Dubai Land Department fees for gifts, heirs, mortgages and long leases

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Kooky

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Dubai charges a registration fee each time a right over property is written into the Dubai Land Department's register, and the rate depends entirely on what kind of right it is and how it came about. A sale is charged 4% of the contract value. A father who gives the same home to his daughter is charged 0.125% of its valuation. Heirs who put a late parent's flat into their names pay a flat AED 1,000. A bank that takes the flat as security is charged 0.25% of the debt.

All of those figures sit in one text: the schedule attached to Executive Council Resolution No. (30) of 2013 approving the fees of the Land Department, issued on 18 September 2013 and published on the Dubai Legislation Portal. The Department's own service pages then restate them, service by service, and add the service partner fee and other charges listed on each page.

This guide reads the schedule for the registrations that are not an ordinary sale: gifts, inheritance, wills and family endowments, mortgages, lease-to-own finance, long leases, usufruct and musataha. For each it gives the rate, the base it is applied to, the party the resolution makes liable, and a worked example in dirhams. It also says where the resolution and the service pages word the same fee differently, and where the pages read on 10 October 2026 give no answer.

Schedule to Executive Council Resolution No. (30) of 2013, items 5, 27 and 10, as published on the Dubai Legislation Portal and read on 10 October 2026.

One resolution, 87 lines

The resolution is short and its schedule is long. Article 2 approves two families of charges: the fees for registering dispositions of real property, whether the property is completed, under construction or off-plan, and the fees for the Department's services. Both are listed in a single schedule of 87 numbered items. The first is the sale fee. The last is the fee for joining a sustainability standards initiative.

The lines that concern this guide are scattered through it, and the table below gives the item number of each.

Some fees are a plain percentage of a value, one of the lines read here is a percentage with a minimum, and others are flat amounts in dirhams, for example AED 50 for approving a unit plan and AED 15,000 for valuing land with a hotel on it. The base of each percentage changes from one line to the next: the contract value, the property value, the mortgage value, the total lease value, or the consideration paid.

Who pays: the default in Article 3

A fee schedule says how much is owed. Article 3 of the resolution says by whom.

For a usufruct or a long-term lease, the article splits the fee in two: the owner or landlord pays 2% and the tenant or usufruct holder pays 2%, unless they agree otherwise. For a rent-to-own contract the landlord pays 2% of the property value, and the tenant pays 2% of the property value plus 0.25% of the amount financed. For the subdivision of property held in co-ownership, the co-owners pay in proportion to the shares they held before the subdivision.

Then comes a long list of transactions that follow one rule: the person to whom the rights are transferred pays. That list covers musataha, takharuj, gifts, wills, mortgages, debt conversions, family waqf and the rights of heirs under tenancies. Anything not listed falls under the residual rule: the applicant pays.

For mortgages, the Department's mortgage transfer page describes the money in practical terms: online, the Department's fees are deducted from the bank's account, and at a service centre the customer pays.

Gifts between first-degree relatives

The gift is the best-known exception to the 4% rule, and the gap is wide: at 0.125%, the gift rate is one thirty-second of the sale rate. Item 5 of the schedule sets the fee for registering a gift of property at 0.125% of the property's value, with a minimum of AED 2,000.

The Land Department's property gift registration page explains who can use it. The service registers a gift of a whole property or of a part of one, transferring ownership without compensation. The eligible recipients it lists are first-degree relatives, which the page spells out as mother, father, spouse or children. Brothers, sisters, grandparents and grandchildren are not on that list. The page also names companies among the parties, with the condition that an entity not yet registered with the Department registers first; it does not say what link between the giver and the company is required, and it says nothing of shareholders.

Two conditions on the property are stated. It must not be under a restriction, and it must not be granted land. The schedule has a separate line, item 26, that sets AED 500 for registering land given as a gift; the resolution's summary on the portal does not explain how that line relates to item 5, and the service page does not mention it.

