Developer registration does not replace checks on the individual property. Use the relevant emirate’s official channels to verify ownership and project status, and request supporting seller documents. Viewing a ready home is not proof that ownership can be transferred; complete the document checks before proceeding.
Official pages fetched 14 September 2026 list AED 250 for DLD’s title deed certificate. RAK Municipality issues the title deed for AED 200, with an AED 200 plan issuance fee.
Match the plot, building, unit number and area against what you are being shown. Ask DLD or RAK Municipality to verify the deed.
Match the seller’s name on the deed to their passport or Emirates ID. Resolve discrepancies before proceeding.
In Dubai, mortgage release costs AED 1,290 plus an AED 315 registrar fee. Check whether the seller has allowed for this cost.
Ask the relevant emirate’s land department to confirm developer registration and, for a new build, project registration. For a Dubai escrow account check, seek DLD confirmation rather than trusting payment instructions.
Confirm who pays which half in writing before signing. Confirm the allocation again at the transfer counter.
Ask for the service charge for the actual unit. Do not rely on a verbal estimate.
| Check or charge | Dubai | Ras Al Khaimah |
|---|---|---|
| Deed issuer | Dubai Land Department | RAK Municipality |
| Title deed fee | AED 250 | AED 200 |
| Plan or map fee | AED 225: unified Dubai Municipality map; AED 250: villas/apartments; AED 100: land not under Dubai Municipality | AED 200 plan issuance |
| Transfer fee structure | Buyer 2% + seller 2% of sale value: 4% total | Buyer 2% + seller 2% of market value: 4% total |
| Mortgage registration | 0.25% of mortgage value | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 |
| Mortgage release | AED 1,290 + AED 315 registrar fee | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 |
| Tenancy registration | Ejari: AED 177.75 through Dubai REST; AED 220 at a Trustee Centre | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 |
| Off-plan protection | Confirm project registration and escrow with DLD; separate Oqood fee unverified | not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 |
Sources: DLD sale registration, Ejari and RAK Municipality ZL13, fetched 14 September 2026.
RAK’s official wording is "the seller and buyer each pay 2% of the market value of the property". The total transfer percentage is therefore 4%, before other charges. The widely repeated “RAK 2% versus Dubai 4%” comparison, including in our older content, wrongly compares RAK’s buyer half with Dubai’s combined figure. Confirm at the counter who pays each half.
DLD lists trustee fees of AED 4,000 + VAT for sales of AED 500,000 or more; AED 2,000 + VAT below that. Its mortgaged-sale page instead lists “Registrar Fee” figures of AED 2,100 / AED 4,200. The official pages disagree. Confirm the applicable charge. Knowledge and innovation fees are AED 10 each.
The developer charges the NOC fee. DLD’s pages state no amount we could verify, so no official figure is given here.
RAK processing times also conflict: the sanad card says “3 working days”; the rak.ae e-service page says “18 minutes”. Confirm with RAK Municipality.
DLD requires a purchase value of at least AED 2 million at purchase across one or more properties. For mortgaged property, it requests a bank letter showing AED 2 million paid.
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".
u.ae lists ICP federally, GDRFA Dubai for Dubai and TAMM for Abu Dhabi. Two fetches on 14 September 2026 returned inconsistent property-route durations. We cite DLD and GDRFA Dubai for the renewable 10-year duration, not u.ae.
On 14 September 2026, we could not verify from an official RAK source the designated freehold-zone list for foreign buyers, any escrow-account law, any equivalent of Dubai’s Oqood registration, or any owners-association and service-charge regulation. Confirm these with RAK Municipality.
Its Real Estate Regulatory Administration page states only its general mandate and refers escrow and owners-association questions to the Ras Al Khaimah Real Estate Regulatory Department.
For buyers, fewer public verification tools than Dubai mean more weight falls on the deed, the developer’s track record and completed rather than unbuilt stock. This is a verification gap, not evidence of wrongdoing.
Dubai’s 4% is widely described as applying at Oqood registration. We could not confirm a separate “Oqood fee” line item on a DLD page on 14 September 2026.
Neither fetched DLD nor GDRFA Golden Visa page addresses off-plan property as a distinct category. If relying on that purchase for residence, confirm with ICP or GDRFA before committing.
