Selling Property in Dubai: Capital Gains and Process

Prepare the file the buyer will scrutinise. Three documents are expected:

• the title deed in your name, proof of ownership;
• the unit plan;
• the up-to-date statement of service charges, ranging from AED 3 to 30/sq ft/year depending on the type of property and regulated via Mollak (RERA / DLD Service Charge Index).

Set the listing price consistently with the Step 1 valuation and your district's positioning. A property listed above AED 2,000,000 also appeals to the buyer targeting the Golden Visa through real estate: it's a real selling point, since that threshold opens the 10-year visa.

Finally, anticipate your buyer's profile. A cash buyer closes quickly; a financed buyer, whose non-resident mortgage in practice covers 50 to 75% of the price (CBUAE Rulebook), stretches the timeline. Our guide on financing for non-residents details these mechanics.

Step 3 — Negotiate the offer and sign the sale contract (MOU / Form F) with deposit

Signing the MOU, or Form F, between seller and buyer in front of the agent seals the deal and starts the resale countdown. This document, governed by RERA, locks in the price, the terms and the transfer schedule. Until it is signed, nothing is committed.

At signing, the buyer pays a security deposit, usually 10% of the price, held in escrow with the trustee. The trustee office fee, in the order of AED 4,000 to 4,200, will be settled at the time of transfer (source Property Finder for the fixed DLD charges). This deposit protects both parties: it is released to the seller once the transfer is completed.

The seller must clearly disclose three things before signing:

• the exact outstanding mortgage amount, if any;
• the state of service charges and any arrears;
• any charge that must be settled before the transfer.

These points shape what follows: an undeclared arrear blocks the NOC. The Form F seen from the buyer's side is covered in our guide on buying in the secondary market.

Step 4 — Settle your mortgage and obtain the developer's NOC

If your property is still mortgaged, this step conditions everything else: you must obtain a liability letter from your bank, settle the mortgage — often using the buyer's funds secured with the trustee — then have the mortgage lifted at the DLD before the transfer. It's the sequence that weighs most on the overall resale timeline.

In parallel, you request the NOC (No Objection Certificate) from the developer or the master community. The developer checks that service charges are fully up to date before issuing this certificate, without which the DLD refuses to register the transfer.

A few fixed fees are settled around this phase: the title deed costs around AED 580, the plan fee around AED 250 (source Property Finder). Who pays what between seller and buyer is negotiated and recorded in the Form F; the developer's NOC, however, generally falls to the seller.

Reselling to a foreign buyer is possible because the property is in a freehold zone, open to full foreign ownership since 2002. Our guide on freehold and authorised zones sets out this framework.

Step 5 — Finalise the DLD transfer and collect the sale proceeds

The transfer is completed at the trustee's office: you sign the transfer deed, receive the manager's cheque made out to you, while the buyer pays the 4% transfer fee to the Dubai Land Department and the fixed charges of around AED 4,700 to 5,500. This is the moment the sale proceeds come back to you.

The DLD then issues a new title deed in the buyer's name, and you are definitively released from the property. The residential sale carries no VAT (Federal Tax Authority). You collect the net.

One thing to check before selling: if the property being sold underpinned your Golden Visa, its sale may drop you below the AED 2,000,000 threshold and put the visa at risk. Plan for a replacement property; our guide on the Golden Visa through real estate details the conditions.

For an off-plan resale before handover, the mechanism differs: it goes through an assignment and a developer's NOC, with funds remaining secured in the escrow account required by Law No. 8 of 2007. Our guide on reselling off-plan property before handover walks through the six steps, the assignment process, figures and fees; the full off-plan purchase process is described in our guide on buying off-plan step by step.

Step 6 — Handle the exit taxation and repatriate the funds

In the UAE, no exit taxation applies to your resale: the individual pays neither capital gains tax nor VAT on the residential sale. The manager's cheque you collect corresponds to the net sale proceeds, with no local deduction.

The question shifts to your country of tax residence, where each regime treats a gain realised abroad differently. As an example, for a French tax resident, property income sourced in the UAE falls under the France-UAE treaty signed on 19 July 1989: double taxation is eliminated through a tax credit equal to the French tax, but the income counts towards the calculation of the effective rate (source BOFiP). How it applies depends on your personal situation and is no substitute for dedicated advice.

On the repatriation side, moving funds out of Dubai is unrestricted. Keep, nonetheless, the documents that trace the origin of the funds: original title deed, sale MOU, DLD transfer statement and manager's cheque. Your bank will request them to justify a large transfer.

With my clients, the most frequent mistake isn't selling badly: it's selling too soon, under pressure, without having cleared the service charges or prepared the NOC. A clean file upfront saves weeks and often several points on the price.

— Ralph BERTUCCI, Consultant Manager

Our full treatment of Dubai real estate taxation covers the 1989 treaty and the tax credit in depth. For an overview of the market, our page dedicated to investing in Dubai brings together districts, projects and advisory.