Dubai Property Transfer Fees

Independent reference — not affiliated with the Dubai Land Department. Operated by Cendale Documents Clearing Services FZCO.

Worked Examples: What a Dubai Transfer Actually Costs

The scenarios below itemise every DLD and trustee charge for five common transaction types, using the current published schedule. Figures assume the buyer pays the full 4% (market convention) unless stated; the fee split is negotiable in the MOU. Agent commission, bank arrangement fees, and conveyancing costs are commercial charges outside the DLD schedule and are excluded. All scenarios can be re-run with any figures in the calculator.

Fee schedule verified against Dubai Land Department service pages: 30 September 2026. See the methodology.

Scenario 1 — Cash purchase, ready apartment, AED 1,000,000

DLD transfer fee (4%) — AED 40,000
Trustee office fee (≥ AED 500k, incl. VAT) — AED 4,200
Title deed issuance — AED 250
Property map (apartment) — AED 250
Knowledge and innovation fees — AED 20
Buyer total — AED 44,720

On a cash purchase of an AED 1,000,000 ready apartment the DLD transfer fee alone is AED 40,000 — 4% of the price. The trustee office fee, title deed issuance, property map and knowledge and innovation fees bring the total to AED 44,720.

Scenario 2 — Mortgaged purchase, ready apartment, AED 2,000,000 at 80% LTV

DLD transfer fee (4%) — AED 80,000
Trustee office fee (incl. VAT) — AED 4,200
Title deed issuance — AED 250
Property map (apartment) — AED 250
Knowledge and innovation fees — AED 20
Mortgage registration (0.25% × AED 1,600,000) — AED 4,000 · plus AED 250 title deed issuance and AED 20 knowledge and innovation fees, as the DLD mortgage-registration card lists them
Buyer total — AED 88,990 (the AED 4,000 + VAT registration-trustee fee on the mortgage is exempt because sale and mortgage are registered on the same day)

With an AED 1,600,000 loan the mortgage registration fee is AED 4,000 — 0.25% of the loan — on top of the AED 80,000 transfer fee. Same-day registration of sale and mortgage avoids a second trustee sitting.

Scenario 3 — Off-plan purchase from a developer, AED 1,500,000

DLD fee at Oqood registration (4%) — AED 60,000
Knowledge and innovation fees — AED 20 (the developer’s AED 1,000 Oqood-portal self-registration fee is the developer’s, not the buyer’s)
Trustee office fee — not applicable
Buyer total at registration — AED 60,020 ·

Conversion to title deed at handover is charged separately (DLD’s initial-sale page covers registration only). Under DLD’s service terms the developer must register the contract in the provisional register within 90 days of signing. Off-plan government costs are lower in fixed charges: no trustee fee applies, and the 4% is collected at Oqood registration with no second 4% at handover.

Scenario 4 — Gift transfer, villa AED 3,000,000, parent to child

DLD gift rate (0.125%) — AED 3,750
Title deed issuance — AED 250
Property map (villa) — AED 250
Knowledge and innovation fees — AED 20
Trustee office fee (incl. VAT) — AED 4,200
Total — AED 8,470

The same villa transferred as a sale would carry AED 120,000 at the 4% rate; the first-degree gift route reduces the DLD percentage charge to AED 3,750.

Scenario 5 — Seller-side costs, mortgaged apartment AED 1,800,000

DLD mortgage release fee — AED 1,290
Trustee fee (release) — AED 315
Knowledge and innovation fees — AED 20
Developer NOC — AED 500–5,000 (set by developer)
Seller total — AED 2,125–6,625.

Under buyer-pays-all convention the seller’s DLD-side costs are limited to the mortgage release (if any) and the developer NOC, plus any early-settlement charge levied by the seller’s own bank.