be physically present in the UAE, fees total AED 9,884.75 and the permit issues in seven to ten business days (Dubai Land Department, 2026). Off-plan of AED 2 million or more from an approved developer qualifies (Khaleej Times, 27 Jul 2025).

Below that, the two-year property investor visa. Since 29 April 2026 there is no minimum value for a sole owner; each joint owner needs a share of at least AED 400,000; mortgaged property needs a bank or developer NOC; and under-construction property needs at least 50 per cent of value or AED 375,000 paid (Khaleej Times, 29 Apr 2026; Gulf News, 29 Apr 2026).

How are buyers protected, and how do you check a broker?

Law No. 8 of 2007 protects off-plan money: every project has its own escrow account, purchasers pay into it, and breaches carry fines of at least AED 100,000 (Government of Dubai, Law 8 of 2007). Any project's completion percentage is free to check in Dubai REST or by WhatsApp on 8004488 (Dubai Land Department, 2026). RERA's advice: never pay outside the escrow account (Dubai Land Department, 20 Oct 2020).

Three free checks: the Land Department's licensed brokers list, the broker's RERA card by type and number, and the title deed itself (Dubai Land Department, 2026). Every advertisement needs a Trakheesi permit (Dubai Land Department, 2026), fines without one start at AED 50,000 (Dubai Land Department, 20 Oct 2020), and since 24 April 2023 every print and audiovisual advert carries a Madmoun QR code showing the permit and whether the unit is still available (Dubai Land Department, 18 Apr 2023).

Davies+Harrison is DAH Real Estate Brokerage L.L.C., RERA ORN 53447.

Who is buying, and how much?

2025 was a record year: AED 917 billion of transactions, 215,700 sales and 129,600 new investors (Khaleej Times, 12 Jan 2026), from more than 150 countries, led by Indians at 22 per cent, British at 17 and Chinese at 14 (Khaleej Times, 19 Jul 2026). The first half of 2026 brought 79,300 residential sales worth AED 221.4 billion, 74.8 per cent off-plan (Khaleej Times, 30 Jul 2026).

Our view

In our experience the buyers who do well settle three things first: use or yield, since the Central Bank's ceilings differ by 20 points between the two (Central Bank of the UAE, Circular 31/2013); whether a residence permit matters, since AED 2 million changes the answer (Dubai Land Department, 2026); and whether they will be in Dubai for the transfer, since a power of attorney takes time.

We advise treating the Land Department's free checks as part of the purchase: broker, title deed, completion percentage and escrow account, all before any money moves. For off-plan, pay only into the escrow account named in the SPA. And budget from the full cost table, not the headline price.