A ready resale purchase needs a property-specific written cost breakdown, not a generic fee total. Request the purchase price, the applicable transfer costs, any NOC charge and buyer representation terms separately. Confirm each amount, and who pays it, before proceeding with a Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah purchase.
RAK Municipality’s service card says: “the seller and buyer each pay 2% of the market value of the property”. The widely repeated “2% versus 4%” comparison, including in older content on our site, compares the buyer’s half in RAK against Dubai’s combined figure. It is not a like-for-like comparison.
Who actually pays each half is negotiable. Agree the allocation in writing and confirm it at the counter.
Official sources checked on 14 September 2026.
| Fee | Dubai | Ras Al Khaimah | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transfer fee (buyer) | 2% of sale value | 2% of market value | DLD; RAK Municipality |
| Transfer fee (seller) | 2% of sale value | 2% of market value | DLD; RAK Municipality |
| Title deed issuance | AED 250 | AED 200 | DLD; RAK Municipality |
| Plan or map fee | AED 225: unified map under Dubai Municipality; AED 250: villas and apartments; AED 100: land not under Dubai Municipality | AED 200 | DLD; RAK Municipality |
| Knowledge fee | AED 10 | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 | DLD |
| Innovation fee | AED 10 | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 | DLD |
| Trustee or registrar fee | AED 4,000 + VAT for sales of AED 500,000 or more; AED 2,000 + VAT below AED 500,000 | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 | DLD |
| Mortgage registration | 0.25% of mortgage value | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 | DLD |
| Mortgage release | AED 1,290 plus AED 315 registrar fee | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 | DLD |
| Tenancy registration | AED 100 registration + AED 10 knowledge + AED 10 innovation. Dubai REST adds AED 55 + AED 2.75 VAT: total AED 177.75. Trustee Centre adds AED 95 + VAT: total AED 220. | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 | DLD |
| Developer NOC | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 | DLD; RAK Municipality — unverified |
| Off-plan registration | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 | DLD; RAK Municipality — unverified |
DLD’s sale-registration page lists AED 4,000 / AED 2,000 + VAT. Its mortgaged-sale page instead lists a “Registrar Fee” of AED 2,100 / AED 4,200. The official pages disagree. Confirm the applicable charge with the trustee before signing.
This one-bedroom at Bay Views on Hayat Island, Mina Al Arab, Ras Al Khaimah is handed over and ready now.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Purchase price | AED 1,200,000 |
| Buyer’s transfer fee: 2% | AED 24,000 |
| Plan issuance | AED 200 |
| Title deed issuance | AED 200 |
| Agency commission | on request |
The buyer’s 2% share is AED 24,000. The combined 4% is AED 48,000 if the buyer agrees to carry both halves. A ready unit needs the full price, not a deposit, unless a bank is involved.
For buyers, brokerage commission is how we are paid. We state it before engagement. The buyer-side amount is on request.
For a broker introducing a buyer to our own stock: 10% direct commission, paid in full to the introducing agent — no split.
At Bay Views, the service charge is approximately AED 12 per sqft annually: about AED 9,912 for an approximately 826 sqft one-bedroom. Our one-bedrooms’ 5.4%–5.8% gross yield is before that charge, not after.
Dubai Ejari registration costs AED 177.75 through Dubai REST or AED 220 through a Trustee Centre.
For residency planning, read the Golden Visa guide. DLD lists AED 9,884.75 for a single applicant’s 10-year permit package, plus AED 5,774.50 per sponsored family member. DLD requires purchase value of at least AED 2 million across one or more properties; for a mortgage, it requires “a bank letter indicating 2 million AED paid amount”.
GDRFA Dubai states: “The applicant must own a property or a group of properties with a total value of no less than AED 2 million.” For part-ownership, “the value of the share must not be less than AED 2 million.” It also states: “Mortgaged property is acceptable, and includes all types of properties.” The visa is “valid for 10 years and can be extended if the same conditions are met”.
We could not verify these from official pages on 14 September 2026:
The Municipality’s regulatory-administration page gives only its general mandate and refers escrow and owners-association questions to the Ras Al Khaimah Real Estate Regulatory Department.
Besides DLD’s trustee discrepancy, RAK’s service card says “3 working days”; its e-service page says “18 minutes”. These processing times disagree.
u.ae lists ICP federally, GDRFA Dubai and TAMM for Abu Dhabi as application routes. Two fetches on 14 September 2026 returned inconsistent property-route durations. Our 10-year statement relies on DLD and GDRFA Dubai, not u.ae.
