Buying Off-Plan

Dubai Off-Plan Fees Explained: DLD, Oqood and Every Other Dirham

Every fee on a Dubai off-plan purchase itemised on a worked AED 2M example — DLD 4%, Oqood, trustee and admin fees, plus service charges and cooling costs.

The headline price of a Dubai off-plan unit is never the whole bill, and the gap catches out buyers who budgeted to the dirham. The good news is that the fee structure here is short, mostly fixed, and cheaper than transaction costs in London, Singapore or Hong Kong. This article itemises every fee on a worked AED 2,000,000 purchase, and — just as important — tells you which figures are law, which are convention, and which vary by developer.

The worked example: AED 2,000,000 off-plan apartment

Here is the full upfront fee stack on a typical AED 2M off-plan purchase bought directly from a developer at launch. I have marked each line by its status: law, convention, or developer-specific.

Two things to note before we go line by line. First, there is no agent commission line in a typical launch purchase: on new off-plan sales the developer pays the broker, not you. If anyone asks you for buyer-side commission on a primary off-plan sale, question it. Second, no VAT applies to the sale price of residential property on first supply within three years of completion — one of the quiet advantages of the market.

DLD 4%: the big line, and who really pays it

The Dubai Land Department charges 4% of the declared purchase value to register the transaction. On AED 2,000,000, that is AED 80,000 — comfortably the largest fee you will pay.

Here is the nuance most listings skip: the law does not actually assign this fee wholly to the buyer. By convention in Dubai, the buyer pays all 4% — that is how essentially every developer structures the transaction, and you should budget accordingly.

The convention matters because of the 2026 incentive environment. With launch competition rising, DLD-fee waivers have become one of the most common developer incentives — the developer absorbs the 4% to sweeten the deal. A genuine waiver on our AED 2M example is worth AED 80,000, which is real money. But treat waivers with a clear head: a “waived” fee can be quietly priced into a unit that costs 4% more than comparable stock. Always compare the all-in cost per square foot against similar launches with and without the waiver, not the incentive in isolation.

Oqood: what it is and the double-payment myth

Oqood (Arabic for “contracts”) is the DLD’s interim registration system for off-plan sales. Because no title deed exists for an unbuilt unit, Oqood records your purchase contract against the project in the Land Department’s registry. It is what makes your ownership claim official rather than a private arrangement with the developer — and it is what a tribunal or a resale buyer will look for later.

A question I am asked constantly: “Do I pay 4% at Oqood and again at handover?” No. The 4% you pay at Oqood registration covers the DLD registration of your purchase. When the building completes and the title deed is issued in your name, that registration converts — the 4% is not charged a second time at title deed stage. (A second 4% does arise if the unit changes hands before handover — that is the assignment scenario, covered in my article on selling off-plan before handover.)

The mechanics of Oqood registration run through a registration trustee office — DLD-approved service centres that process the paperwork. Their fee is fixed by schedule: AED 2,100 for properties below AED 500,000 and AED 4,200 above — so AED 4,200 on our example. These figures are consistent with DLD schedules as published by industry guides, but schedules do get revised: confirm the current amounts on dubailand.gov.ae before you transact.

Developer admin fees: the variable line

Developers charge an administration fee for processing the sale — covering their registration handling, documentation and internal costs. Typical range: AED 1,000 to 5,250, and the upper end of that range has effectively become an informal ceiling many developers price to.

This is the most developer-specific line on the bill, so ask two questions in writing before you book: What exactly is the admin fee? and What does it cover? Some developers bundle Oqood processing into it; others charge both. Neither approach is wrong, but you want the total known before you sign, not discovered on the payment schedule.

After handover: the fees that never stop

Upfront fees are one-off. The recurring costs below are what actually determine your net yield as an owner, and off-plan marketing is consistently quiet about them.

Service charges — check Mollak before you buy

Every jointly owned building levies annual service charges, set per square foot, to fund maintenance, security, cleaning, insurance and the master community. The official reference is the DLD/RERA Service Charge Index, accessible through the Dubai REST app and administered through Mollak, the regulated system through which service charges are approved and collected.

Rates vary enormously — from modest figures in low-amenity buildings to eye-watering ones in serviced or branded residences. On an 850 sq ft one-bedroom, the difference between AED 12 and AED 22 per sq ft is AED 8,500 a year, every year. For an off-plan tower, the exact rate will not be finalised until the building is registered, but you can and should check the index for the developer’s completed buildings nearby — it is the best predictor you have. A high-service-charge building is not automatically a bad buy, but it must be priced into your yield arithmetic from day one.

Cooling: chiller charges where relevant

Many Dubai districts use district cooling (providers such as Empower or Tabreed) rather than unit-owned AC. Where that applies, owners typically face a fixed capacity/demand charge plus consumption billing — and in some buildings the capacity charge runs whether or not the unit is occupied. Other buildings have conventional AC with costs folded into DEWA bills or service charges. This is building-specific: ask which cooling model applies, who bills it, and what the fixed component is before you buy, because a chiller capacity charge on an empty unit is a carrying cost investors routinely forget.

The small print items

At handover, expect utility connection deposits (DEWA), cooling registration where applicable, and possibly a developer handover/snagging process fee depending on the SPA. Individually small; worth AED 3,000-6,000 of budget headroom collectively.

The honest summary

Dubai off-plan transaction costs are genuinely low by global standards — roughly 4.3-4.5% upfront on our AED 2M example, with no buyer-side agent fee on primary sales, no VAT on the residential price, and no annual property tax thereafter. The traps are not the size of the fees but the assumptions: budgeting the headline price alone, taking a DLD waiver at face value without checking the price per square foot, and ignoring service charges and cooling until the first invoice arrives. Itemise all of it before you book, confirm the current fee schedule on dubailand.gov.ae, and the numbers hold no surprises.

This article is general information about the Dubai property market, not financial, legal or investment advice. Figures change and unofficial estimates are labelled as such — verify current numbers with the Dubai Land Department or a licensed professional before committing funds.