How to choose a real estate broker in Dubai

Check the broker card and BRN

Bylaw No. 85 of 2006 regulates the register of real estate brokers in Dubai. A person may not act as a broker without being on it. The Dubai Land Department's brokerage practice guide sets out the route: the brokerage obtains a licence, registers it on DLD's Trakheesi system, and applies there for each broker's card, which is issued electronically once the fees are paid.

Ask the broker for the card. It names the broker and the brokerage and carries the broker registration number (BRN). Then check it yourself. The Dubai REST app, which RERA requires every broker to use, holds the register of brokers and their performance levels. Search by name or BRN and confirm the card is active, the photograph matches and the brokerage named is the one you are dealing with.

Check the brokerage and ORN

The brokerage holds its own registration, the office registration number (ORN), issued through Trakheesi with its registration certificate. Both the BRN and the ORN must appear on the firm's adverts. A valid broker card is worth nothing if the office behind it is suspended, so check the firm as well as the person, in the same app. RERA also classifies brokerages and brokers, and the guide says every broker should aim for a five-star rating or the golden category; the rating shows in the app.

• Search the brokerage by name or ORN and confirm it is active
• Confirm the broker's card names this brokerage
• Check the expiry dates on both

Check the advert

• Trakheesi permit number. The brokerage must obtain a permit for every advert through Trakheesi and show the number on it. The permit is tied to a Form A signed by the owner, so a permit means the owner has agreed to the sale.
• Madmoun QR code. Printed and video adverts must carry a QR code, mandatory since 24 April 2023, which opens the permit details so you can confirm the advert is genuine.
• ORN and BRN. Both registration numbers must appear on the advert.
• Off-plan adverts. These must also show the developer, the project's escrow account number and the expected completion date, and the broker must hold a marketing agreement with the developer. You can check that a project is registered in the Dubai REST app's Mashrooi section.

An advert without a permit number is either unlicensed or an invitation to contact someone who is not the listing broker. Either way, walk on.

The forms a licensed broker uses

RERA requires brokers to use its smart contracts. The brokerage practice guide names three:

A broker who asks you to sign something else, or nothing at all, is working outside the system. Bayut's guide adds that a buyer who wants to end a Form B for cause does so in writing, with the reason and the date. A dispute over Form F can be taken to RERA's amicable settlement service through Trakheesi before it goes to court.

What commission is by custom

No law fixes the rate. Property Finder's guide gives the customary figures: on a residential resale about 2% of the price plus VAT, usually paid by the buyer, with lower rates sometimes negotiated on high-value homes; on a rental about 5% of the annual rent plus VAT, paid by the tenant, often with a minimum the agency sets. On an off-plan sale from a developer the developer usually pays the broker, so the buyer pays no brokerage fee.

Only a licensed brokerage may charge commission, and the amount must be written into Form B and Form F. If a broker quotes a rate, ask whether it includes VAT, and have the figure in the form before you pay anything. The buying costs calculator shows the customary 2% alongside the other fees.

The ban on cold contact

The brokerage practice guide describes RERA's green list: owners who register on it agree to be contacted by brokers, and brokers may not contact owners who have not. On 27 February 2026 DLD issued a circular, listed on its rules and regulations page as the regulations governing communication with property owners and the prohibition of cold calling. It bars brokerages from obtaining owner or investor data by unlawful means and from contacting owners or investors by phone or any other channel to offer, market or buy property.

RERA's stated penalty for cold calling, set out when it fined a brokerage in April 2022, is AED 50,000 and/or suspension of the broker's card for no less than three months. That case suspended nine brokers. If a broker calls you about a home you never listed, you can report it through the Report Malicious Calls service in the Dubai REST app. A broker who found you that way has already shown how they work.

What a good broker does

• Shows you the card before you ask, and names the brokerage on it
• Puts the listing agreement, the buyer agreement and the sale contract on the RERA forms, with the commission written in
• Tells you the fees in full before you offer, including the ones that are custom rather than law
• Says what they do not know, and checks rather than guesses: the service charge, the NOC fee, the mortgage cap
• Checks a project's registration and escrow account before marketing it off-plan
• Keeps the deposit cheque safe and hands it over only on the terms in Form F

None of this is extra service. It is what the licence requires, and a broker who treats it as optional is telling you how the rest of the deal will go.

Questions to ask before you sign

1. What is your BRN and the brokerage's ORN?Then check both in the Dubai REST app while they wait.
2. Is this listing under a Form A, and does the advert have a permit?If not, the owner may not have agreed to sell through this broker.
3. What is your commission, with VAT, and who pays it?Have it written into Form B or Form F.
4. What is the service charge on this building, and who pays the NOC?The Service Charge Index gives the first; Form F settles the second.
5. For off-plan: is the project registered, and what is the escrow account number?Both are on the Dubai REST app and the advert.
6. How did you get my number?The answer should be that you gave it to them.

A licensed broker can answer all six on the spot.

Questions buyers ask