Using a power of attorney for a Dubai property transaction

A power of attorney is not the transaction. In Dubai an ownership right moves in the Property Register and nowhere else. Article 9 of Law No. (7) of 2006 Concerning Real Property Registration in the Emirate of Dubai requires transactions that create, transfer, amend or extinguish real property rights to be recorded in that register, and states that such transactions are not deemed valid unless recorded. Article 7 gives the register absolute evidentiary value against all parties. What a power of attorney settles is narrower. It settles who may stand at the counter and sign.

Two systems have to be satisfied and they run on different rules. The notary works under Law No. (4) of 2013 Concerning Notaries Public in the Emirate of Dubai, issued on 9 June 2013. Article 21 of that Law prohibits a Notary Public from attesting any instrument related to creating, transferring, changing or extinguishing an ownership right or other real right in real property. The notary attests the authority. The Dubai Land Department registers the disposition. People who arrive at the notary expecting the second thing are sent away.

What the notary verifies before signing

Article 24 sets the test. Before processing an application the Notary Public must verify the identity, eligibility, capacity and consent of the concerned parties or their legal attorneys, that they are aware of the content of the instrument, and that they have the legal capacity to execute it. The same article requires him to decline the application where identity or capacity cannot be verified, where a party does not consent to the content, or where the application is aimed to deceive or defraud others. Refusal is an obligation under the Law rather than a discretion.

Identity is proved narrowly. Article 25 allows a passport or an Emirates Identity Card, an official document issued by a competent entity in the UAE, or two trustworthy witnesses who are aware of the identity of the concerned party. Article 26 requires the instrument to be written legibly and to carry the full names and nationalities of the parties, with pages numbered using the approved stamps. An instrument signed by the notary and by the parties is deemed an original copy. Article 35 then gives it the evidentiary value of an official document, challengeable only by claiming forgery.

Arabic, and who is allowed to translate

Article 27 requires instruments processed by a Notary Public to be written in Arabic. It allows two ways round that. A bilingual instrument may carry both texts in one continuous document, with the parties signing each page opposite each text. Or the instrument may be in a foreign language alone, in which case the parties must have it translated into Arabic by a Translator and the translation attached, with the instrument and its translation signed by the parties.

So an English draft prepared by a lawyer abroad is a starting point, not a filing. Budget for the translation as a separate line. The notary charges AED 50 per page to attest the translator's signature, and that is on top of whatever the translator charges.

A power of attorney signed outside the UAE

The UAE is not a contracting party to the Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Its status table, listing 130 contracting parties and last updated on 30 June 2026, does not include the UAE. An apostille on its own therefore does nothing for a Dubai transaction. The chain is consular.

The Dubai Land Department sets out the shape of that chain on its own service pages. For property gift registration it requires foreign marriage and birth certificates to be translated and attested by the UAE embassy in the issuing country and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in that country. A power of attorney executed abroad travels the same road. At the UAE end the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attests, and its service page states that attestation certifies the authenticity of the signatures and seals on documents issued within or outside the United Arab Emirates. For documents that are outside the country, the Ministry directs applicants to selected UAE missions abroad.

Allow time for it. The Ministry publishes 1 to 3 business days for courier attestation inside the UAE, and up to 15 business days where the document is outside it, in both cases depending on the courier. A trustee appointment rarely moves that far.

What the Land Department reads at the counter

The Department's property sale registration page lists the documents for a sale as the Emirates ID of the seller and the buyer, or a valid passport for a non-resident foreigner, together with the developer's electronic no objection certificate in freehold areas. It describes the attending parties as the seller and the buyer or their legally authorized representatives. It does not say what the representative has to produce. The gift registration page is blunter about it, requiring a legal power of attorney where someone is acting on behalf of the parties.

One published answer shows how a Dubai notarisation is treated. For tenancy registration through a real estate services trustee office, the Department's own frequently asked questions tell the applicant to show the official power of attorney if the applicant is an attorney, and then draw a line. Where the power of attorney is issued from the Emirate of Dubai, its number can be entered without attaching the document. Where it is issued from another emirate, it must be attached. A Dubai notarisation is visible to the system by number. Everything else arrives as paper. That answer covers Dubai and the other emirates. It says nothing about a document made abroad, so confirm the handling of a foreign instrument with the office in advance.

Validity, and the limit that is not published

A two-year ceiling on property powers of attorney is quoted constantly in Dubai. It does not appear in Law No. (4) of 2013 and it does not appear in Executive Council Resolution No. (4) of 2014 Approving the Fees and Fines Related to Notaries Public. Neither instrument fixes an expiry for what a notary attests. The one-year renewable periods in the 2013 Law, at Articles 12 and 16, attach to a private notary's registration and his firm's authorisation, not to the life of a document. Treat any duration limit as counter practice and confirm it before relying on an instrument signed a while ago. Where the power itself states an end date, that date governs.

Specificity costs nothing at the notary. A power that identifies the property by plot or title deed number, names the counterparty, and lists the acts authorised leaves a counter officer less to weigh. A broad authority over everything the principal owns in the UAE invites a question the holder cannot answer on the day.

The published fees

The authority itself is cheap and the fee is charged per party. Using an attorney does not change the transfer fees. On the Department's sale registration page those are 2 per cent of the sale value from the seller and 2 per cent from the buyer, AED 250 for the title deed certificate, and AED 10 each for the knowledge and innovation fees, with a service partner fee of AED 4,000 plus VAT where the sale value is AED 500,000 or more and AED 2,000 plus VAT below that. The page gives 25 minutes for the registration itself.

When the signatory cannot get to the notary

The 2014 schedule anticipates attendance at a home or a hospital. AED 100 where the concerned party is unable to leave his place, is elderly, or is a woman observing Idda after her husband has died. AED 1,000 for any other person. That is the fee alone. Article 21 of the 2013 Law prohibits a Government Notary Public from attending at a place other than his workplace without the approval of the Director of the Directorate, so the approval has to exist before the visit is arranged.

The civil code changed in July 2026

Federal Decree-Law No. (25) of 2025 promulgating the Civil Transactions Law entered into force at the beginning of July 2026, as the Ministry of Justice recorded on 1 July 2026. Agency sits inside that code. A power of attorney drafted years ago against the article numbers of the previous civil transactions law will still be read, but the scope of the authority it grants is now measured against the new text. Anyone holding an older instrument for a sale that has not yet completed should have it checked against the current code rather than assume it carries across.

Before the trustee appointment is booked, put the Arabic text, the notary attestation number and the legalisation stamps in front of the office that will register the sale and ask them to confirm the file in advance. That check is a phone call. Re-executing a power of attorney from another country is a matter of weeks.