Neither fetched DLD nor GDRFA page addresses off-plan property as a distinct category. Confirm with ICP or GDRFA before committing if relying on that purchase for residency.
| Line | What to ask for | Who confirms it |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | The seller’s quoted price for the named unit, in writing | Seller, through us |
| Transfer cost | The applicable charge and the split — 2% buyer + 2% seller in both emirates, plus the fixed fees | Dubai Land Department or RAK Municipality |
| NOC charge | The developer’s figure, and who settles it. No land-department page we fetched states an amount, so we quote none | The developer, in writing |
| Representation | Brokerage terms, stated before engagement, not at signing | Sofia Sands Realty, in writing |
Dubai. 2% from the buyer and 2% from the seller, AED 250 title deed, a map fee of AED 225, AED 250 or AED 100, AED 10 knowledge, AED 10 innovation, and a trustee office fee of AED 4,000 + VAT at or above AED 500,000 (AED 2,000 + VAT below). A mortgage adds registration at 0.25% of the mortgage value; a release costs AED 1,290 plus an AED 315 registrar fee. Dubai Land Department pages, fetched 14 September 2026.
Ras Al Khaimah. 2% from each side, plus AED 200 plan issuance and AED 200 title deed issuance. RAK Municipality service card ZL13, fetched 14 September 2026. No trustee, map, knowledge or innovation fee appears on that page.
The NOC, specifically. It is a developer charge, not a government fee, and it is the one line on this page for which we cannot give you a number: no Dubai Land Department page we fetched publishes an amount, and figures circulating in secondary sources are not official. Ask the developer, get it in writing, and agree in the contract who pays it. Send us the unit and we will chase it with you — see what is for sale and every unit on our desk.
We send a full cost sheet per unit before anyone signs. It names the fee split and includes the service charge.
It is negotiated between buyer and seller and must be agreed in writing before signing — there is no default rule we can cite. The NOC is charged by the developer, not by the land department, and no Dubai Land Department page we fetched on 14 September 2026 states an amount. So we publish no figure: ask the specific developer for the charge in writing, and record in the sale contract who settles it.
Brokerage commission is how we are paid, and we state the terms before we are engaged rather than at signing. We do not publish a buyer-side percentage, because we do not have one on file to quote. For an agent introducing a buyer to our own stock the terms are fixed: 10% direct commission, paid in full to the introducing agent — no split, registered by unit and by client in writing before the introduction.
In both emirates, 2% of value from the buyer and 2% from the seller — 4% in total. Dubai Land Department: “Seller: 2% of the sale value” and “Buyer: 2% of the sale value”, plus AED 250 for the title deed, a map fee of AED 225, 250 or 100, AED 10 knowledge, AED 10 innovation and a trustee office fee of AED 4,000 + VAT at or above AED 500,000 (AED 2,000 + VAT below). RAK Municipality: “the seller and buyer each pay 2% of the market value of the property”, plus AED 200 plan issuance and AED 200 title deed issuance. All pages fetched 14 September 2026.
Per the Dubai Land Department pages fetched 14 September 2026: 2% of the sale value from the buyer and 2% from the seller; AED 250 for the title deed certificate; a map fee of AED 225 for a unified map under Dubai Municipality, AED 250 for villas and apartments or AED 100 for land outside it; an AED 10 knowledge fee and an AED 10 innovation fee; and a trustee office fee of AED 4,000 + VAT where the sale value is AED 500,000 or more, AED 2,000 + VAT below it. A mortgage adds registration at 0.25% of the mortgage value.
RAK Municipality's Real Estate Sale Contract service card, fetched 14 September 2026, states 2% of market value from each of the seller and the buyer, AED 200 for plan issuance and AED 200 for title deed issuance. Farmland is charged at 18 fils per square foot and warehouses are fee-exempt. No trustee, map, knowledge or innovation fee appears on that page.
The full purchase price, because a completed unit is not sold on instalments unless a bank is involved, plus the buyer's 2% transfer fee of AED 24,000 and the fixed RAK fees of AED 200 plus AED 200, plus agency commission. If the parties agree that the buyer carries both halves of the transfer fee, that element becomes 4% of AED 48,000 rather than AED 24,000 — which is exactly why the split must be agreed in writing before signing.
Yes, and we report it rather than smoothing it over. The Dubai Land Department's property sale registration page states a trustee office fee of AED 4,000 + VAT at or above AED 500,000 and AED 2,000 + VAT below it, while its own mortgaged-property page states a registrar fee of AED 4,200 and AED 2,100. Separately, RAK Municipality's sanad service card states a three-working-day processing time while the rak.ae e-service page states 18 minutes. All four pages were fetched on 14 September 2026.
On our own Ras Al Khaimah stock the service charge is approximately AED 12 per square foot a year, which is about AED 9,912 on an 826 square foot one-bedroom. That comes out of the rent: a one-bedroom letting at AED 65,000 to AED 70,000 is roughly 5.4% to 5.8% gross before the service charge, not after. We could not verify a Ras Al Khaimah owners-association or service-charge regulation from an official page on 14 September 2026.