Before you buy
The price is the easy part to compare. Ten things decide whether a building is right for you — and what you actually own — so check each one before you pay a deposit.
Rules and fees linked to their official source · checked 4 Oct 2026
What the brochure can’t show you.
01
Ask how many kilowatts (kW) the building has today. Storage needs little; cold rooms, ovens, compressors and machines need more. As the owner, more load means an application to DEWA through an enrolled consultant or contractor — so find out what your use needs before you agree a price.
AskHow many kW does the building have?
Source: DEWA connections
02
Height decides whether racking, a forklift or a mezzanine will fit — for you, and for whoever uses the building after you. Measure from the floor to the lowest beam, light or sprinkler pipe, not to the roof.
AskWhat is the clear height to the lowest beam?
03
Ask for the plot area, the ground floor and any mezzanine as separate figures, and check them against the title deed and the site plan. A mezzanine is useful for offices or light stock, but it can’t take racking or trucks — so compare buildings on the price per square foot of the ground floor.
AskWhat are the plot area, the ground floor and the mezzanine, each on its own?
04
Find out the biggest truck that can reach the door and turn round. Measure the doors’ width and height, look for a loading dock or ramp, and count the parking inside the plot.
AskWhat size of truck can reach the door, and how many vehicles park inside the plot?
05
Look for roof leaks, cracked floors and rusting steel, and have an engineer survey the building before you commit — once it transfers, the repairs are yours. Test the fire alarm and sprinklers too: no trade licence is issued or renewed in Dubai without a valid Civil Defence certificate, whether the licence is yours or a tenant’s.
AskWhen were the roof and the fire systems last serviced, and can our engineer survey the building?
Source: Dubai Law 4 of 2025
What decides what you actually own.
06
In Dubai the property register is what counts: a sale is valid only once DLD records it. See the title deed and check it on DLD’s title deed verification, on its website or the Dubai REST app; the seller must be the owner named on it, or hold the owner’s power of attorney. If a bank has a mortgage over the property, the sale is registered with the bank’s release letter, and the price is paid in manager’s cheques — the debt to the bank, the rest to the seller.
AskCould you share the title deed, and is there a mortgage on it?
Source: Dubai Law 7 of 2006 · DLD title deed verification · DLD sale of a mortgaged property
07
UAE and GCC nationals, companies wholly owned by them and public joint-stock companies can own property anywhere in Dubai. Other buyers can own only on plots Dubai has opened to them — as freehold, or as usufruct or a lease of up to 99 years. Jafza, Dubai Investments Park and Dubai Industrial City offer their land on lease. Know which you are buying, and how many years are left.
AskIs it freehold or leasehold, and how many years are left?
Source: Dubai Law 7 of 2006 · Dubai Regulation 3 of 2006 · Jafza land · Dubai Investments · Dubai Industrial City
08
Dubai Municipality’s site plan — the affection plan — shows the plot’s land use, floors, setbacks and parking, and your activity, or your tenant’s, has to fit it; hazardous goods need Civil Defence approval. Ask for the building completion certificate too, which confirms the building was finished to its permit and plans — and, for a mezzanine or extension added since, the permit that covers it.
AskCould you share the site plan and the building completion certificate?
Source: Dubai Municipality · Dubai Local Order 2 of 1999 · Dubai Law 3 of 2026 · Dubai Civil Defence
09
A sale doesn’t end a fixed-term lease: the tenant stays on, on the same terms, with you as the landlord. Ask for the tenancy contract, its Ejari, the rent, the cheques still to come and the end date, and agree in the sale contract how rent already paid and the security deposit pass to you. If you need the building empty, ask whether notice has been served: an owner who is selling can end a lease at its expiry only with twelve months’ notice, through a notary public or by registered mail.
AskIs it let? Could you share the tenancy contract and its Ejari?
Source: Dubai Law 26 of 2007 · Dubai Law 33 of 2008
10
Add DLD’s registration fee — 4% of the price, which DLD’s fee list splits 2% to the buyer and 2% to the seller, so agree who pays it — the title deed and map fees, the trustee centre’s fee, 5% VAT on a commercial building (vacant land is exempt), the agency fee and, if you borrow, 0.25% of the loan to register the mortgage. In a building or community with shared parts, a unit can’t be transferred until its service charges are paid. Put it all on one page before you pay a deposit.
AskWhat is due at transfer, and who pays DLD’s 4%?
Source: DLD sale registration · FTA · VAT Decree-Law, Art. 46 · DLD mortgage registration · Dubai Law 6 of 2019
Area by area
Who can buy, in each areaEvery area guide says who can own there and on what terms — freehold, a long lease, or land leased from a free zone — with the official source.Next
From the offer to the title deed, in 10 stepsWho does each step, what to bring, and what DLD charges.Questions
Ten things: the power in kW, the clear height to the lowest beam, the plot, ground floor and mezzanine as separate figures, truck access and parking, the structure and fire systems (surveyed by an engineer), the title deed (verified with DLD, and any mortgage on it), who can own it and on what terms, what the plot is approved for, any tenant and their lease, and the whole bill — DLD’s 4%, the fees, VAT and the agency fee.
UAE and GCC nationals, companies wholly owned by them and public joint-stock companies can own property anywhere in Dubai. Other buyers can own only on plots Dubai has opened to them, as freehold or as usufruct or a lease of up to 99 years. Jafza, Dubai Investments Park and Dubai Industrial City offer their land on lease. Check the title deed or lease of the exact plot.
A fixed-term lease carries on: the sale doesn’t affect the tenant’s right to stay under it, and the buyer becomes the landlord. An owner who is selling can end the lease at its expiry only with twelve months’ notice, served through a notary public or by registered mail.
Talk to a broker
Send us the listing or your brief. We ask the seller for the title deed, the site plan and any lease, and put the answers in front of you.
