Buyer's agent in Dubai: a RERA-licensed broker, on Contract B.

Is a buyer's agent a licensed role in Dubai?

Yes. Every RERA-approved broker is listed on the Dubai Land Department website and in the Dubai REST app, and must carry a RERA broker card. The buyer's broker is a named party in the RERA contracts: Contract B is the agreement between you and your broker, and it must state the parties, the property, the agreed amount and the commission rate.

Check the broker's name and card before you sign Contract B. The fee rules: Dubai real estate agent fees.

Who pays the agent in Dubai, and how much?

Whoever signs a brokerage contract with them. Contract B commits a buyer to the buyer's broker fee; Contract F records the seller's broker commission and the buyer's broker commission separately. No official source sets a percentage: the DLD says commission is set by the agreement, and custom applies only when the agreement is silent. UAE VAT of 5% is added.

So the number to read is the rate in your own Contract B, before you sign it, not a figure quoted as standard.

What does a buyer's agent do in Dubai?

Searches the freehold areas, arranges viewings, negotiates, and runs the transfer: the developer's no-objection certificate, the appointment at a DLD Real Estate Registration Trustee office, the fees, and the registration certificate, which the DLD emails. The DLD lists the service time as about 25 minutes. Off-plan sales go on the interim register, Oqood, first.

If the seller has a mortgage, the transfer uses three manager's cheques (bank, seller, DLD) and a mortgage-release step. The deed you end up holding: the Dubai title deed and Oqood explained.

Where can a buyer's agent buy for a foreigner in Dubai?

Only on plots in areas designated for non-UAE nationals under Law No. 7 of 2006 and Regulation No. 3 of 2006, such as Dubai Marina and Palm Jumeirah. The right attaches to specific plots on the DLD's maps, not to a community name. No residency is needed: a non-resident buys on a passport, and a power of attorney is accepted.

Check the specific plot with the Dubai Land Department before you pay a deposit. The full rules: buying property in Dubai as a foreigner.

Do I need a lawyer to buy property in Dubai?

No official DLD page read for our research makes a lawyer mandatory: the service pages name the parties, the trustee office and, in freehold zones, the developer. You can still hire your own lawyer to read Contract F. The fixed costs: a 4% DLD transfer fee, officially split 2% buyer and 2% seller but generally borne by the buyer, and a trustee fee of AED 4,000 plus VAT at AED 500,000 or more.

Below AED 500,000 the trustee fee is AED 2,000 plus VAT; the title deed is AED 250. Every line: Dubai property buying costs.

Where does independent research fit when buying in Dubai?

Before Contract B. Brinkman Data analyses every listing for sale in your Dubai area and budget, checks rents against real lets, adds the transfer fee and service charges, and sends you the five worth buying with a spreadsheet of every listing. It is not a broker, takes no commission and is paid only by the buyer. $499, delivered in 5 days.

Service charges are one of the yearly costs of holding a Dubai unit. They are approved by RERA and published per project in the DLD's Service Charge Index, which is where that line comes from.

The order that works: research first, then an agent to view and negotiate, then the notary and your own lawyer. The full comparison: how to find a property to buy abroad. What an independent analyst does: independent property analyst. A real report, page by page: the sample report.

Header photo: Makalu, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.