Because the fee is a percentage of a valuation and not of a price, a valuation comes first. The page's terms say a property valuation request must be submitted at a trustee centre before the gift application, and that a smart valuation is available for apartments and villas. The schedule prices a Department valuation of a property unit at AED 4,000, and the same amount for land with a residential villa.

The relationship has to be proved. For individuals the page asks for a marriage certificate, or a birth certificate for children, translated and attested by the UAE embassy and by the foreign ministry of the issuing country, or proof of paternity or kinship from the applicant's embassy in the UAE. UAE citizens present a marriage contract or the Family Book.

The page sets the procedure out in five steps at a trustee centre and gives a processing time of 25 minutes. On top of the percentage it lists AED 250 for the title deed certificate, a map charge of AED 225 for land under Dubai Municipality or AED 100 for other land, a line of AED 250 for villas and apartments, and AED 10 each for the knowledge and innovation fees. The service partner fee, as the gift page gave it when it was opened again on 10 October 2026, is AED 4,000 plus VAT when the value is AED 2,000,000 or more and AED 2,000 plus VAT below that, a threshold four times the AED 500,000 used on the usufruct and lease-to-own pages. The page does not say who pays; Article 3 names the recipient.

A worked example, with assumed valuations. A mother gives her son a villa that the Department values at AED 3,000,000. The fee is 0.125% of AED 3,000,000, or AED 3,750, which is above the minimum. Add AED 250 for the deed, AED 250 for the villa line, AED 20 for the two small fees and AED 4,000 for the service partner: AED 8,270 before VAT. Now take an apartment valued at AED 1,200,000. The percentage gives AED 1,500, so the AED 2,000 minimum applies instead; with the same AED 520 of flat charges and a partner fee of AED 2,000, the total is AED 4,520 before VAT. The minimum stops binding at a valuation of AED 1,600,000, the point where 0.125% equals AED 2,000.

Inheritance, takharuj, wills and family waqf

Death is the one event the schedule treats almost as an administrative matter. Item 27 sets the fee for registering property in the names of heirs at AED 1,000 per inherited property. It is a flat amount, whatever the property is worth and however many heirs there are.

A worked example. An estate holds three properties in Dubai: two apartments and a plot. Registering all three in the heirs' names costs AED 1,000 three times, or AED 3,000, under item 27. A title deed issued under item 22 costs AED 250 each.

What heirs do next is charged differently. The schedule uses the term takharuj for the transfer of an heir's share. Item 29 sets the fee for that transfer at 1% of the property's value, and Article 3 puts it on the person to whom the rights are transferred, that is, the heir who ends up with the larger holding.

A worked example, with a caution. Three siblings inherit an apartment valued at AED 2,400,000 in equal thirds, and one buys out another. Read as the schedule line is summarised on the portal, 1% of the property's value is AED 24,000. If the base is instead the value of the share that moves, one third of AED 2,400,000 is AED 800,000 and 1% of that is AED 8,000. The English summary read for this guide does not settle which of the two is meant, and no Land Department service page for inheritance could be opened during the research. The point should be checked with the Department before a figure is relied on.

Two neighbouring lines complete the family picture. Registering a will costs 0.125% of the property's value under item 33, the same rate as a gift but, in the schedule as read, without the AED 2,000 minimum: on the AED 2,400,000 apartment that is AED 3,000. Registering a family waqf costs AED 2,000 per property under item 28.

Mortgages: four lines for the life of a loan

The schedule follows a mortgage from start to finish in four items. Registering it costs 0.25% of the mortgage value under item 10. Varying its details costs AED 1,000 under item 11. Transferring it costs 0.25% of the mortgage value again under item 12. Discharging it costs AED 1,000 under item 13.

The base is the debt, not the property. A home worth AED 2,500,000 that secures a loan of AED 1,600,000 produces a registration fee of 0.25% of AED 1,600,000, or AED 4,000.

