Registration trustee fees in Dubai: who charges what

A Real Estate Registration Trustee is a private office licensed by the Dubai Land Department (DLD) to process property transactions on its behalf. You go to a trustee centre to transfer a ready home, register a gift or an inheritance, or file a mortgage in person.

The trustee does the counter work. Its staff check your documents, enter the transaction in DLD's system, collect the fees and issue the receipt. DLD's own answers say it is the only body legally authorised to register and document real estate transactions in Dubai, so the trustee prepares the transaction and DLD records it.

For that service the trustee charges a fee, which DLD's service pages call the service partner fee. Most buyers know it simply as the trustee fee. This guide sets out what it is for each transaction, with VAT, and when you will and will not pay it.

The trustee fee is one line in the cost of a purchase. For the 4% fee that sits beside it, see our guide to the DLD fee in Dubai. For every cost from booking to resale, see the true cost of buying off-plan in Dubai.

They are DLD's network of counters across the city. Rather than every buyer and seller going to one government office, transactions are processed at licensed offices in different districts.

DLD has also placed its own staff inside the centres. In June 2020 it said a team including a manager and an auditor had been working from the registration trustee centres since early March that year. The team reviews and completes transactions on the spot, so a sale can be finished in one visit.

The network is large. In March 2026 DLD reported that its registration and services trustee offices reached 32 in 2025, up 14%, and handled 282,661 transactions for 563,920 customers. DLD's website keeps a directory of the offices with their locations, days and hours.

It depends on the transaction. On a sale DLD lists AED 4,000 plus VAT where the sale value is AED 500,000 or more, and AED 2,000 plus VAT where it is less. With VAT at 5%, the totals are AED 4,200 and AED 2,100.

The table below gives the same figures with the DLD page they come from. The "with VAT" column is our calculation at the UAE's standard rate of 5%.

Two things stand out. The fee is a flat amount in bands, not a percentage, so it barely moves between an AED 600,000 flat and an AED 6,000,000 villa. And the gift threshold, AED 2,000,000, is four times the sale threshold.

Yes. Every DLD service page that lists a service partner fee shows it "plus VAT", and the UAE's standard VAT rate is 5%.

VAT is shown only against the service partner fee. DLD's own charges, such as the 4% on a sale, the 0.25% on a mortgage and the AED 250 title deed fee, are listed without it. That is why the fee you see quoted is often AED 4,200 rather than AED 4,000.

A note on the property itself: VAT on a residential purchase price is a separate question, covered in our guide to property tax in Dubai.

Ready sales, gifts, inheritance and in-person mortgage filings go through a trustee centre. The first sale of an off-plan unit does not: the developer registers it on Oqood. Most mortgages are filed online by the bank.

Ready resale. DLD's property sale registration service is provided at Real Estate Registration Trustee centres. Buyer and seller, or their attorneys, attend with their documents and payment, and the title deed is issued in the buyer's name.

First off-plan sale. DLD's initial sale registration service is used by the developer through the Oqood portal. The developer selects the unit, enters the details, attaches the documents and pays, and the certificate is emailed to you. The page lists the 4% fee, split 2% seller and 2% purchaser by default, AED 10 knowledge and AED 10 innovation fees, and a developer self-registration fee of AED 1,000. It lists no service partner fee. Our guide to Oqood in Dubai explains that register in full.

Mortgages. DLD's mortgage services can be filed by the bank through DLD's online mortgage system, with DLD's fees deducted from the bank's account, or in person at a trustee centre. The service partner fee is listed on the mortgage pages either way, so ask your bank which charges it will pass on.

Gifts and inheritance. Both are processed at trustee centres, and inheritance also at DLD's own service centres.

Ejari and unit services. These go through a different kind of office, the Real Estate Services Trustee, with its own fees. Our Ejari guide covers tenancy registration.

You attend, the documents are checked, the transaction is entered, the fees are paid and the title deed is issued. DLD gives an expected time of 20 minutes for a sale registration once everything is in order.

