Checks before buying a ready property in Dubai

The checklist at a glance

The title deed and the seller

Start with the deed. DLD's Title Deed Verification service, on its website and in the Dubai REST app, confirms at once whether a title deed issued by DLD is valid. You enter the certificate number and year printed below the barcode, and the property type. Betterhomes advises seeing the original deed before you sign anything or pay a deposit, and notes that any mortgage shows on it.

• Match the names on the deed to the people signing Form F. If the deed shows joint owners, make sure each one is signing, in person or by attorney.
• Ask whether the home is mortgaged. If it is, the loan is paid off from the price against the bank's liability letter, as buying a resale property explains.
• At the trustee office, sellers identify themselves with an Emirates ID, or a valid passport if they are non-resident foreigners.

If an attorney is selling. Under DLD Circular No. 29/R/2025, as summarised by Dubai law firms, a power of attorney must expressly authorise the sale, and general wording is rejected. One issued abroad is valid for property deals for two years at most and must be notarised, legalised and attested. The trustee checks it on official court and Ministry of Justice portals, and a QR code alone is not accepted as proof. The sale proceeds go to the owner named on the deed; a cheque can be made out to the attorney only if both the power of attorney and the sale contract expressly allow it.

The advert and the broker

• Trakheesi permit. Every property advert in Dubai needs a marketing permit from DLD's Trakheesi system, and the permit number must appear on the listing. Owners advertising their own home are not exempt.
• Madmoun QR code. Since April 2023 printed and audiovisual adverts carry a Madmoun QR code. Scanning it confirms that the advert's permit is valid and approved by RERA, and can show the property's authorised details and whether it has already been sold or let.
• The broker's card. Ask for the broker's registration number, the BRN, and check the card with DLD's e-card verification service in the Dubai REST app before you pay anything.
• The number of listings. Property Finder notes that a resale home may be advertised by no more than three brokers at the same time.

Service charges, cooling and the building's management

Service charges. Each owner's share follows the ratio of their unit's area to the whole property (Article 25 of Law No. 6 of 2019), so the charge is quoted per square foot. Look up the approved rate in DLD's Service Charge Index, on the DLD website, through Mollak or in Dubai REST, by choosing the project, the use and the year, and multiply it by the unit's area. At an approved AED 15 per sq ft, a 1,200 sq ft apartment pays AED 18,000 a year. Bayut gives a range of AED 3 to AED 30 per sq ft or more.

Arrears. Unpaid service charges are a lien on the unit, and it may not be sold until they are paid (Article 32 of Law No. 6 of 2019). Ask the seller for a current statement of dues; owners can see and pay their charges in the Dubai REST app. The developer's NOC also depends on it: Nakheel lists service charges, including provisional ones, among its conditions.

• The owners committee. RERA appoints an owners committee of up to nine members once at least 10% of the units are registered, and it reviews the annual maintenance budgets (Articles 22 and 24). Ask whether the building has one.
• The reserve fund. The law lets the management entity keep a separate reserve for emergencies and for replacing equipment in the common parts (Article 30). If it falls short, owners can be asked to cover emergency costs with RERA's approval, so ask how well funded it is.
• The trend. Compare this year's approved rate with earlier years in the index. A sharp rise deserves an explanation.

Cooling. Ask how the home is cooled and billed. In many buildings cooling comes from a district cooling provider and is billed separately from DEWA. Empower charges a demand charge of AED 750 per refrigeration ton of the unit's cooling capacity a year, collected monthly, plus metered consumption, so ask for the unit's capacity and recent bills. In buildings marketed as chiller-free, cooling is included in the service charge instead. Dubai's Regulatory and Supervisory Bureau licenses and regulates district cooling under Executive Council Resolution No. 6 of 2021.

Make sure the seller settles the final DEWA and cooling bills: Nakheel, for one, asks for a DEWA bill and an Empower document with a NOC application. Service charges in Dubai explains how charges are approved.

