Real Estate Lawyers in
Dubai

Law No. 7 of 2006 on Real Property Registration governs ownership and the property register. Article 9 makes transactions that create, transfer, amend or extinguish real property rights invalid unless registered, and Article 7 gives the register absolute evidentiary value against everyone, short of fraud or forgery. Tenancies run on a separate law, Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008.

In designated areas, yes. Article 4 of Law No. 7 of 2006 restricts ownership generally to UAE and GCC nationals, companies wholly owned by them and public joint stock companies, while allowing non-nationals to be granted freehold, usufruct or a lease of up to 99 years in areas designated for that purpose under Regulation No. 3 of 2006. Whether a particular buyer — individual or company — can be registered for a particular property is checked against the property and the entity, not assumed.

It depends on the dispute. Landlord and tenant claims go to the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre under Decree No. 26 of 2013, subject to that Decree’s exclusions. Sale and purchase, developer and ownership claims generally go to the Dubai Courts unless a valid arbitration agreement applies. Registration and project regulation sit with the Dubai Land Department and RERA. Working out the forum comes before working out the argument.

Who is registered as owner and whether they can sell; whether the property is mortgaged or otherwise encumbered; service charge arrears; the payment schedule and what each payment is tied to; handover and snagging obligations; what happens on either side’s default; and how disputes are resolved. For off-plan, also the project’s registration status and the escrow arrangements.

Off-plan sales are recorded in the Interim Real Property Register. Under Article 3 of Law No. 13 of 2008, a disposition of an off-plan unit that is not entered in that register is void — so registration is not paperwork that can wait. Once a completion certificate is issued, Article 8 requires the developer to register the finished units in the Property Register in the purchasers’ names.

No, but you need a properly drafted power of attorney, notarised and legalised for use in the UAE and translated into Arabic. It has to cover the specific steps involved — signing, registering, filing, settling and enforcing — because a general form is often refused at the point it is needed.

Ejari is the Dubai Land Department’s tenancy registration system. Article 4 of Law No. 26 of 2007 requires lease contracts to be registered, and in practice that means Ejari. Registration can be done through the Dubai REST app, the Department’s website or a Real Estate Trustee Centre, and renewals need registering as well as new tenancies.

Decree No. 43 of 2013 caps the increase by reference to how far the current rent sits below the average market rent for a comparable property on RERA’s index: no increase within 10% of the average, then 5%, 10%, 15% and up to 20% once the gap passes 40%. Any change to the rent or other terms also needs notice at least 90 days before expiry under Article 14, unless the parties agreed otherwise.

That depends on what the sale and purchase agreement says about the completion date and what remedies it provides, on the project’s regulatory status with RERA, and on what has been paid and when. Law No. 13 of 2008, as amended, sets out the framework for off-plan sales and for terminating them, with the Dubai Land Department involved in the process. The realistic options are assessed from the contract and the project record rather than from the delay alone.

Often not. Where the seller is registered, the property is unencumbered, the payment structure is simple and the buyer is eligible, a conveyancer and the Trustee Centre process handle it. Legal review earns its place where the structure is unusual, an entity is buying, the property is off-plan, there is finance or an existing tenancy, or something in the paperwork does not reconcile.

Whatever you already hold: the contract or draft, any addenda, the title deed or Oqood, payment records, notices served or received, correspondence with the other side or the agent, and the dates involved. Gaps are normal. What exists at the outset shapes what can realistically be argued, which is why we look at documents before offering a view.

This practice is built around Dubai property and real estate law. Adjacent work is taken where it genuinely arises from a property matter — corporate structures used to hold property, arbitration under a construction or development contract, and inheritance of real property. Matters unconnected to property are better placed with a practice that focuses on them.