Selling a property in Dubai costs the seller far less than most quotes suggest: budget roughly 2% to 3% of the sale price, not the 6% to 8% you often see, because the headline 4% DLD transfer fee is the buyer's cost by convention, not yours.

What selling actually costs the seller

For an unmortgaged sale, a Dubai seller's costs land at roughly 2% to 3% of the agreed price. That is much lower than the figures you will see elsewhere, and the reason is a single line item placed on the wrong side of the deal.

The 4% DLD transfer fee is the largest number in any Dubai property transaction, and by long-standing market convention in the secondary market it is paid in full by the buyer (Dubai Land Department). Most "cost of selling" lists fold that 4% in anyway, which is how a real 2% to 3% seller cost gets quoted as 6% to 8%. It is the buyer's line, not yours.

What you actually pay as the seller is a short list:

• The agent commission, 2% of the price plus 5% VAT on that commission.
• The developer NOC fee, a few hundred to a few thousand dirhams.
• If there is a mortgage on the property, a capped early-settlement fee and a small discharge fee.
• Any outstanding service charges, cleared up to the handover date.
• Conveyancing, only if you choose to engage one.

Everything below puts a sourced number on each.

Agent commission and VAT

Your largest controllable cost is the agent commission: 2% of the agreed sale price, plus 5% VAT on the commission itself. Dubai has no government-mandated commission rate, but 2% is RERA standard practice, the figure almost every licensed brokerage uses and the one DLD's dispute resolution treats as customary.

The VAT is the 5% the UAE has applied to brokerage services since January 2018, and it is charged on the commission, not on the property. So on a AED 30,000 commission you add AED 1,500 of VAT, for AED 31,500 in total.

The commission is fixed in writing before the property is marketed, on the RERA-approved listing form (Form A) you sign with your agent. That signed agreement, not a verbal understanding, is what sets the rate and what governs it if anything is later disputed, so it is worth reading the percentage and the VAT line before you sign rather than at the closing table.

The NOC fee and clearing service charges

Before any Dubai transfer can register, the developer has to issue a No Objection Certificate, the NOC: a document confirming you have no outstanding service charges or community fees on the unit. The developer charges for it, typically AED 500 to AED 5,000 depending on who manages the community, and in a standard MOU the seller pays it (Dubai Land Department).

The NOC is also the gate on your service charges. The developer will not issue it until your Mollak service-charge account, the government system that tracks community fees, is clear up to the handover date (Mollak). In practice that means settling or pro-rating any charges owed for the current period at transfer. This is not really an extra "fee" so much as money you already owe being squared off, but budget for it, because an unpaid balance here stops the sale rather than just slowing it.

If your property is mortgaged

A mortgage does not stop you selling, but it adds two costs and one coordination step.

The first cost is the early-settlement fee your bank charges for clearing the loan ahead of schedule. The UAE Central Bank caps this at the lower of 1% of your outstanding balance or AED 10,000 (UAE Central Bank). That cap has been in force since October 2019, when it replaced an old 3% charge, and it still applies in 2026. So on AED 800,000 still owed, 1% is AED 8,000, which is below the AED 10,000 ceiling, so AED 8,000 is what you pay, never more than AED 10,000 however large the loan.

The second is the discharge fee at the Dubai Land Department to remove the bank's registered charge from the title, roughly AED 1,290 plus a small registrar release fee of around AED 315 (Dubai Land Department). Where the release is processed on the same day as the sale, which is the norm when both banks are coordinated through the trustee office, some of those release fees may be waived under DLD's rules.

What is not a cost is the loan principal itself. The outstanding balance is repaid from the sale proceeds at the trustee office: the buyer's funds clear your bank, the bank releases the title deed and issues its clearance letter, and the discharge registers at the same sitting as the transfer. You receive the net equity, your sale price minus the loan, minus those two fees. The principal was always the bank's money; clearing it does not reduce what the sale was worth to you, it just routes through the settlement.

Tax on selling

There is no tax on the sale itself. As of 2026 an individual selling residential property in Dubai pays 0% capital gains tax on the gain, and the UAE levies no annual property tax and no income or inheritance tax on residential real estate held by a natural person.

That is the whole tax position for a private seller. The one situation that changes is selling through a company rather than in your own name, where the UAE's 9% corporate tax can come into play on business profits, which is a question for a tax adviser on your specific structure rather than a line in a standard sale.

Your net proceeds, worked

Put a real price through it. Take an apartment selling at AED 1,500,000, a common mid-market figure, and assume you own it outright.

• Agent commission: 2% is AED 30,000, plus AED 1,500 VAT, so AED 31,500.
• Developer NOC: around AED 2,000.
• Total seller cost: about AED 33,500, or roughly 2.2% of the price.

You net about AED 1,466,500, before any optional conveyancer (a further AED 5,000 to AED 10,000 if you use one). Scale it to your own price: the commission moves with the sale value, the NOC is broadly fixed, so the percentage stays near 2% to 2.6% across most of the mid-market.

Now add a mortgage, say AED 800,000 still outstanding on that same AED 1.5M sale:

• Early-settlement fee: 1% of AED 800,000 is AED 8,000 (under the AED 10,000 cap).
• Discharge at DLD: about AED 1,290.
• Plus the same AED 31,500 commission and AED 2,000 NOC.

Your costs come to roughly AED 42,800. The AED 800,000 principal is repaid from proceeds but is not a cost, so your net equity in hand is about AED 657,000: the AED 1.5M price, less the AED 800,000 loan, less the roughly AED 43,000 of costs.

The full cost table and timeline

On timing, an unmortgaged cash sale typically completes in about two to four weeks from a signed MOU to the trustee appointment. A mortgaged sale, on either side, runs longer, up to about six weeks, because the bank settlement and the discharge have to be scheduled into the transfer. Neither figure is fixed in law; both are standard market practice and depend on how quickly the documents and the NOC come through.

How to sell property in Dubai

The full step-by-step process, from Form A to the DLD transfer.

How to value your Dubai property

Setting a realistic asking price from DLD comparables before you list.

Do sellers pay a fee in Dubai?+

Yes, but less than buyers. A seller's costs are mainly the 2% agent commission plus 5% VAT, the developer NOC fee, and a capped settlement charge if the property is mortgaged, which together come to roughly 2% to 3% of the sale price for an unmortgaged sale.

How much is the property transfer fee in Dubai?+

The DLD transfer fee is 4% of the agreed price plus an AED 580 admin fee. By Dubai market convention the buyer pays it in full, so it is not normally a seller cost despite appearing in many cost-of-selling lists.

Is there tax on selling property in Dubai?+

No. As of 2026 there is no capital gains tax, no annual property tax, and no income tax for an individual selling residential property in Dubai. A 9% corporate tax can apply only where the property is sold through a company.

What are the seller fees in Dubai?+

The agent commission (2% of the price plus 5% VAT), the developer NOC fee (AED 500 to 5,000), and, if the property is mortgaged, a Central Bank-capped early-settlement fee (the lower of 1% of the balance or AED 10,000) plus a DLD discharge fee of around AED 1,290.

Want the numbers for your own sale before you list? Get the free Dubai seller cost checklist, the full line-by-line breakdown you can run against your price and your mortgage balance, from the withlida newsletter.