How a Broker's Commission Is Set, Earned and Paid in Dubai

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Kooky

Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.

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Brokers in Dubai earned AED 13.59 billion in commissions in 2025, according to the Government of Dubai Media Office, which published Dubai Land Department data on 9 March 2026. The figure was 31% higher than in 2024. Behind it sit 96,440 transactions carried out by brokers during the year. Money on that scale invites a simple question from anyone about to sell, buy or rent a home in the emirate: what does the broker's fee rest on, and at what moment does it become a debt?

The answer is in a short by-law, a handful of articles in the off-plan legislation and the Dubai Land Department's own published answers. Together they say how the amount is decided, when the fee is earned, which party owes it, how it is shared when several brokers work on one deal, and how a broker can lose it. They do not say what the percentage is. This guide follows those rules in order, for the Emirate of Dubai only, and marks each point where the official page is silent or could not be read.

Government of Dubai Media Office, 9 March 2026, citing Dubai Land Department data for 2025.

The texts behind a commission

The founding text of the profession is By-law No. (85) of 2006 Regulating the Real Estate Brokers Register in the Emirate of Dubai, issued on 30 May 2006 by the Chairman of the Land Department. The Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide published by the Dubai Land Department and its regulatory arm, the Real Estate Regulatory Agency, names the same by-law in its second edition, dated November 2024.

A word on how the by-law was read for this guide. Its official copy could not be opened on the Dubai Legislation Portal, and it does not appear among the instruments listed on the Land Department's legislation page. Its articles were read in an English text reproduced by a legal publisher, which is not an official source. Several of its central rules were then confirmed on an official page: the Dubai Land Department's frequently asked questions, in the licensing section, restate how the fee is set, when it is earned, how it is shared and how it is lost. In what follows, a rule confirmed by the Land Department is attributed to it. A rule read only in the reproduced by-law is attributed to "the by-law as reproduced", and should be checked against the official text before anyone relies on its exact wording.

Three other instruments matter, and all three were read on the Dubai Legislation Portal. Law No. (13) of 2008 regulates the interim property register, where off-plan sales are recorded. Executive Council Resolution No. (6) of 2010, issued on 14 February 2010, is its implementing by-law. Law No. (8) of 2007 governs escrow accounts for real estate development. They add rules for the case where the broker's client is a developer.

The by-law as reproduced defines a brokerage agreement as a broker's paid undertaking to find a counterparty and to negotiate on the client's behalf. Two ideas are packed into that definition. The broker is paid, so the fee is part of the contract from the start. And the broker's job is to bring about a deal between the client and someone else, which is why, as later sections show, the fee follows the deal and not the effort.

The agreement comes before the fee

No fee exists without an agreement, and the agreement has a required form. According to the Dubai Land Department, a brokerage contract must state the details of the parties, whether seller or buyer, the details of the property, the agreed amount, the commission rate and the date of registering the property with the Department. The Department adds that the contract is transferred electronically through the Dubai REST application. The by-law as reproduced says the same thing in older language: its Article 26 requires the agreement to be in writing, to name the parties, the property and the brokerage terms, and to be entered in the record of the property.

The practice guide gives the contracts their everyday names. Contract A is the agreement to market a property between the seller and the brokerage. Contract B is the agreement between a buyer and a broker, recording the wish to purchase. Contract F is the agreement to sell between the seller and the buyer. The guide says brokers must use these electronic contracts for marketing and sales and that they are available on Dubai REST. It does not set out what each form says about commission, how long each lasts or how the fee is recorded in it, so those points are left open here.

The Land Department also describes two kinds of mandate. Under an exclusive contract, the property cannot be offered to more than one broker. Under a non-exclusive agreement, the owner or the buyer may contract with more than one broker. The choice shapes who is paid at the end, as the section on several brokers explains.

How the amount is decided

The rule is short. According to the Dubai Land Department, the broker's fee is determined according to the agreement, and where the agreement is silent, the prevailing custom is adopted. The by-law as reproduced carries this in its Article 27.

