The four per cent Dubai Land Department transfer fee is the number everyone quotes and budgets for. It is also, for a typical financed resale purchase, a little over half of what you will actually pay on top of the price.
Total transaction costs generally land between six and eight per cent. On a two million dirham apartment, that is the difference between budgeting AED 80,000 and needing closer to AED 150,000 in cash on completion day.
Where the rest comes from
Trustee office fee
Ready-property transfers are processed at an authorised Real Estate Registration Trustee centre, which charges AED 4,000 plus five per cent VAT for properties at AED 500,000 or above, and AED 2,000 plus VAT below that.
Note the cliff at AED 500,000. A purchase at 499,000 and one at 501,000 differ by AED 2,100 in trustee fees alone — worth knowing if you are negotiating around that level.
Agency commission
Two per cent of the price plus five per cent VAT on the commission, on resale transactions. On a two million property that is AED 42,000 — over half the size of the DLD fee itself, and the item most often left out of a buyer's mental arithmetic. Off-plan purchases direct from a developer usually carry no buyer-side commission, since the developer pays the agent.
Mortgage registration
0.25 per cent of the loan amount plus an AED 290 administration fee. The common error is calculating it on the purchase price: on a two million property with 1.5 million borrowed, the fee is AED 3,750, not AED 5,000.
Two things people get caught by. It must be paid in cash at registration and cannot be rolled into the loan. And the AED 10 knowledge and innovation levies apply per transaction, so a financed purchase pays them twice — once on the sale, once on the mortgage.
Developer NOC
Before a resale transfer, the developer issues a No Objection Certificate confirming service charges are settled. The fee is set by the developer rather than the DLD and commonly runs from AED 500 to AED 5,000. Only resale transactions need it.
Bank-side costs
Separate from anything the DLD charges: arrangement fees of 0.5 to one per cent of the loan, and a property valuation of roughly AED 2,500 to 3,500. These vary by lender and are easy to overlook because they do not appear on any DLD fee schedule.
Ready versus off-plan
Off-plan is meaningfully cheaper to transact. Registration goes through Oqood rather than a trustee office, so that fee disappears; the admin fee is around AED 40 instead of the AED 580 title deed charge, plus roughly AED 1,000 for Oqood registration; there is usually no buyer-side commission and no NOC.
Total DLD-side costs work out around 4.5 to five per cent on off-plan against 5.5 to six per cent on ready property, before agency commission — which is what pushes a financed resale purchase toward seven or eight per cent.
Budget from the total, not the headline
The practical rule: assume seven per cent of the purchase price in transaction costs for a financed resale purchase with an agent, and five per cent for off-plan direct from a developer. Then check the actual figures rather than trusting the rule.
The DLD Fee Calculator itemises every line for your specific purchase and shows the total as a percentage of price. For the financing side, the Mortgage Calculator covers repayments and the Affordability Calculator works out what you can borrow. If you have not settled the buy-versus-rent question, the Rent vs Buy Calculator weighs these transaction costs against staying put.
Fee amounts reflect the schedule as commonly applied in 2026. Some charges are set by developers and individual trustee offices, so confirm exact figures before transferring funds.