DLD's property sale registration page sets out the steps:

1. Attend a trustee centre and submit the documents for verification. Anything missing is identified and the papers are uploaded to the digital vault.
2. The transaction is entered by an employee and audited.
3. The fees are paid and the receipt is emailed. DLD lists ePay, Dubai Pay, a Noqodi wallet or a manager's cheque.
4. The buyer's details are entered using Emirates ID or passport, and the request is submitted.
5. A reference number is issued so the request can be followed up.

What to bring. DLD lists Emirates ID for buyer and seller, or a valid passport for non-residents, and the developer's e-NOC in freehold areas. A representative needs an official power of attorney. Our title deed guide explains what the new deed shows and how to check it.

Instant sale. In March 2023 DLD launched an Instant Sale feature at registration trustees for apartments and villas in freehold areas. The price is confirmed through a smart valuation, the fees are paid and the new title deed is issued within minutes.

DLD's fees and the trustee's fee are paid separately. On a straightforward cash sale you usually bring a manager's cheque for DLD's fees and pay the service partner fee through the payment channels at the centre.

When DLD described the one-step process in 2020, it said DLD fees are paid by certified bank cheque and the trustee's fees through the payment portal. Its current sale registration page lists ePay, Dubai Pay, a Noqodi wallet and a manager's cheque as payment methods.

If the seller has a mortgage. DLD's process for selling a mortgaged property uses three manager's cheques: one to the bank or developer for the debt, one to the seller for any balance, and one to DLD for the 4%. The same page lists a registrar fee for the sale of AED 2,100 below AED 500,000 and AED 4,200 at AED 500,000 or more, and AED 315 for the registrar to release the seller's mortgage.

Ask your agent or the trustee centre for the exact payee names before you order cheques. A cheque made out wrongly is the most common reason a transfer is rebooked.

DLD's service pages list the fee but do not say who pays it. The sale contract decides, and it is commonly the buyer.

For the 4% itself, Executive Council Resolution No. 30 of 2013 splits the fee equally between seller and buyer unless they agree otherwise. There is no equivalent default on DLD's pages for the service partner fee, which is a private service charge rather than a government fee.

On a resale, put the answer in the memorandum of understanding signed at the start. Our guide to Form F, the MOU used for Dubai resales shows where the fees clause sits. On a gift or inheritance, the person registering the property normally pays.

Not on the first purchase from the developer. DLD's initial sale registration page lists no service partner fee, because the developer registers the sale itself on Oqood.

The trustee fee can appear later in the life of an off-plan home:

• A mortgage before the title deed. DLD lists a service partner fee of AED 5,000 plus VAT, AED 5,250, for a mortgage registered on an Oqood. That is the fee most off-plan buyers meet, when they mortgage the handover payment.
• A resale after handover. Once the title deed is issued, a sale goes through a trustee centre like any other ready resale.
• A gift or inheritance of the unit, at the rates in the table above.

A sale with a mortgage from the start. DLD has a separate service in which the developer registers the sale and the buyer's mortgage together through the Oqood portal. That page lists the 4%, the 0.25% mortgage fee and fixed title deed, map and AED 20 fees, but no service partner fee, and gives an expected time of six business days. Ask your developer and bank which route your purchase will use.

Selling before handover. An assignment of an off-plan contract is a new sale, and your buyer pays 4% on their price. How it is registered and which processing fees apply should be confirmed with the developer before you list. Our guide to selling off-plan before handover covers the developer's own charges.

Developers set their own administration or Oqood processing charges, which are not trustee fees. Ask for the figure in writing before you book.

These examples use the fees DLD lists. They assume the buyer pays every fee, which is the most common arrangement; your contract decides. The 4% and fixed fees are explained in our DLD fee guide.

Example 1: a ready studio at AED 450,000, paid in cash

Here the trustee fee is about a tenth of the registration bill. At the threshold it changes sharply: a sale at AED 500,000 pays AED 4,200, twice the fee on AED 499,000.

