The 0.25% DLD mortgage registration fee plus admin.
Total registration fee
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Registration fee (0.25%)
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Admin fee
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A fee on the loan, separate from the fee on the property
When you buy a Dubai home with a mortgage, the Dubai Land Department charges a fee just to register the loan against the title, and it is entirely separate from the transfer fee on the property itself. The mortgage registration fee this calculator applies is 0.25 percent of the loan amount, plus a fixed admin charge of AED 290. So the registration cost scales with how much you borrow, not with the price of the property. Buyers routinely confuse this with the 4 percent transfer fee and either double-count or, worse, forget it entirely when budgeting their closing costs. These figures are the rates this tool models for Dubai, and you should confirm the current percentage and admin fee with the Dubai Land Department, since fee schedules are set by the department and can change.
Where it sits in the full stack of closing costs
The mortgage registration fee is one line in a longer bill, and seeing the whole stack stops nasty surprises at the trustee office. On a financed purchase you are typically paying, all at once: the 4 percent transfer fee on the property value, this 0.25 percent mortgage registration fee on the loan, a roughly 2 percent agency commission plus VAT, a trustee office fee, a title-deed issuance fee, and the bank’s own arrangement fee. The transfer fee dwarfs the registration fee because it is charged on the full property value at a much higher rate, but the registration fee is still a real cash cost you must fund from your own pocket, as none of these are added to the loan. Note that there is no recurring annual property tax in the UAE, so these are largely one-off transaction costs rather than an ongoing charge, which is a meaningful difference from many other countries.
Registering a AED 2.5 million loan
Take a borrower taking out a AED 2,500,000 mortgage. The registration fee is 0.25 percent of the loan, plus the fixed admin charge.
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So registering the loan costs AED 6,540. The chart shows the two components of the total: the percentage-based registration fee and the fixed admin charge.
Refinancing triggers it again
A point that catches owners out: the mortgage registration fee is not just a one-time cost at purchase. If you remortgage or move your loan to a new bank for a better rate, the existing mortgage is discharged and a fresh one is registered, so the 0.25 percent fee on the new loan amount is payable all over again. That cost needs to go into any refinancing calculation, because a rate saving can be partly eaten by the re-registration fee on a large balance. The fee is normally paid by the borrower, settled at the trustee office or through the bank at the time the mortgage is registered, alongside the other closing costs. This tool is for buyers building a complete closing-cost budget and for existing owners weighing whether the savings from a refinance justify paying the registration fee again. Confirm the prevailing rate with the Dubai Land Department before you rely on the figure.
Is the registration fee charged on the property value or the loan?
On the loan amount, not the property value. This is the key difference from the 4 percent transfer fee, which is charged on the property price. A larger deposit means a smaller loan and therefore a smaller registration fee, so the two fees respond to different things. Borrow less and this fee falls even if the property price is unchanged.
Do cash buyers pay this fee?
No. With no mortgage there is nothing to register against the title, so a cash buyer skips the registration fee entirely, though they still pay the 4 percent transfer fee, the trustee fee, and the title-deed charge on the property. The registration fee only ever applies when there is a loan secured against the home.