DLD
The Dubai Land Department is the government body that registers every property sale, mortgage and long lease in Dubai and issues title deeds.
What DLD means for a buyer
The Dubai Land Department (DLD) is the emirate's land registry and property authority. Nothing you buy in Dubai is legally yours until the DLD has registered it: off-plan purchases go into its interim register, known as Oqood, and completed homes receive a title deed. Its regulatory arm, RERA, licenses brokers and developers and supervises escrow accounts and service charges.
A buyer meets the DLD mainly through fees and paperwork. The transfer fee is 4% of the price, paid when the sale is registered. On a resale the registration happens at a licensed trustee office rather than at the DLD itself. For off-plan, the developer registers the contract through the Oqood portal.
The DLD also runs the systems buyers rely on to check what they are told: the Dubai REST app for verifying title deeds, brokers and projects, Trakheesi for advertising permits and Mollak for service charges.
The DLD's remit stops at the Dubai border. Abu Dhabi property is registered through ADREC and its DARI platform, and each northern emirate has its own land department. Property inside the Dubai International Financial Centre is recorded on the DIFC's own register.
Related terms
Guides that use this term
Where DLD comes up in practice, with the costs, rules and steps around it.
Questions about the buying process?
An adviser can explain how this applies to the property you're considering.
- Current price list and availability, direct from the developer
- No fee to you on off-plan purchases: the developer pays us
- One salaried adviser, not on commission, from first call to handover