The home's condition and the building's age

There is no developer handover on a resale, so arrange your own inspection before you commit. Snagging, the inspection buyers of new homes do at handover, is an industry practice rather than a legal procedure, and the same discipline works here: book an independent inspector before you sign Form F, or write an inspection period into Form F's additional terms.

Know what the developer still owes. Under Article 40 of Law No. 6 of 2019 the developer must fix defective installations for one year from handover, and structural defects for ten years from the building's completion certificate. On most resale homes the one-year period ended long ago, so repairs fall to the owner, while the ten-year period may still run on a newer building. What to look at:

• Air conditioning: its age, how well it cools and when it was last serviced
• Signs of water: damp patches, stains, leaks under sinks and around windows, and the bathroom waterproofing
• Electrics, water pressure, hot water and drainage, each tested while running
• Cracks in walls and ceilings, and the state of balconies and facades
• The common areas: lifts, lobby, car park, pool and gym, which show how the building is kept
• Any alterations the seller made, and the paperwork for them
• For a villa: the roof, boundary walls, irrigation and any pool equipment

If the home is tenanted

If the home is let, the lease comes with it. Article 28 of Law No. 26 of 2007 says that a transfer of ownership does not affect the tenant's right to continue to occupy the property, so you take over as landlord on the existing terms.

• Ask for the tenancy contract and its Ejari registration. Every lease must be registered with RERA (Article 4), and DLD issues a registration certificate.
• Note the rent, the expiry date, how the rent is paid and who holds the tenant's security deposit, and record in Form F how the rent and the deposit pass to you.
• If you want to live in the home, you can recover it for your own use when the lease expires only after giving the tenant 12 months' notice through a notary public or by registered mail (Article 25(2), as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008).

Buying a tenanted property in Dubai covers the rent, the notice rules and the handover in detail.

The mortgage valuation gap

If you are borrowing, the bank lends on whichever is lower, the price or its own valuation. A valuation below the price does not stop the sale, but it raises the cash you must find. With an 80% loan:

80% is the most a bank may lend an expatriate on a first home worth up to AED 5 million, and the buying fees come on top. Write a finance condition into Form F and keep cash in reserve: without one, a buyer whose mortgage falls through will in most cases lose the 10% deposit. How mortgages work in Dubai has the limits, and the mortgage calculator shows the repayments.

When the checks are done, browse ready and resale homes, and see the property glossary for any term above.

Questions buyers ask

Sources

• Dubai Land Department: title deed verification
• Betterhomes: legal checklist for buyers of Dubai resale homes (March 2026)
• Dubai Land Department: property sale registration
• BSA Law: Dubai's standards for powers of attorney in property deals (August 2025)
• Anders: rules on powers of attorney for real estate in Dubai (November 2025)
• Bayut: Trakheesi advertising permits (October 2026)
• Property Finder: Trakheesi permits (January 2026)
• Dubai Land Department: Madmoun QR codes on property adverts (April 2023)
• Dubai Land Department: e-card verification
• Betterhomes: choosing a real estate agent in Dubai (March 2026)
• Dubai Land Department: Service Charge Index
• Mollak: about the system
• Dubai Land Department: Dubai REST
• Dubai Legislation Portal: Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly owned real property
• Bayut: guide to service charges in Dubai (October 2026)
• Nakheel: NOC for transfer (FAQ)
• Bayut: Empower district cooling charges (October 2026)
• Khaleej Times: Dubai issues new regulations for district cooling services (March 2021)
• Dubai Legislation Portal: Law No. 26 of 2007 on landlords and tenants
• Dubai Legislation Portal: Law No. 33 of 2008 amending Law No. 26 of 2007
• Dubai Land Department: register or renew an Ejari contract
• Meraas: guide to Form F (April 2026)
• Property Finder: how much you can borrow on a Dubai mortgage (September 2026)
• Central Bank of the UAE: Resolution 31/2/2020 amending the mortgage regulations
• ATB Legal: pulling out of a resale purchase in the UAE (April 2026)