This has two consequences worth spelling out.

First, the rate is a term of the contract, like the price of the property itself. The texts treat it as something the parties settle between them. A percentage, a fixed sum or another formula are all compatible with a rule that only says "according to the agreement"; the Land Department's list of contract contents mentions both an agreed amount and a commission rate.

Second, custom is a fallback, not a ceiling. It applies when nothing was agreed. The texts do not say what the custom is, how it is proved or whether it differs between a sale and a lease, and no figure for it is given in this guide for that reason. Figures often repeated in the market could not be traced to any official page and are not reproduced.

For a tenant or a landlord the same principle applies, with one caution. The Land Department's licensing answers distinguish two categories of broker, leasing and buying or selling, and its legislation page lists leasing brokerage agreement templates dated 25 August 2022, one between owner and broker and one between broker and tenant. The content of those templates was not read, so nothing is said here about how a leasing commission is recorded in them.

When the fee is earned

The by-law ties the fee to a result. In its Article 28 as reproduced, remuneration is due only if a contract is concluded, and a contract is concluded when the parties have agreed to all the conditions set in the brokerage agreement. An introduction, a viewing or an offer does not earn the fee by itself.

The same article then fixes the moment of payment. Unless the agreement says otherwise, the fee is due when the sale contract is signed and registered with the Department. The Dubai Land Department confirms the rule in its own words: the broker receives the commission after the sale contract is concluded and registered with the Department, unless the brokerage contract provides otherwise.

Two details change the picture in individual cases. The default can be moved: the phrase "unless the agreement says otherwise" lets the parties set an earlier or a later moment in the brokerage contract. And a third paragraph of Article 28, as reproduced, covers conditional deals: where the sale depends on a term written into the agreement, the fee is due only once that term is met. The reproduced text does not list examples of such terms, and none is suggested here.

In practice the default rule places the broker's payday on the same day as the registration of the sale, and after the parties have done everything else. A seller who has agreed nothing different does not owe the fee on signing the agreement to sell alone, and the broker carries the risk of the weeks in between.

When no fee is owed

The other side of a result-based fee is the deal that fails. The Dubai Land Department states that if negotiations fail, the broker is not entitled to compensation for expenses unless the brokerage contract stipulates otherwise. Article 30 of the by-law as reproduced says the same: with no contract concluded, there is neither compensation nor a refund of expenses, unless the agreement provides for it.

So the cost of marketing, of viewings and of time spent is the broker's own under the default rule. A brokerage that wants its costs covered whatever the outcome has to write that into the agreement, and a client who signs such a clause has agreed to pay something even if no sale follows.

The Land Department also answers a question clients often ask: is the commission still owed if the contract is cancelled? Its answer returns to the timing rule. The commission is due after the sale contract is concluded and registered with the Department, unless the brokerage contract says otherwise. Read with Article 28, this means a deal that never reaches registration has not, by default, produced a fee. What happens to a fee already paid when a registered sale is later undone is not addressed on the pages read.

A different case is the end of the brokerage agreement itself. Under Article 29 of the by-law as reproduced, a broker may still claim the agreed fee when the brokerage agreement ends, except where fraud or gross negligence is proven. The article was read only in the reproduction and the Land Department's answers do not restate it, so its exact scope should be taken from the official text. The following table gathers the situations covered so far.

Who owes the fee

The published answers of the Land Department do not say which party pays. The by-law as reproduced does, in its Article 33: the fee is paid by the party who appointed the broker. A seller who signs a marketing agreement owes the fee under that agreement. A buyer who signs with a broker owes the fee under that one.

The same article deals with a broker appointed by both sides. Each party then pays its own share, and each is liable for that share separately, even where the two have agreed between themselves that one of them will pay the whole.

