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Every guide quotes the same 2 per cent. The rule that decides whether an agent gets paid is in a 2006 bylaw that most of those guides never open. It depends on one moment: the registration of the sale at the Land Department.
On a resale in Dubai, the buyer usually pays their agent 2 per cent of the price. The seller pays their own agent the same. Each side also pays 5 per cent VAT on top. A tenant pays 5 per cent of the annual rent or AED 5,000, whichever is higher. Off-plan means buying a home before it is built. On an off-plan purchase from a developer, the developer pays the agent and the buyer pays nothing.1
None of these rates is written into law. Dubai's brokerage bylaw, the local law for agents, leaves the amount to the agreement between the agent and the client. If that agreement says nothing, the bylaw uses "prevailing practice", the usual market rate.2 What the bylaw does fix is the moment the money is owed. That moment is when the sale contract is signed and registered with the Dubai Land Department, unless the brokerage agreement says otherwise.2
This second rule matters more than the rate. It also matters more now than it did 2 years ago. Since February 2025, the buyer pays their share of the commission in cash. The 4 per cent transfer fee is also paid in cash, because banks stopped advancing either of them.3 The full list of what is due on that day is in what a Dubai transfer actually costs, line by line.
The rates below are market practice, as published by Property Finder for 2026. Each rate is agreed in writing before the deal starts. Each one also carries 5 per cent VAT on the commission itself.1
| 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 is in the Land Department's Dubai REST app. A seller appoints an agent through Contract A, the seller's agreement with the agent. The app checks it against the title deed, the official record of ownership. Contract A records the commission and the term. A buyer appoints an agent through Contract B, which records the same two things for the buyer. When a price is agreed, the agents create Contract F, the sale agreement. They build it from an approved Contract A and an active Contract B. Most people still call Contract F the MoU, a memorandum of understanding.4 So when buyer and seller agree the deal, both commissions are already on record.
The money itself is usually paid by manager's cheque, a cheque issued by a bank, at the trustee office. This is the office where the transfer is registered.1 On a resale at AED 3 million, the buyer pays AED 60,000 plus AED 3,000 VAT. The seller pays the same again.
Across the market, the total is large. In 2025, the Land Department recorded AED 13.59 billion in brokerage commissions. They came from 96,440 deals made through brokers. That is about AED 141,000 a deal, shared among 32,294 registered brokers.5
People who search for a commission law in Dubai usually find RERA, the Land Department's regulatory body. The law itself is Bylaw No. 85 of 2006 Regulating the Real Estate Brokers Register in the Emirate of Dubai. Its chapter on the broker's pay has 8 articles.2
The bylaw 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."2 In plain words, the agent and the client agree the fee, and if they did not, usual market practice decides. The Land Department's own answer on how a broker's fee is set repeats this line almost word for word.6 The familiar 2 per cent is that market practice. The bylaw uses it when nobody wrote a number down.
Article 26 sets clear rules for the brokerage agreement. It must be in writing. It must name the parties, describe the property and state the terms. It is also entered in the property register. Under Article 3, only a licensed broker listed in the Brokers Register may act at all. The Land Department also lists an unlicensed broker among the ways a claim to commission is lost.26
So the rate can be negotiated. 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.
Apply Article 28(2) to a real deal. Contract F is signed on day 1. That does not make the commission payable. The transfer is registered at the trustee office on day 35. That does. Between these two days, the deal must pass three checks. The buyer's bank does a valuation, an estimate of what the property is worth. The seller's bank issues a liability letter, a statement of how much is still owed. The developer issues an NOC, a letter saying no fees are unpaid. During this time, the agent has done the work but is not yet owed the fee.
The exception is in the same sentence: "unless the Brokerage Agreement stipulates otherwise." This means the agreement can set a different moment. If Contract A or B names a different trigger, the fee is due at that point instead. Buyer and seller should both read this clause before they sign.
When 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. Sometimes one broker is appointed by both parties. Then "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."2 In plain words, each side owes its own share, whatever they agree between themselves. So a private deal between buyer and seller about who pays the fee does not change whom the agent can ask for it.
Sometimes several agents work for the same side, and the deal closes. Article 31 treats them as one broker. They divide the fee on the terms they agreed among themselves. Sometimes a seller signs non-exclusive agreements with several agencies, and only one of them closes the deal. Article 32 gives that agency the whole fee.2 Many deals use a 50:50 split between the seller's agency and the buyer's agency. This split is market practice. The two agencies agree it between themselves; the bylaw does not set it.1
Until 2025, UAE banks often added transaction costs to the amount they advanced. So a buyer using bank credit mostly had to find only the deposit. From 1 February 2025, banks stopped financing both the 4 per cent transfer fee and the 2 per cent brokerage commission.3
Take the AED 3 million resale again. The buyer now pays AED 63,000 of commission with VAT and AED 120,000 of transfer fee in cash. This is on top of the deposit and before the smaller charges. A buyer without UAE residency starts with a larger deposit. So the same AED 183,000 is added to an already larger cash payment. The limits that set that deposit are covered in what a non-resident can actually raise against Dubai property.
