A dwelling today.
A legacy tomorrow.

Plan for roughly 7–8% on top of the purchase price. The main lines:

• Dubai Land Department transfer fee 4%
• Agency commission (plus VAT) 2%
• Trustee office fee AED 2,100–4,200
• Mortgage registration (if financing) 0.25% of loan

Add a bank valuation fee and processing charges if you borrow, and a developer NOC fee on many resales. None of these are negotiable surprises — they are known amounts, and any agent who quotes you a “total” without them is rounding in their own favour.

Yes — genuinely, not through a workaround. Since 2002, non-GCC nationals can hold full freehold title in designated areas, which now cover most of the districts a foreign buyer would consider: Downtown, the Marina, the Palm, Dubai Hills, JVC, and dozens more.

The title deed is issued by the Dubai Land Department in your name. You can sell it, let it, mortgage it, and pass it to your heirs. Outside the designated zones, different rules apply — which is one reason the map matters more than the brochure.

Ejari is the government system that registers every tenancy contract in Dubai. Without it, a lease has no standing: you cannot connect DEWA utilities, sponsor family visas against your address, or bring a dispute to the Rental Disputes Centre.

Formally the landlord or their agent should register it; in practice the tenant often does, online or at a typing centre, for a small fee. If you are a landlord, do not leave this to chance — an unregistered lease weakens your own position as much as the tenant’s.

They are different risks, not different amounts of risk. Ready means you pay today’s full price, but you can inspect the actual unit, see the actual service charges, and rent it out next month. Off-plan means a lower entry and a payment plan, but you are buying a drawing — and the market you take delivery into may not be the market you bought in.

Service charges are the annual fee every owner pays for the building or community’s upkeep, quoted per square foot and set through RERA-approved budgets. They range from roughly AED 3 per sqft in simple villa communities to AED 30+ in towers with heavy amenities.

They surprise people because listings lead with price and yield, and the charge quietly takes a bite out of both. On a 1,000 sqft apartment at AED 20/sqft, that is AED 20,000 a year — often a fifth of the gross rent. Ask for the current charge and the last two years’ history before you offer, not after.

Own property worth AED 2 million or more and you can apply for a 10-year renewable residence visa, which extends to your spouse and children. The value can be a single property or several combined, and a mortgaged property can qualify subject to conditions on the amount paid and a bank letter.

It is a genuine benefit, but treat it as a consequence of a good purchase, not a reason for one. A property bought only to cross a visa threshold is usually a property bought badly.

First, read your Sale and Purchase Agreement: most contracts give the developer a grace period, commonly six to twelve months past the anticipated date, before you have any recourse at all. Delays inside that window are legal and, frankly, common.

Beyond it, your protections run through RERA — projects are escrow-controlled and completion-tracked, and sustained failure can lead to a project being cancelled and escrow funds returned under the Land Department’s process. That process protects your capital better than your calendar. If your plans depend on a hard move-in date, buy ready.

You can: several UAE banks lend to non-residents, typically at 50–60% loan-to-value with a shorter document trail than you might fear — passport, income proof, bank statements. Rates run higher than resident lending, and fees add up: arrangement, valuation, registration.

Whether you should depends on arithmetic, not appetite. If the all-in borrowing cost exceeds the yield, leverage is costing you money to hold the asset. Where it works well is capital efficiency — holding two well-chosen properties at 55% loan-to-value has historically beaten holding one outright, but only when both were well chosen. Run the numbers with someone who is not paid on the loan.