A worked example shows what "separately" means. The figures are illustrative and chosen only for the arithmetic; they are not market data. Assume a broker is appointed by both the seller and the buyer of an apartment. The seller's agreement sets a fee of AED 30,000 and the buyer's sets AED 20,000, so the broker is owed AED 50,000 in all. The two parties then agree privately that the buyer will pay the full AED 50,000. Under the rule as reproduced, each party still answers for its own share: the seller for AED 30,000 and the buyer for AED 20,000. The article does not make one party the guarantor of the other's share. How a private arrangement between the parties is then settled between them is a matter for their own contract and is not covered by the texts read.

Several brokers on one deal

Two rules cover the common case where more than one broker has worked on a transaction. Both are confirmed by the Dubai Land Department.

Where several brokers negotiate together for one party and a contract is concluded, the fee is divided between them according to the terms of the concluded contract. Article 31 of the by-law as reproduced adds the idea that makes this fair to the client: the fee is shared as if a single broker had acted. The client pays one fee, not one per broker.

Where a party has contracted with several brokers independently and only one of them completes the deal, that broker has the exclusive right to the full commission. This is Article 32 of the by-law as reproduced, and it is the rule that governs a non-exclusive mandate.

A second worked example, again with illustrative figures. A seller agrees a fee of AED 60,000 with two brokers acting jointly, and their contract splits it 60% and 40%. On registration of the sale, the first broker receives AED 36,000 and the second AED 24,000. The seller's bill is AED 60,000, the same as with one broker. Now change the assumption: the seller has instead signed separate non-exclusive agreements with the same two brokers, each for AED 60,000, and the second broker finds the buyer and concludes the sale. The second broker receives AED 60,000 and the first receives nothing, however much work went into the listing.

The texts read do not regulate how a seller's broker and a buyer's broker, each appointed by a different party, share a fee between themselves. The practice guide does not address broker-to-broker cooperation either. Any such arrangement rests on what those brokers agree.

How a broker loses the fee

The Dubai Land Department lists the ways in which a broker may lose the right to claim a commission: by working for the other party against the interests of the party the broker represents, by accepting a promise of benefit in circumstances where good faith forbids it, or by not being licensed by the regulator.

The by-law as reproduced gives the detail. Under its Article 23, a broker who acts for the other party, or accepts a benefit from it, contrary to good faith or to the code of ethics, loses both the fee and any refund of expenses. Under its Article 20, a broker may not become the second party to the contract being brokered, for example by buying the property that the broker was engaged to sell, unless a contracting party authorises it; and where it is authorised, the broker earns no remuneration on that deal. Under its Article 3, nobody may act as a broker in Dubai without a licence from the competent authorities and an entry in the register, which is why an unlicensed intermediary has no fee to claim.

Two further duties protect the client's money. Article 21 as reproduced treats a broker who receives money, securities or other items for safekeeping or for handing over as a trustee, bound to deliver them as agreed. Article 22 makes brokers liable for losses caused by fraud, by deceit or by a breach of the by-law or the code of ethics. Neither article sets an amount; both make the point that sums passing through a broker's hands are never the broker's own, and are not an advance on the fee.

Off-plan sales: the developer's broker

When the client is a developer selling units before completion, a second layer of rules applies.

Law No. (13) of 2008 provides in its Article 9 that a developer wishing to market a project through a broker must contract with a certified broker under By-law No. (85) of 2006 and register that contract with the Department. Its implementing by-law, Executive Council Resolution No. (6) of 2010, sets three conditions in its Article 10: the project is registered with the Dubai Land Department, the developer has signed an agreement with a broker approved and licensed under the 2006 by-law, and that marketing agreement is itself registered with the Department. Article 11 of the same resolution declares void any off-plan sale made by a developer or a broker before the project's commencement is approved and the project is registered.

Article 12 of the resolution then deals directly with commission.

