Is there property tax in Dubai? What owners pay each year (2026)

No. Dubai does not charge an annual property tax, and the UAE does not levy income tax on individuals. Owning a home in Dubai does not create a yearly tax bill based on its value.

What owners do pay are fees and charges. There is a one-off registration fee when you buy, and recurring charges for running the building and the home. A few of them carry VAT, and if you own through a company, or let property under a licence, corporate tax can apply.

This guide sets out each of those in turn: what is paid once, what is paid every year, and when tax enters the picture. It is general information, not tax advice, and it covers the UAE side only. Your home country may tax rent or gains from a Dubai property.

The largest one-off cost is the Dubai Land Department (DLD) registration fee of 4% of the price. Small fixed fees, a trustee fee on a resale and, if you borrow, a mortgage registration fee come on top.

The 4% DLD fee. Executive Council Resolution No. 30 of 2013 sets the fee for registering a sale at 4% of its value. The law splits it equally between buyer and seller unless they agree otherwise, but in practice buyers usually pay all of it. It is a registration fee paid once, not a tax charged every year. Our DLD fee guide covers who pays, when and the lower rates for gifts and inheritance.

On an off-plan home, the 4% is paid when the developer registers your purchase on Oqood, the interim register. When the building is complete and the Oqood becomes a title deed, no second 4% is due; only issuance and administration fees apply.

On a ready resale, the Dubai Land Department lists fixed fees alongside the 4%, including AED 250 for the title deed, AED 10 knowledge and AED 10 innovation fees, and a service partner (trustee) fee of AED 4,000 plus VAT where the price is AED 500,000 or more, or AED 2,000 plus VAT below that.

With a mortgage, the department's mortgage registration service lists a fee of 0.25% of the loan, plus fixed charges.

Worked example: one-off costs on a ready resale

An apartment is bought for AED 1,500,000 with a mortgage of AED 1,000,000, and the buyer pays the whole 4%.

None of that is repeated in later years. The full list of buying costs, including bank and developer charges, is in the true cost of buying off-plan in Dubai.

The recurring costs are service charges, utilities and the housing fee. Who pays the last two depends on whether you live in the home or let it.

Service charges

Service charges pay for running the building and community: security, cleaning, maintenance, common-area utilities, insurance, administration and a reserve for major repairs. They are the largest recurring cost for most owners.

The rules come from Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly owned property:

• Your share is set by the ratio of your unit's area to the total area of the property.
• RERA approval first. A management entity may not collect any amount from owners without the Real Estate Regulatory Agency's approval.
• Payment is compulsory. An owner may not refuse to pay approved charges, and remains liable even where a lease says the tenant pays.

Invoices and payments run through Mollak, and the Dubai Land Department's Service Charge Index shows a building's approved rate. Our guide to service charges in Dubai explains how budgets are set and challenged.

VAT on service charges. The Federal Tax Authority's real estate VAT guide says charges for the upkeep of communal areas are standard-rated. They pay for services, not for the supply of a residential building, so they are not zero-rated or exempt. If your share of the approved budget is AED 12,000 before VAT, the invoice adds AED 600 at 5%, for AED 12,600.

The housing fee

The housing fee is a Dubai Municipality charge, collected on the monthly DEWA bill. For a tenant it is 5% of the yearly rent, split into 12 instalments. On an AED 100,000 lease that is AED 5,000 a year, or AED 416.67 a month.

When you live in the home yourself, the fee is billed to your DEWA account and is based on the unit's rental value as Dubai Municipality assesses it. When you let the home and the tenant opens their own DEWA account, the tenant pays it. Our guide to the Dubai housing fee has worked examples and explains how to correct a wrong amount.

Utilities and cooling

Electricity and water are billed by DEWA to the account holder. Where a building uses district cooling, the cooling provider bills separately, and some charges accrue even when the home is empty. Ask the developer or building manager which provider serves the building and what its charges are.

VAT in the UAE is 5%. For homes, the first sale or lease within three years of completion is zero-rated and later residential sales and leases are exempt. Commercial property is taxed at 5% on both sale and lease.

The Federal Tax Authority's real estate VAT guide sets out the treatment:

Residential versus commercial. A residential building, in the VAT rules, is one intended and designed for people to live in, including homes used as a principal residence. Hotels, motels and serviced apartments where services beyond accommodation are provided are not residential buildings. Offices, shops and warehouses are commercial.

What this means for buyers:

• Buying a new home from a developer: zero-rated, so no VAT on the price, provided it is the first supply within three years of completion.
• Buying a resale home: exempt, so no VAT on the price.
• Letting a home on an annual lease: exempt, so no VAT on the rent.
• Buying or letting commercial property: 5% on the price and the rent. On an AED 2,000,000 office, VAT at 5% is AED 100,000. The Federal Tax Authority publishes a guide for buyers who are not VAT-registered on paying VAT on a commercial purchase.
• Fees and services: VAT at 5% applies to service charges, trustee fees, agency commission and property management fees.

