Answers · Selling, ownership and legal
What happens to Dubai property if the owner dies?
The property does not pass automatically. Dubai Land Department will not transfer a deceased owner’s title without an official letter from Dubai Courts, another UAE court or the Awqaf addressed to it, requesting the transfer to the heirs. The DLD step itself costs AED 1,000 per property plus fixed charges and takes eight working hours.
Updated October 2026 · By Ahmed Kandil
The thing most owners believe about this is not quite what the law says, and the gap is worth understanding before anybody pays for a will. The usual claim is that registering a will in the DIFC lets your home country’s law govern your Dubai property. Dubai’s own legislation says something narrower than that.
What does the law actually say about Dubai real property?
Law No. (15) of 2017 covers all wills and estates of non-Muslims in the Emirate, including those within the Dubai International Financial Centre, under Article 3. Article 4(a) then says that the applicable law prescribed by the choice of law provisions of the legislation in force will apply.
Article 4(b) cuts into that. It says that notwithstanding paragraph (a), the legislation in force in the Emirate will apply in any of several cases, and the first of them is “where the Estate or Will relates to Real Property located in the Emirate”. Article 4(b)(2) adds that local law also decides whether the willed property counts as real or moveable in the first place.
Which means the choice of law you make in a will does not reach your Dubai apartment on the face of the Law. What the registration does reach is the forum and the instructions. Article 29(a) gives jurisdiction over disputes about a will to whichever of the Dubai Courts or the DIFC Courts the will is registered with, and Article 6(a) establishes a Register of Wills of non-Muslims at both. Article 8 sets what makes a will registerable: a non-Muslim testator, a named executor, a statement of how the property is to be disposed of, and a signature, seal or fingerprint in the presence of two witnesses.
I will be honest with you about the limit of that reading. I am reading the published English text on the Dubai legislation portal, and the portal’s own note says the Arabic prevails where the two conflict. This is a point to put to a lawyer, and I am not one.
What does it cost, and where does the money actually go?
| Step | Amount | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Court letter to DLD requesting transfer to the heirs | required document, not a DLD fee | DLD, Inheritance Title Transfer |
| Inheritance title transfer, paid by the heirs | AED 1,000 per property | DLD, Inheritance Title Transfer |
| Title deed issuance | AED 250 | DLD, Inheritance Title Transfer |
| Map, apartment or villa | AED 250 | DLD, Inheritance Title Transfer |
| Knowledge and innovation fee | AED 20 per drawing | DLD, Inheritance Title Transfer |
| Service partner fee | AED 130 + VAT | DLD, Inheritance Title Transfer |
| DIFC Courts Property Will, single applicant | AED 7,500 | DIFC Courts, Property Will |
| DIFC Courts Property Will, mirror wills for a married couple | AED 10,000 | DIFC Courts, Property Will |
| Heirs later selling the property | 2% seller and 2% buyer, plus AED 4,000 + VAT trustee fee at AED 500,000 and above | DLD, Sale Procedure (Heirs) |
The DLD step is cheap and quick, at eight working hours. The expensive and slow part is everything upstream of it, because the letter from the court is what DLD is waiting for and a will is what tells the court what the owner wanted. A will does not replace the court step. It shapes it.
A DIFC Courts Property Will covers up to five UAE properties, or a share in up to five. Eligibility is narrow: the applicant must be non-Muslim and must never have been a Muslim, and must be at least 18. UAE residency is not required, but the applicant must own assets in the UAE or have minor children living with them here.
For a Muslim owner there is no DIFC registration route. The DIFC Courts direct Muslim applicants to a lawyer familiar with UAE law instead, and that is their published position rather than my characterisation of it.
What happens if there is no will at all?
The DIFC Courts state the default plainly: the laws of the local courts in the Emirate where the assets are located will apply. Given Article 4(b)(1), that is the same body of law that reaches Dubai real property anyway. So the practical difference a will makes is not which law applies to the apartment. It is whether there is a named executor, a written statement of intention, and a registered document for the court to work from, instead of a family arguing from nothing while a title sits frozen.