The transfer line is the one borrowers meet when they move a home loan from one lender to another. The Land Department has a service page for it. For an ordinary mortgage where a title deed already exists, the page gives 0.25% of the mortgage value plus AED 250 for issuing the title deed. It also gives a service partner fee of AED 4,000 plus VAT, and AED 5,000 plus VAT for a provisional registration which the page labels Oqood.

A worked example. A borrower moves a remaining debt of AED 1,400,000 to a new bank. The fee is 0.25% of AED 1,400,000, or AED 3,500. Add AED 250 for the deed and AED 4,000 for the service partner, and the transfer costs AED 7,750 before VAT.

The page gives a processing time of 15 to 20 minutes.

Lease-to-own: the Ijara registration

A lease-to-own contract is a lease that ends in ownership. It is often referred to as Ijara, a word the pages read for this guide do not use. The schedule calls it a rent-to-own contract and gives it four lines. Registering one costs 4.25% under item 6, described as 4% of the property's value plus 0.25% of the total value of the contract. Amending the registration costs AED 1,000 under item 7. Transferring the contract to another financier costs 0.25% of the total contract value under item 8. Marking the contract as terminated costs AED 1,000 under item 9. Item 47, lower down, sets 0.25% of the property's value for registering a lease finance contract in the financier's name.

The Land Department's lease-to-own registration page presents the same fee as three amounts: 2% of the sale value for the seller, 2% of the sale value for the purchaser, and 0.25% of the rental value.

Here the three texts do not use the same words for the smaller component. The schedule applies the 0.25% to the total value of the contract. Article 3 of the same resolution applies it to the amount financed and puts it on the tenant. The service page applies it to the rental value and does not say who pays it.

A worked example, with assumed figures. A buyer acquires a home for AED 2,000,000 through a lease-to-own contract. The financier provides AED 1,500,000, and the rent payable over the whole term is assumed to total AED 2,100,000. The 4% component is AED 80,000: AED 40,000 for the seller and AED 40,000 for the purchaser. The 0.25% component is AED 3,750 if it is measured on the AED 1,500,000 financed, as Article 3 words it, and AED 5,250 if it is measured on the AED 2,100,000 of total rent, taking the schedule's total contract value and the service page's rental value both to mean that sum, which is an assumption. The purchaser's side is therefore AED 43,750 or AED 45,250, and the registration as a whole AED 83,750 or AED 85,250. The page adds AED 250 for the title deed, AED 10 each for the knowledge and innovation fees, and a service partner fee of AED 4,000 plus VAT at a value of AED 500,000 or more, or AED 2,000 plus VAT below it.

Among the documents the page asks for is a lease letter from the bank stating the rental amount with the start and expiry dates. The service is delivered at trustee centres, with a stated processing time of up to 15 minutes. That page was last updated on 30 September 2026.

Long leases and usufruct

The long lease and the usufruct come next. The Land Department's usufruct and musataha registration page treats the two as one: it defines usufruct, with "long-term lease" in brackets, as the right of a beneficiary to use and benefit from another party's property for a term of up to 99 years.

The schedule keeps them apart. Item 14 sets the fee for registering a long-term lease at 4% of the total value of the lease, and item 15 sets AED 1,000 for amending that registration. Item 16 sets the fee for registering a usufruct right at 2% of the property's value, and item 44 sets AED 250 for issuing a usufruct certificate. Article 3 then provides that for a usufruct or a long-term lease the owner pays 2% and the tenant or usufruct holder pays 2%. The service page, for its part, gives 2% of the rental value for the owner and 2% of the rental value for the lessee.

For a long lease the three texts agree in substance: 2% and 2% make the 4% of item 14, on the value of the lease. For a usufruct right they are harder to reconcile, because item 16 says 2% of the property's value while Article 3 names 2% for each of two parties. The English summary read for this guide does not resolve whether a usufruct produces 2% in all or 2% from each side.