Example 2: a ready apartment at AED 1,800,000 with an AED 1,200,000 mortgage

The trustee fee appears twice, once for each registration, so it adds AED 8,400 in all. DLD's page for selling a mortgaged property says the registrar fee for the mortgage is waived when it is registered on the same day. Ask the trustee centre and your bank whether your transaction qualifies before you budget for both. The mortgage side is covered in depth in our guide to the mortgage registration fee in Dubai.

Example 3: a flat worth AED 1,900,000 given to a daughter

The same flat sold rather than gifted would pay the higher trustee band, AED 4,200, because the sale threshold is AED 500,000. The reduced gift rate applies to a mother, father, spouse or children, or to a company; our DLD fee guide sets out who qualifies.

Example 4: an off-plan apartment at AED 1,200,000, mortgaged at handover

On this purchase the only trustee fee is on the mortgage, and on a modest loan it is larger than the registration fee itself. Lending limits for off-plan homes are in our guide to off-plan mortgages in the UAE.

It is small next to the 4%, but it is fixed, so it weighs more on cheaper homes. On an AED 450,000 studio it adds about 0.5% of the price; on an AED 4,500,000 villa about 0.1%.

If you are comparing a ready home with an off-plan one, remember that the first off-plan purchase lists no trustee fee at all. The wider comparison is in our guide to off-plan versus ready property in Dubai.

Yes. DLD publishes a directory of Real Estate Registration Trustee offices with each office's area, working days and directions, and the fee for each service is the one DLD lists, not one each office sets.

DLD's answers give working hours of 8 am to 5.30 pm. Some offices list more days or longer hours than others in the directory, so check before you book. Buyer, seller, agent and bank representative all need to be available at the same time, which is usually the real constraint.

Remote options. DLD has offered remote registration for some cases. Its answers describe sales registered through a video call recorded by the trustee office. Ask the trustee centre whether your transaction can be done this way before you plan a trip.

1. Forgetting VAT. The fee DLD lists is before VAT. AED 4,000 is AED 4,200 at the counter.
2. Paying twice without noticing. A sale and a mortgage are separate registrations, and each lists its own service partner fee.
3. Using the sale threshold for a gift. A gift under AED 2,000,000 is in the lower band; a sale over AED 500,000 is not.
4. Expecting a trustee fee on an off-plan booking. The first sale is registered by the developer on Oqood; the developer's own administration charge is a different thing.
5. Assuming the seller pays. DLD's pages do not say who pays. Write it in the MOU.
6. Making cheques out wrongly. Confirm payee names and amounts with the trustee centre before the bank prints them.

• Real Estate Registration Trustee. A private office licensed by DLD to process property registrations such as sales, gifts and mortgages.
• Real Estate Services Trustee. A different kind of licensed office, used for Ejari and some unit services.
• Service partner fee. DLD's name for the trustee's fee. It is listed plus VAT.
• Oqood. DLD's interim register for off-plan sales, and the portal developers use to register them.
• e-NOC. The developer's electronic no objection certificate, needed to sell in freehold areas.
• Manager's cheque. A cheque issued by a bank on its own account, used to pay DLD and the parties on transfer day.

1. Work out the service partner fee from the sale value: AED 4,200 at AED 500,000 or more, AED 2,100 below.
2. Add a second fee if a mortgage is being registered: AED 4,200 on a title deed, AED 5,250 on an Oqood.
3. Agree in the MOU who pays the trustee fee and the DLD fee.
4. Book the trustee office and check its days and hours in DLD's directory.
5. Confirm the payee names and amounts for every manager's cheque.
6. Bring Emirates ID or passport, the developer e-NOC and any power of attorney.
7. Check the emailed receipt and new title deed before you leave.

The trustee fee is the smallest of the registration costs. The largest is the 4%, explained with worked examples in our DLD fee guide. If you are buying off-plan, the registration that matters first is Oqood, and the one that matters at the end is the title deed. For the full budget, read the true cost of buying off-plan in Dubai, and when you are ready to compare homes, browse all projects.