Dubai Real Estate Legislation
Sources of law
Dubai real estate sits on a stack of rules. At the top is federal law: the Civil Transactions Law (Federal Law No. 5 of 1985, as amended) supplies general contract principles - offer, acceptance, capacity, cause, and the maxim that the contract is the law of the parties. Below it, and far more heavily examined, are Dubai's local laws: Law No. 7 of 2006 on Real Property Registration (the register is the source of real rights), Law No. 13 of 2008 on the Interim Real Estate Register for off-plan, Law No. 8 of 2007 on escrow accounts, the jointly owned property law now in Law No. 6 of 2019 (which replaced Law No. 33 of 2008), Law No. 26 of 2019 on ownership by non-nationals in designated areas, Law No. 7 of 2013 on rent increases, and Law No. 85 of 2006 on the real estate brokers register. RERA's resolutions, circulars and standard forms sit underneath all of these.
Traps
Candidates lose marks by treating federal and local rules as interchangeable, and by assuming a notarised contract transfers title. It does not: under Law No. 7 of 2006 ownership passes on registration in the Real Property Register. Another common error is citing Law No. 33 of 2008 as the current jointly owned property law - Law No. 6 of 2019 replaced it. Non-nationals may own only in designated areas; a question saying a foreign buyer purchases a villa outside a designated area is testing exactly this.
Rule of thumb
"No registration, no ownership." Worked example: a buyer pays in full and takes the keys, but no transfer is lodged at DLD. He has contractual rights against the seller but is not the owner and cannot sell or mortgage the unit. If the seller then transfers to a third party who registers first, the registering buyer prevails.