Many owners sell one home to buy the next. They often ask why they pay commission twice. The reason is that there are two deals and two brokerage agreements. On the sale, they pay the agent they appointed as seller. On the purchase, they pay the agent they appointed as buyer.2 Both fees are due at registration, and both are paid in cash. Sometimes the purchase must complete before the sale money arrives. That gap is explained in covering the gap between selling one Dubai home and buying the next.
Of all the costs paid in cash, the commission is the only one a buyer can try to renegotiate. That is why many fee talks in Dubai now happen in the last week of a deal, not 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."2 In plain words, if the work does not lead to a contract, the agent gets no fee and no expenses back. Only the brokerage agreement can say otherwise.
Now read it together with Article 28(2). A deal can collapse between Contract F and registration. By default, the agents then get nothing, however much work they already did. The usual causes have little to do with the property. Three are common. The bank's valuation comes in below the price. Contract F expires while the buyer's bank is still checking the application. The developer delays the NOC over unpaid service charges. Each cause, and what it costs the agent, is explained in why Dubai deals die on transfer day. The buyer's side of the same collapse is in the two ceilings a bank actually measures. There, the bank declines the buyer on income, while the property itself was never the problem.
One case is common in 2026. Contract F is signed, and then the buyer says the cash is not there. By default, the agents are then owed nothing, because the sale was never registered.2 The deposit cheque does not become the agent's money either. Under Article 21 of the bylaw, a broker is a trustee for any amount given to him for safekeeping. He must hand it over as agreed.2 Often the buyer is not short of wealth, only of cash on a fixed date. If the buyer owns other property, that cash can be raised against it before Contract F expires.
The free guide 7 Reasons Property Deals Fall Through covers seven situations like these. For each one, it shows what to check early and what may help save the deal.
Four points in the bylaw can be settled 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 moment, both sides should know it before the first viewing.
Name the payer in the agreement, not in conversation. Under Article 33, each party stays responsible for its own share. This is true whatever the parties later agree between themselves.
Write down the split with the other agency. The 50:50 split is only custom. Article 31 divides the fee on the terms the agents agreed. So a split that was never written down can easily become a future dispute.
Agree where a dispute goes. The Land Department's brokerage council hears a commission dispute in only two cases. Either the brokerage agreement says the Department will settle disputes, or both sides later agree to this in writing. The council must decide within 30 days after the case is sent to it.2
Sometimes a deal stops because the buyer does not have enough cash at completion. In that case, the property is rarely the problem. The commission then depends on one thing: whether that gap is covered before Contract F expires.
NEMAX Finance is an asset-backed co-financing platform, not a bank and not a lender. Sometimes the buyer, or a family member, already owns property in the UAE. Then 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 based on the property's current value, not 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. The target is 30 days from application to completion. The purchase then completes at the agreed price. This is also the price the commission is calculated on. The whole route is explained in raising capital against your Dubai property.
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. The agent also earns an introducer fee, paid by NEMAX on completion under a signed introducer agreement. The rate is in that agreement, not on this page.
No. Bylaw No. 85 of 2006 leaves the commission to the agreement between agent and client. If the agreement says nothing, the bylaw applies usual market practice.2 On a resale, that practice is 2 per cent from each side, plus VAT.1
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.12
Yes, to the agent they appointed under Contract A. This is usually 2 per cent of the sale price, plus VAT.1
Usually 5 per cent of the annual rent or AED 5,000, whichever is higher, plus VAT. The tenant pays it.1
Not when buying from the developer. The developer pays the agent, usually 2 to 8 per cent.1
By default, when the sale contract is signed and registered with the Dubai Land Department. The brokerage agreement can set another point.2 In practice, the fee is usually paid by manager's cheque at the trustee office.1
Not by default. Under Article 30 of the bylaw, an agent whose work does not lead to a concluded contract gets no fee and no expenses. The only exception is when the brokerage agreement provides for them.2
Yes, 5 per cent on the commission itself. On AED 60,000 of commission, that is AED 3,000.1
Each side pays its own agent. When 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.12
Yes, if each side appointed the agent. Under Article 33 of the bylaw, the party that appoints a broker pays him. If both parties appoint the same broker, each pays its own share.2 No law sets the 2 per cent. The amount is what the brokerage agreement says.2
Usually yes, because these are two deals with two brokerage agreements. As the seller, you pay the agent you appointed under Contract A. As the buyer, you pay the agent you appointed under Contract B.4 Both amounts are set by agreement, so both are agreed before you sign.2
On a sale, the commission is usually paid by manager's cheque at the trustee office, when the deal is registered.1 Pay the agency named in your written brokerage agreement, not the agent personally.2 A broker holds any money given to him as a trustee and must hand it over as agreed.2
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 →
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