Dubai property registration fee doubled to 4% from october 6th

Dubai Sharjah Ajman Abu dhabi Properties: Dubai property registration fee doubled to 4% from...: The Dubai The Dubai Land Department (DLD) on Sunday announced the doubling of the property registration fee to 4 per cent of the control from 2 per cent earlier.

The new registration fees covers all property transactions in the emirate of Dubai except for the industrial sector, including warehouses.

The new fee structure will start to be implemented from October 6, 2013.

DLD Director-General Sultan Butti bin Mejren said: "The move is aimed to stop quick transactions (flipping) which are unhealthy for the market and result in sudden price increases. “The decision has come at the right time… the market has matured and investor confidence is growing. The move in not likely to have any negative impact."

Mejren pointed out that 110 countries in the world had higher property registration rates than Dubai, citing United Kingdom, which charges 4-10 per cent, France 8 per cent and India 7.3 per cent.

As per the decree, the fee will be split 2 per cent each between the buyer and seller. Although the previous law did specify one per cent each for the seller and buyer, in practice the buyer always paid the two per cent.  Mortgage registration fees remain same at 0.25 per cent of the mortgage value to encourage end-users.

No rollback

Asked if the department would consider delaying the implementation, Mejren asserted in no way the decision would be rolled out.

“The mechanism to issue laws in Dubai has evolved. We took almost three months to finalise the decision and I was been reviewed by the financial and legal department and even by investors. The law has been issued and is being executed. There is no way it will be revised.” Although the government hopes to slow down the price rise and discourage flippers, some experts believe this will not discourage genuine buyers because the price increases are based on real demand in Dubai property and not flipping.