If you are considering commercial property, see our commercial projects and take advice on VAT registration before you buy. Serviced apartments are covered in our serviced apartments guide.

Not as an individual who owns property in their own name and lets it without a licence. The Federal Tax Authority treats that rent as real estate investment income, which is excluded from corporate tax. Companies, and individuals who let property under a licence, are in a different position.

Individuals

The UAE does not levy income tax on individuals. Corporate tax, which started for financial years beginning on or after 1 June 2023, applies to an individual only on business activity, and only where turnover from business in the UAE passes AED 1 million in a calendar year, under Cabinet Decision No. 49 of 2023.

Real estate investment is carved out. The Federal Tax Authority defines it as an individual's investment activity related to the sale, leasing, sub-leasing and renting of land or real estate in the UAE that is not conducted, and is not required to be conducted, through a licence. Income from it:

• is outside the scope of corporate tax; and
• does not count toward the AED 1 million turnover test.

The authority's own guide works through an example of an individual renting out apartments for AED 1.2 million a year without a licence, and concludes that the income is not subject to corporate tax.

When the exclusion does not apply. If you hold a licence to manage your property, for example through a sole establishment, the authority treats the rent as business income. It then counts toward the AED 1 million turnover test, and corporate tax applies above it.

Companies

A company that owns property is taxed on its profit, which includes rent and gains on sale. The UAE government portal gives the rates as 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it.

Worked example. A UAE company's taxable income from its property for the year is AED 500,000.

1. The first AED 375,000 is taxed at 0%.
2. The remaining AED 125,000 is taxed at 9%: AED 11,250.

The company's corporate tax for the year is AED 11,250, before any reliefs that may apply to it.

Real estate businesses. The portal lists businesses engaged in real estate management, construction, development, agency and brokerage among those subject to corporate tax. Free zone companies, partnerships and family foundations have their own rules. If you are thinking of buying through a company, take advice first, because the structure also affects what happens on death and on resale. Our guide to whether foreigners can buy property in the UAE covers company ownership in more detail.

Not for an individual whose sale is a real estate investment carried on without a licence. The Federal Tax Authority's definition of real estate investment covers sale as well as leasing, so the gain is outside corporate tax.

A company's gain on a sale is part of its taxable profit, at the rates above. When selling, the costs are fees rather than tax: the DLD fee if you agree to share it, agency commission, and the developer's no-objection certificate. Our guide to selling off-plan before handover covers those.

Many countries tax their residents on worldwide income and gains, including rent and profits from a Dubai property. The UAE position in this guide does not change that.

If you are tax resident in the UK, India, the US or elsewhere, ask an adviser there how Dubai rent and sale proceeds are taxed and reported, and whether a tax treaty applies. Our country guides cover the basics for buyers from the UK, India, the US and Pakistan.

An owner buys a ready apartment and lets it on an annual lease. Here is what falls on the owner in year one and in year two, using only official rates and the owner's own figures.

Assumptions: price AED 1,500,000, bought without a mortgage; service charge share of AED 12,000 a year before VAT; let at AED 100,000 a year; the owner is an individual with no licence.

The pattern is clear: a large one-off cost at purchase, then the service charge as the owner's main recurring cost. If the same apartment were held by a company, its rental profit would fall under corporate tax at the rates above.

Several charges are called "taxes" in conversation but are fees or charges for services.

• The 4% DLD fee is a registration fee, paid once.
• The housing fee is a municipal charge on the DEWA bill, paid by the occupier.
• Service charges pay for running the building, approved by RERA.
• The Tourism Dirham is paid by guests in holiday homes and hotels, per occupied room per night; the operator collects it. See our holiday homes guide.
• Ejari fees pay for registering a lease.

1. The 4% DLD fee, plus fixed fees, in cash at purchase or at Oqood registration.
2. Trustee and mortgage registration fees, if buying a ready home or borrowing.
3. The building's service charge: look up the approved rate on the Service Charge Index, and add 5% VAT.
4. Utilities and cooling: ask which cooling provider serves the building.
5. The housing fee, if you will live in the home.
6. VAT, if the property is commercial.
7. Ownership structure: individual or company, and what that means for corporate tax.
8. Home-country tax on rent and gains.

• DLD fee. The Dubai Land Department's 4% registration fee on a sale.
• Oqood. The interim register for off-plan sales, where the 4% is paid.
• Service charges. Owners' share of the costs of running a jointly owned property, approved by RERA.
• Housing fee. Dubai Municipality's charge, collected on the DEWA bill.
• Zero-rated. VAT at 0%; the supplier can still recover VAT on its costs.
• Exempt. Outside VAT; no VAT is charged.
• Real estate investment. An individual's unlicensed sale or leasing of UAE property, excluded from corporate tax.

Read the true cost of buying off-plan for every cost from booking to resale, then the DLD fee, service charges and housing fee guides. When you are ready to compare homes, browse all off-plan projects or new launches.