Makes the Land Department the sole registrar of real property rights in Dubai and gives the Property Register conclusive effect absent fraud; Article 4 limits ownership to UAE and GCC nationals and their companies, while non-UAE nationals may hold freehold or up to 99-year leasehold rights in areas designated by the Ruler.
Law No. (7) of 2006 is the foundation of property title in Dubai. It makes the Land Department the only body that may register real property rights, gives the Property Register conclusive effect, and in Article 4 fixes who may own real property in the Emirate. The Ruler of Dubai issued it on 13 March 2006 and, under Article 29, it came into force on the day of its publication in the Official Gazette. It remains in force; Regulation No. (3) of 2006 was issued under it to designate the areas open to foreign ownership.
Article 3 applies the law to all real property in the Emirate. Article 4 restricts the right to own real property to UAE nationals, nationals of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, companies fully owned by them and public joint stock companies. Subject to the Ruler's approval, non-UAE nationals may, in areas the Ruler determines, be granted freehold ownership without time restriction, or usufruct or leasehold rights for up to 99 years. This is the provision behind the freehold-area map and the reason a foreign-owned company can hold title only in a designated area.
Article 6 makes the Department the sole registrar of real property rights and of the long-term leaseholds Article 4 allows, and lists its powers: surveying, maps, contract templates, the brokers register, valuation rules, voluntary auctions and fees. Article 7 establishes the Property Register and gives its entries absolute evidentiary value against all parties, open to challenge only for fraud or forgery; Article 8 gives electronic records the same value as originals. Article 9 is the core rule of the system: every transaction that creates, transfers, amends or extinguishes a real property right, and every final judgment validating one, must be recorded in the Register and is not valid until it is. Article 10 limits a party who breaks a promise to transfer a right to paying an indemnity, and Article 11 requires certificates of inheritance to be registered before an heir's disposal binds third parties.
Articles 13 to 21 cover correction of the Register, the maps on which registration rests, and easements and collateral rights on division and merger of units. Article 22 has the Department issue title deeds from the Register, Article 23 treats an apartment or multi-storey building as a single unit with sub-records for the owners of apartments, floors and common areas, and Article 24 gives title deeds absolute evidentiary value. Article 25 applies the federal Civil Code to anything the law does not cover. Article 26 voids any agreement or disposition that breaches or is designed to circumvent the law, and allows any interested party, the Department, the Public Prosecution or the court itself to raise that invalidity. Article 27 repeals the Decree of 6 November 1977 on land disposal cases.
Every owner, buyer, seller, heir, mortgagee and holder of a right in rem over real property in the Emirate of Dubai, including the companies, foundations and free zone or offshore entities through which property is held, and the Dubai Land Department as registrar.
| Article 4 | Ownership of real property in Dubai is restricted to UAE nationals, GCC nationals, companies fully owned by them and public joint stock companies; with the Ruler's approval non-UAE nationals may hold freehold without time limit, or usufruct or leasehold for up to 99 years, in areas the Ruler determines. |
| Article 6 | The Land Department is the only entity authorised to register real property rights and the long-term leaseholds in Article 4, with power over surveying, maps, contract templates, the brokers register, valuation rules, voluntary auctions and its own fees. |
| Article 7 | The Property Register records all real property rights and amendments and has absolute evidentiary value against all parties; its data may not be impugned unless proved to result from fraud or forgery. |
| Article 9 | All transactions that create, transfer, amend or extinguish real property rights, and final rulings validating them, must be recorded in the Property Register and are not valid until they are. |
| Article 10 | A party who breaches an undertaking to transfer a real property right is liable only to pay an indemnity for the breach, whether or not the undertaking provides for one. |
| Article 11 | Where an estate includes real property rights, the certificate of inheritance is registered and an heir's disposal is not effective against third parties unless also registered. |
| Article 22 | The Department issues title deeds based on the data in the Property Register; under Article 24 those deeds have absolute evidentiary value and any conditions, undertakings or restrictions are stated in the unit's record. |
| Article 23 | Apartment and multi-storey buildings are a single real property unit with one register record, supplemented by records naming the owners of the apartments, floors and common areas. |
| Article 26 | Any agreement or disposition that breaches the law, or is made to circumvent it, is null and void; the invalidity may be raised by any interested party, the Department, the Public Prosecution or the court of its own motion. |
| Article 27 | Repeals the Decree of 6 November 1977 concerning civil and criminal cases on transactions disposing of land in the Emirate. |
| Article 29 | The law is published in the Official Gazette and comes into force on the day of publication. |
The law imposes no fines. Its sanction is nullity: a transaction not recorded in the Property Register is not valid (Article 9), and any agreement or disposition that breaches the law or is made to circumvent it, such as a nominee arrangement to hold property outside a designated area for a foreign national, is null and void and may be struck down at the instance of any interested party, the Department, the Public Prosecution or the court itself (Article 26).
Before a client buys Dubai property through a vehicle we form, we check two things under this law: whether the plot sits in an area designated under Article 4, and whether the chosen entity can be registered as owner at all. The Land Department applies its own rules on which company types and jurisdictions it will register as owner, so we match the holding vehicle, whether a mainland company, a free zone company, a RAK ICC company or a foundation, to the Department's current requirements before incorporation rather than after the sale agreement is signed. We also warn clients against side letters or nominee title in non-designated areas, because Article 26 makes those void and exposes the money paid. Where a client inherits a Dubai unit, we arrange registration of the inheritance certificate under Article 11 before any transfer, and we read the unit's record for Article 24 restrictions when advising on a purchase or a mortgage.
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