Aqasa Homes Developers: every fee in a Dubai purchase, itemised

Buyers arriving from other markets usually price a Dubai purchase from the headline number and are then surprised twice: once at transfer, and once a year later. Here is the full list, using a mid-market purchase as the frame.

At purchase

• Transfer fee to the land department — a percentage of the price, and the largest single addition. Four per cent is the long-standing figure; confirm the current rate, and confirm who pays it, because "split with the seller" is a convention rather than a rule.
• Registration trustee fee — a fixed office fee, tiered by price, plus VAT.
• Title deed issuance — a small fixed charge.
• Agency commission — typically two per cent of the price plus VAT, paid by the buyer in most Dubai transactions.
• Developer NOC fee, on a resale — the no-objection certificate confirming service charges are paid. Set by the developer and it varies widely; ask the figure before you agree a price.
• Oqood registration fee, on off-plan.

If you use a mortgage

• Mortgage registration with the land department — a percentage of the loan plus a fixed charge.
• Bank arrangement fee and a valuation fee.
• Life and property insurance, usually required by the lender, as an annual cost.

Every year after

• Service charge — the big one, per square foot per year. Dubai has no annual property tax, and this is what replaces it. It is payable whether the property is occupied, empty, or unfinished.
• Community charge, in master-planned districts, separately from the building's.
• Cooling. Where district cooling is used, there are consumption charges and often a standing capacity charge that continues even when the property is empty.
• Utilities and housing fee, which in Dubai is collected through the electricity bill and is calculated from the property's rental value.

When you let it

• Letting agent commission, a percentage of the annual rent.
• Tenancy registration, a small fixed cost.
• Property management, if you are not local — a percentage of rent for a full service.
• Maintenance and voids, which every honest model includes.

When you sell

Agency commission again, a further NOC fee, and mortgage discharge costs if a loan is outstanding.

What this means

Purchase costs commonly add several per cent to the price, and annual costs are the reason gross yield and net yield diverge so sharply here. Build both into the model before you decide — a headline yield quoted gross in this market is not a comparison with anything.

Rates and fees change. Confirm the current figures with the land department and your bank rather than relying on any published summary, including this one.