%20v2%20text%20clears%20photo%20%5Breview%5D%20(1).png)
Every guide quotes the same 2 per cent. The rule that decides whether an agent gets paid sits in a 2006 bylaw most of those guides never open, and it turns on one moment: the sale being registered at the Land Department.
On a resale in Dubai the buyer usually pays their agent 2 per cent of the price and the seller pays their own agent the same, each plus 5 per cent VAT. A tenant pays 5 per cent of the annual rent or AED 5,000, whichever is higher. On an off-plan purchase from a developer, the developer pays the agent and the buyer pays nothing.
None of those rates is written into law. Dubai's brokerage bylaw leaves the amount to the agreement between the agent and the client, and falls back on prevailing practice only where that agreement is silent.
That second rule matters more than the rate, and it matters more now than it did two years ago. Since February 2025 the buyer's share of the commission is paid in cash, next to the 4 per cent transfer fee, because banks stopped advancing either of them.
The rates below are market practice as published by Property Finder for 2026. Each one is agreed in writing before a deal moves, and each carries 5 per cent VAT on the commission itself.
| Deal | Usual commission | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Resale apartment or villa | 2% of the price | The buyer pays the buyer's agent, the seller pays the seller's agent |
| Residential rent | 5% of the annual rent or AED 5,000, whichever is higher | The tenant |
| Commercial sale | 2% to 5% of the price | Buyer or seller, as agreed |
| Commercial rent | 5% to 10% of the annual rent | The tenant |
| Off-plan, bought from the developer | 2% to 8%, paid by the developer | Nobody on the buyer's side |
Market practice for 2026 as published by Property Finder. VAT at 5 per cent applies to every line. The rate itself is agreed in Contract A or Contract B, not fixed by regulation.
The paperwork lives in the Land Department's Dubai REST app. A seller appoints an agent through Contract A, which is checked against the title deed and records the commission and the term. A buyer appoints one through Contract B, which records the same two things from the other side. When a price is agreed, the agents generate Contract F, the sale agreement most people still call the MoU, from an approved Contract A and an active Contract B.
The money itself usually changes hands as a manager's cheque at the trustee office, when the transfer is registered.
Across the market it adds up. The Land Department recorded AED 13.59 billion in brokerage commissions in 2025 over 96,440 broker-executed transactions, which works out at roughly AED 141,000 a deal, shared among 32,294 registered brokers.
Searches for a commission law in Dubai tend to land on RERA, the Land Department's regulatory arm. The instrument itself is Bylaw No. 85 of 2006 Regulating the Real Estate Brokers Register in the Emirate of Dubai, and its chapter on the broker's pay runs to eight articles.
It contains no percentage. Article 27 reads: "The Real Estate Broker's remuneration will be determined by agreement, and in absence of agreement, remuneration will be determined according to prevailing practice."
Article 26 requires the brokerage agreement to be in writing, to name the parties, describe the property and state the terms, and has it entered in the property register. Article 3 lets only a licensed broker entered in the Brokers Register act at all, and the Land Department lists an unlicensed broker among the ways a claim to commission is lost.
So the rate is open to negotiation, and what makes it enforceable is a written agreement on the register.
The bylaw is precise about timing, and timing is where most commission disputes begin.
Bylaw No. (85) of 2006 Regulating the Real Estate Brokers Register in the Emirate of Dubai, Chapters Three and Four, read in the Dubai Land Department's legislation compendium on 25 September 2026.
Read Article 28(2) against a real transaction. A Contract F signed on day one does not trigger payment. A transfer registered at the trustee office on day thirty-five does. Everything in between, the buyer's bank valuation, the seller's liability letter, the developer's NOC, sits inside the window where the commission has been earned in principle and is owed in nothing.
The exception is in the same sentence: "unless the Brokerage Agreement stipulates otherwise." A Contract A or B that sets a different trigger moves the moment of payment. That clause is the one worth reading before signing, on either side of the table.
Where the buyer and the seller each have an agent, each pays their own. Article 33 says a broker is paid by the party that appoints him, and where one broker is appointed by both parties, "each party will be severally liable to pay his own share of the remuneration even if they agree that one of them will incur the Real Estate Broker's remuneration in full."
Where several agents work for the same side and the deal closes, Article 31 treats them as one broker and divides the fee on the terms they agreed among themselves. Where a seller signs non-exclusive agreements with several agencies and only one of them closes, Article 32 gives that agency the whole fee.
