How to buy property in Dubai as a foreigner comes down to five steps set by law: an address in a designated area, a broker on the Dubai Land Department's register, the agreement, registration, and the title deed. Non-UAE nationals may own freehold, with no time limit, in the areas the Ruler designates, and the purchase is complete on the day the Land Department records it. This guide takes each step in turn, with the law or the Land Department service behind it, as they stand in September 2026.
Where Foreign Ownership Begins
The right rests on Law No. 7 of 2006 on Real Property Registration, issued on 13 March 2006. Its Article 4 reserves ownership across the emirate to UAE and GCC nationals, and allows non-UAE nationals to hold freehold without a time limit, usufruct, or a lease of up to 99 years "in certain areas determined by the Ruler".
The first of those areas were named in Regulation No. 3 of 2006, issued on 7 June 2006: twenty-three sectors, among them Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Hills, Jebel Ali and Al Barsha South. They are official sector names rather than the names on a brochure. Downtown, Business Bay, Dubai Hills Estate and many of the communities buyers search for today sit inside sectors added by later resolutions. In everyday speech these are the freehold areas.
A Licensed Broker, Confirmed on the Register
The Dubai Land Department publishes a list of licensed real estate brokers and a companion list of licensed brokerage companies. Both are free to search without logging in, by name, mobile number, area or the office's registration number, the ORN. Each agent carries a Land Department practice card with a Broker Registration Number, the BRN, and the card's validity follows the brokerage's trade licence.
A second service, "Verify License and Permits" in the Dubai REST app, confirms the electronic copy of a licence or permit issued through the Trakheesi system, and its stated service time is immediate. Every property advertisement in Dubai also carries a Trakheesi permit. Augusta Properties holds RERA licence 52101.
The Off-Plan Route: Agreement, Oqood and Escrow
A home bought before completion is bought from the developer, under a sale and purchase agreement (the SPA) that sets the payment plan for that project. The booking deposit is commonly 5 to 20% of the price, followed by instalments tied to construction milestones or to dates and a balance at handover; some projects continue after handover. The plan is the developer's, project by project, and our guide to off-plan payment plans sets out the common shapes.
The sale is then registered in Oqood, the Land Department's interim register under Law No. 13 of 2008, which records the buyer's interest in the unit. The Land Department's fee of 4% of the price is due at this registration, at the start of the purchase rather than at handover.
Every payment made before handover goes into the project's escrow account at an approved bank, and is released to the developer against certified construction progress, under Law No. 8 of 2007. The courts apply the same law to developers' own financing: in September 2026 Dubai's Court of Cassation held that a bank's mortgage over a development is enforceable only for the loan money actually paid into the project's escrow account (Khaleej Times, 23 September 2026).
The Ready Route: The NOC and the Trustee Appointment
A completed home bought from its owner is registered at a Real Estate Registration Trustee office, acting for the Land Department. Before the appointment, the developer, or in a master community the master developer, issues an electronic no-objection certificate, the e-NOC, requested through the Dubai REST app. The Land Department lists it among the required documents for a sale in the freehold areas.
The appointment itself is set at 25 minutes. The transfer fee is 2% of the sale value from the seller and 2% from the buyer. The trustee's service fee is AED 4,000 plus VAT where the sale value is AED 500,000 (about USD 136,150) or more, and AED 2,000 plus VAT below that. The title deed is AED 250, and the knowledge and innovation fees are AED 10 each (Dubai Land Department, "Property Sale Registration", page updated 8 September 2026). A purchase with a mortgage adds the registration of the mortgage, at 0.25% of the loan amount plus fixed deed fees.
The Title Deed, and What It Records
Ownership in Dubai is a matter of record. Article 9 of Law No. 7 of 2006 provides that every transaction that creates, transfers, amends or extinguishes a property right is recorded in the Property Register, and that a transaction is valid once it is recorded there. On a ready home the title deed is issued in the buyer's name at the transfer. On an off-plan home the Oqood record holds the buyer's interest until completion, when the title deed follows.
The register is also where the Land Department is modernising. In September 2026 it launched an artificial intelligence platform to automate property registration, as Fast Company Middle East reported on 24 September.
Buying from Wherever You Live
Our team in Dubai presents the options in the areas and at the budget you set, drawn from every leading developer and from the resale market, and you choose the home. From then on we arrange each step described here on your behalf: the checks, the agreement, the registration and the keys, and, if you wish, the management of the home in the years that follow.
A consultation is the simplest way to see these steps laid against your own plans, and it takes thirty minutes by Zoom.
Sources Law No. 7 of 2006 on Real Property Registration in the Emirate of Dubai and Regulation No. 3 of 2006, Dubai Legislation Portal · Law No. 8 of 2007 and Law No. 13 of 2008, Dubai Legislation Portal · Dubai Land Department: Licensed Real Estate Brokers; Licensed Real Estate Brokerage Companies; Verify License and Permits; Property Sale Registration; Registering the sale of a mortgaged property (pages read September 2026) · Khaleej Times, "Dubai developer mortgages are void unless funds go into escrow, says court", 23 September 2026 · Fast Company Middle East, 24 September 2026.