For a buyer, this means the whole of each payment goes to the project's escrow account. The practice guide repeats the instruction from the broker's side: brokers must check that a project is licensed and registered, that it has an escrow account and that a marketing contract exists between the developer and the brokerage, and must direct buyers to pay only into the escrow account. For the broker, it means the commission on an off-plan sale is a separate payment under the registered marketing agreement, never a slice withheld from the buyer's money. The texts read do not say when or at what rate a developer pays that commission; like any other brokerage fee, it follows the agreement.

Three further provisions surround these rules. Law No. (8) of 2007 provides in its Article 16 that a developer who deals with unregistered brokers faces imprisonment, a fine of at least AED 100,000, or both. Executive Council Resolution No. (30) of 2013, which approves the Land Department's fees, provides in its Article 6 that a developer or a broker who helps a payer to evade those fees faces the same fine as the evader, double the prescribed fee. And Law No. (13) of 2008 bars master developers and sub-developers, in its Article 7, from charging fees on sales, resales or other dispositions of completed or off-plan units, apart from administrative costs approved by the Department. That last rule concerns the developer's own charges, not a broker's commission, but it tells a resale buyer which charges the law allows a developer to add.

Where a commission dispute goes

A disagreement over a fee is a contractual claim, and the Dubai Land Department is clear about what its complaints channel does with those. A complaint must concern a real estate violation and not a contractual claim between the parties. Complaints on contractual matters are closed for lack of jurisdiction, and complaints about contracts concluded more than six months earlier are not considered. A client who believes a broker broke a professional rule can complain through the Department's website or Dubai REST; a client or a broker who simply disputes the amount owed cannot expect that channel to decide it.

The by-law as reproduced provides a forum of its own. Its Articles 34 to 38 have the Department establish a council of four members and its legal adviser to hear disputes arising from brokerage agreements. The council hears a dispute only where the brokerage agreement provides for it or the parties agree to it in writing. The respondent replies within one week, and the council decides within 30 days. Whether and how this council sits today could not be confirmed on an official page, so it is described here as the by-law sets it out and no more.

For the sale contract itself, the practice guide describes a separate route. A dispute over Contract F can be submitted through Trakheesi, the Department's licensing system, and the department concerned holds a meeting to seek an amicable settlement. If that fails, the parties must go to the judicial authorities.

Discipline is a different matter from money. According to the Land Department, a first violation may bring a warning and a repeat a fine, some violations are fined directly, and black points can be applied to both the office and the broker. The by-law as reproduced lists a notice, a warning, suspension for up to six months and blacklisting in its Article 39, and in its Article 40 cancels a registration at three black points, among other grounds. A broker may file a grievance within 15 days, a period the Land Department's answers confirm.

The 2025 commission pool, and what stays open

The official figures give a sense of scale, with care about what they measure. The Government of Dubai Media Office reported commissions of AED 13.59 billion in 2025 on 96,440 brokered transactions. Dividing one by the other gives about AED 140,900 of commission per transaction. That is an arithmetic average of everything the release counts, not a typical fee, and it says nothing about the rate applied to any one deal. A rise of 31% also implies a 2024 total of about AED 10.37 billion, since 13.59 divided by 1.31 is 10.37.

The release counted 32,294 registered brokers at the end of 2025, of whom 11,371 were women, and 9,785 registered brokerage offices. Women brokers carried out 28,909 transactions, up 49%, and earned AED 2.98 billion in commissions, up 83%. On those figures women made up about 35.2% of the register, handled about 30.0% of brokered transactions and earned about 21.9% of commissions. Transactions grew by 54% while commissions grew by 31%, so the average commission per brokered transaction fell between the two years; the release does not say why.

Several questions could not be answered from official pages and are left open. No customary or maximum percentage was found, for sales or for leases. The treatment of value added tax on a commission was not read. The commission clauses of the electronic contracts were not read. And the by-law of 2006 was read only in a reproduction, confirmed in part by the Land Department's published answers. On each of these, the general rule described here may be altered by the agreement in a given case.

Dubai's rules leave the price of a broker's work to the contract, and put their weight on the moment the fee is earned and on the party who owes it.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

About Kooky and Shaka →