Until 2025 UAE banks commonly folded transaction costs into the facility, so a financed buyer mostly had to find the deposit. From 1 February 2025 banks stopped financing both the 4 per cent transfer fee and the 2 per cent brokerage commission.
On the AED 3 million resale, the buyer now brings AED 63,000 of commission with VAT and AED 120,000 of transfer fee in cash, on top of the deposit and before the smaller charges. A buyer without UAE residency starts from a larger deposit, so the same AED 183,000 lands on a thinner cushion; the ceilings that set that deposit are covered in
Of everything in that cash column, the commission is the one line a buyer can try to renegotiate. That is why so many fee conversations in Dubai now happen in the last week of a deal instead of the first.
Article 30 is short. If the broker's work does "fail to lead to the conclusion of a contract between the parties", the broker "will not be entitled to claim any compensation or refund of expenses and costs he incurred unless the Brokerage Agreement stipulates otherwise."
Put that next to Article 28(2). A deal that collapses between Contract F and registration pays the agents nothing by default, however much of the work was already done. The usual causes have little to do with the property: a valuation below the price, a Contract F that runs out while the buyer's bank underwrites, a developer NOC held back over unpaid service charges. Each is set out, with what it costs the agent, in
Seven of those failure points, and what each one costs the agent, are set out in the Deal-Rescue Playbook, a working document for Dubai brokers.
Four points in the bylaw can be dealt with on paper, early, while nobody is under pressure.
Read the trigger clause. Article 28(2) makes registration the default moment of payment. If Contract A or B sets a different one, both sides should know it before the first viewing.
Name the payer in the agreement, not in conversation. Article 33 keeps each party liable for its own share, whatever the parties later agree between themselves.
Write down the split with the other agency. The 50:50 is custom. Article 31 divides the fee on the terms the agents concluded, so a split that was never written down is an argument waiting for a date.
Agree where a dispute goes. The Land Department's brokerage council hears a commission dispute only if the brokerage agreement provides for settlement by the Department, or both sides agree to it in writing later. It must decide within thirty days of the file being referred.
When a deal stalls because the buyer is short of cash at the table, the property is rarely the problem. The commission then depends on whether that gap is covered before Contract F runs out.
NEMAX Finance is an asset-backed co-financing platform, not a bank and not a lender. Where the buyer, or a family member, already owns property in the UAE, capital can be raised against that asset through an ADGM SPV, which is simply a separate company set up to hold it. The amount is sized on the property's current value rather than on the buyer's income. LTV, the share of that value capital is set against, stays at or below 70 per cent, the minimum is AED 1 million, and the target is thirty days from application to completion. The purchase then completes at the agreed price, which is also the price the commission is calculated on. The whole route is set out in
For the agent, the arrangement exists only in writing. An agent who introduces a deal keeps their own commission, which the client pays as before, and earns an introducer fee paid by NEMAX on completion under a signed introducer agreement. The rate sits in that agreement rather than on this page.
No. Bylaw No. 85 of 2006 leaves the commission to the agreement between agent and client, and applies prevailing practice only where the agreement is silent.
The party that appoints the agent. On a resale the buyer pays the buyer's agent and the seller pays the seller's agent. On a rental the tenant pays. On an off-plan purchase from a developer, the developer pays.
Yes, to the agent they appointed under Contract A, usually 2 per cent of the sale price plus VAT.
Usually 5 per cent of the annual rent or AED 5,000, whichever is higher, plus VAT, paid by the tenant.
Not when buying from the developer. The developer pays the agent, typically 2 to 8 per cent.
By default, on signing the sale contract and registering it with the Dubai Land Department, unless the brokerage agreement sets another point.
Not by default. Under Article 30 of the bylaw, an agent whose work does not lead to a concluded contract is not entitled to a fee or to expenses, unless the brokerage agreement provides for them.
Yes, 5 per cent on the commission itself. On AED 60,000 of commission that is AED 3,000.
Each side pays its own agent. Where two agencies share a deal, a 50:50 split is common practice. Agents working for the same side share the fee on the terms they agreed.
The NEMAX Broker Programme is where an agent registers a deal that is short at the table. One application, an introducer agreement signed by email, then access to the portal: the property, the timeline and any existing charges reviewed, and what a structure against the asset can support confirmed in writing. A NEMAX manager calls you within 48 hours.
Join the Broker Programme →
.png){kind=logo}
We use cookies to improve website performance and analytics. By continuing to use the site, you agree to their use. Learn more