A worked example. A tenant takes a 30-year lease of a retail building at a rent that totals AED 5,000,000 over the term. Under item 14 the fee is 4% of AED 5,000,000, or AED 200,000, and under the Article 3 default the landlord and the tenant each pay AED 100,000. The service page adds AED 250 for the certificate of title, a map charge, AED 10 each for the knowledge and innovation fees per drawing, and a service partner fee of AED 4,000 plus VAT because the value is above AED 500,000.

Musataha: building on someone else's land

Musataha is the right to build on land that belongs to another and to benefit from the building. The Land Department's page gives it a maximum term of 50 years, against 99 for usufruct.

The schedule charges it at a quarter of the sale rate. Registering a musataha contract costs 1% of the consideration paid under item 17. Amending the registration costs AED 1,000 under item 18. Transferring the contract costs 1% of the consideration paid under item 19. Terminating it costs AED 1,000 under item 20. Article 3 makes the person who receives the right liable, so the holder of the musataha pays on registration and the incoming holder pays on a transfer.

The service page adds a distinction the schedule does not make. It lists 1% for a musataha registration, 1% for the resale of a musataha on land that has not been built on, and, for the resale of a musataha on built-up land, 4% of the value of the building plus 1% for the musataha. The page's wording for that last part is 1% of the musataha area, and it does not say how the amount is measured.

A worked example, with assumed figures. A developer pays AED 10,000,000 for a 50-year musataha over a plot. Registration costs 1% of AED 10,000,000, or AED 100,000. Some years later the developer has completed a building valued at AED 8,000,000 and sells the right, with the musataha component still taken at AED 10,000,000. On the assumption that the 1% applies to the musataha consideration, the fee is 4% of AED 8,000,000, or AED 320,000, plus 1% of AED 10,000,000, or AED 100,000: AED 420,000 in all. Had the land still been empty, the resale would have cost AED 100,000. The page does not say how the building is valued or who pays; Article 3 names the person receiving the right.

The same page serves both rights at trustee centres, with a stated maximum processing time of 30 minutes, and asks for the developer's electronic no-objection certificate in freehold areas.

What the same value costs under each line

Put side by side, the percentage lines show how much turns on the legal character of a transfer. The chart applies each rate to one assumed value of AED 3,000,000, treated in turn as a sale price, a property value, a mortgage value and a gift valuation. The flat charges and the service partner fee are left out.

The resolution also gives the Department a power over the values declared. Under Article 4 the Department may verify property values, and may assess a value itself where none is determined, where the contract value is below market value or where false data has been submitted. Articles 5 and 6 set the fine for evading fees at double the fee, for the person who evades and for a developer or broker who helps, and Article 8 lets an affected person file a written grievance with the Director General, decided by a committee within 30 days.

Companies, delayed sale and late registration: where the pages stop

Three subjects are not answered by the texts opened for this guide.

Transfers into or between companies. The 87 items of the schedule, as summarised from the portal's English text, contain no line for a transfer from a person to a company he or she owns, or between companies under common ownership. The only place companies appear in the pages read is the gift registration page, which names companies among the parties to a gift at the 0.125% rate without stating the conditions. Whether a given transfer to a company is registered as a gift or as a sale at the full rate is therefore a question for the Department on the facts of the case.

Delayed sale. No item in the schedule uses the term, and no service page for it could be opened within the research for this guide. The fee for that registration is not stated here.

Late registration. The resolution, as read, sets no deadline for registering a disposition and no surcharge for registering one late. Its penalty provisions, Articles 5 and 6, are aimed at evasion of fees, not at delay. Other legislation was not read for this guide.

Some lines of the schedule do bear on timing and on corrections. Processing a disposition urgently costs AED 5,000 under item 80. Having the Department attend a client's premises to process a transaction costs AED 2,000 under item 79. Cancelling a registered disposition costs AED 1,000 under item 45, and replacing a lost or damaged title deed costs AED 1,000 under item 25.

One further point applies to every example above: none of the pages read states the VAT rate on the service partner fee, so each total is given before VAT. Under Article 9 of the resolution, the fees and fines collected go to the public treasury of the Government of Dubai.

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.

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