The cleanest way to avoid relying on escrow and registration for an unbuilt project is to buy finished stock. Our Bay Views floor 9 allocation on Hayat Island, Mina Al Arab, is handed over and ready now, with one-bedrooms from AED 1,200,000. Ownership checks still apply. Read the RAK buying guide and the cost comparison.
| What you are checking | Dubai | Ras Al Khaimah |
|---|---|---|
| Developer / project registration | Authority record held by the Dubai Land Department and its RERA function — dubailand.gov.ae e-services | No public lookup we could verify on 14 September 2026; RAK Municipality’s Real Estate Regulatory Administration states its mandate and refers enquiries onward — ask it directly |
| Ownership | Title evidence: the title deed, issued at AED 250 — issue title deed | Title evidence: the title deed, issued at AED 200 plus AED 200 plan issuance — RAK Municipality service card ZL13 |
| Escrow / off-plan protection | Public checks exist through the land department | Not published on a source we could verify on 14 September 2026 — a reason to prefer completed stock |
| Who is representing you | Sofia Sands Realty · RERA broker registration 41793 · ask any broker for theirs | |
The order matters. Registration tells you the authority has a record of the developer or the project; it says nothing about whether this unit can be transferred to you. Ownership evidence — the deed, the name on it, and any mortgage registered against it — is what determines that. Viewing a finished apartment proves it exists, not that title is clean.
Send us a unit and we will run these checks with you and tell you what we cannot verify: see every unit on our desk and what is for sale.
We run these checks with the buyer and share what we find, including what we cannot verify.
Through the land department of the emirate the property sits in, not through a portal listing or a brochure. For Dubai that is the Dubai Land Department and its RERA function; its e-services also publish the fees that attach to a transfer, which is a useful cross-check that you are on an official page. For Ras Al Khaimah, RAK Municipality's Real Estate Regulatory Administration page, fetched 14 September 2026, states only its general mandate and refers escrow and owners-association questions to the Ras Al Khaimah Real Estate Regulatory Department; we could not find a public developer-registration lookup for RAK, so ask RAK Municipality directly.
Read the existing title deed and match the plot, building, unit number and area against what you are being shown, then match the seller's name on the deed to their passport or Emirates ID, then establish whether a mortgage is registered against the property. In Dubai the deed is issued by the Dubai Land Department at AED 250; in Ras Al Khaimah by RAK Municipality at AED 200, alongside an AED 200 plan issuance fee. Both pages fetched 14 September 2026. Developer registration is not ownership evidence, and a viewing is not either.
The current title deed; the seller's passport and Emirates ID to match the name on it; any registered mortgage and written confirmation of how its release will be funded; the developer's own confirmation of project status for anything not yet complete; the building's service-charge budget; and the agreed split of the transfer fee in writing before signing. The official pages we fetched do not publish a required-document list, so treat this as our transaction practice rather than a published rule, and confirm the current list with the relevant land department.
The Dubai Land Department. Its issue-title-deed e-service page, fetched 14 September 2026, states an AED 250 title deed certificate issuance fee. Map fees are AED 225 for a unified map under Dubai Municipality, AED 250 for villas and apartments, and AED 100 for land not under Dubai Municipality, plus an AED 10 knowledge fee and an AED 10 innovation fee.
Ask for the current title deed and any mortgage registration against it, and ask the seller directly how the release will be funded. In Dubai the Land Department states a mortgage release fee of AED 1,290 plus an AED 315 registrar fee, so you can see whether the seller has budgeted for it. A release that has not been funded is the most common reason a transfer slips.
Not through a public tool we could verify. On 14 September 2026 we could not find an official RAK escrow-account law or register, and RAK Municipality's Real Estate Regulatory Administration page states only its mandate and refers escrow and owners-association questions to the Ras Al Khaimah Real Estate Regulatory Department. In Dubai the equivalent checks are public. That difference is a reason to weight the deed, the developer's completed track record and finished stock more heavily in Ras Al Khaimah.
In Dubai the 4% transfer fee is widely described as applying at Oqood registration for off-plan, although we could not confirm a separate “Oqood fee” line item on a Dubai Land Department page on 14 September 2026. For Ras Al Khaimah we could not verify any equivalent off-plan registration system. Buying something finished removes the question: our Bay Views allocation on Hayat Island is handed over, with one-bedrooms from AED 1,200,000.
Freehold means you own the property and the title deed is issued in your name, with no end date. Leasehold means you hold the right to use it for a fixed term, after which it reverts. Foreign buyers can hold freehold in designated areas of both Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah. We could not find an official RAK page listing its designated zones on 14 September 2026, so confirm the plot with RAK Municipality.