One more thing to note, and it is the one that surprises heirs. If the property is mortgaged, DLD’s document list requires a no-objection letter from the mortgaging entity, or from the developer where there is a preliminary sale agreement. The debt does not go away because the owner did, and the bank sits in the chain before the transfer.
Can the heirs just sell it?
Yes, and it is a separate DLD service again, with an extra gate on it. The Sale Procedure (Heirs) page carries a condition that for residential property an approval application must first be obtained from the investigation committee to sell the property to the heirs. The fee structure is the normal 2% and 2%, the appointment runs 25 to 30 minutes, and the Department of Trusts transfers the heirs’ shares to their bank accounts rather than paying one person and trusting them to distribute it.
Now if you ask me, the registered will is still worth the AED 7,500, and not for the reason it is usually sold. It is worth it because it produces a document a court can act on and an executor who has standing, which is what shortens the period where a title is frozen and nobody can sell, rent out or refinance anything. That frozen period is the real cost of dying without one.
Of course there is a downside to everything. The downside is that a will is not a shortcut around Dubai Courts or around DLD’s requirement for a court letter, and anybody selling it to you as one is overselling it.
This suits a non-Muslim owner with one or more Dubai properties and a family who would be left dealing with a UAE court from abroad. It does not suit anybody looking to choose which country’s inheritance rules apply to a Dubai apartment, because Article 4(b)(1) appears to close that door. And it is not advice. I invest in Dubai real estate and I can tell you what the registration process costs and how long DLD takes. What the Law means for your estate needs a lawyer, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
Questions I get asked next
- Does a DIFC will let my home country’s inheritance law govern my Dubai apartment?
- Law No. (15) of 2017 Article 4(b)(1) says the legislation in force in the Emirate applies where the estate or will relates to real property located in the Emirate, notwithstanding the choice of law rule in Article 4(a). On the published text, no. Take that to a lawyer before you rely on it.
- How much does Dubai Land Department charge to transfer an inherited property?
- AED 1,000 per property paid by the heirs, AED 250 for the title deed, AED 250 for an apartment or villa map, AED 20 in knowledge and innovation fees per drawing, and AED 130 plus VAT in service partner fees. DLD states eight working hours.
- Can a Muslim owner register a will in the DIFC?
- No. The DIFC Courts restrict registration to applicants who are non-Muslim and have never been Muslim, and direct Muslim applicants to a lawyer familiar with UAE laws.
Related
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Sources
- Law No. (15) of 2017 Concerning Administration of Estates and Implementation of Wills of Non-Muslims in the Emirate of Dubai, Dubai Legislation portal (Art 2 definition of Estate, Art 3 scope, Art 4(a) choice of law, Art 4(b)(1) local law for real property in the Emirate, Art 4(b)(2), Art 6(a) Register at Dubai Courts and DIFC Courts, Art 8 registration conditions, Art 29(a) jurisdiction)
- Dubai Land Department, Inheritance Title Transfer e-service (AED 1,000 per property, AED 250 title deed, AED 100/225/250 maps, AED 20 knowledge and innovation per drawing, AED 130 + VAT service partner fee, eight working hours, required court or Awqaf letter, mortgagee or developer no-objection letter)
- Dubai Land Department, Sale Procedure (Heirs) e-service (2% seller and 2% buyer, AED 4,000 + VAT trustee fee at AED 500,000 and above, 25 to 30 minutes, investigation committee approval condition for residential property, Department of Trusts transferring heirs’ shares)
- DIFC Courts, Property Will Registration in UAE (up to five UAE properties or shares in five, AED 7,500 single, AED 10,000 mirror wills)
- DIFC Courts, Wills FAQ (non-Muslim and never a Muslim, minimum age 18, no UAE residency requirement, must own UAE assets or have minor children here, default that local courts’ laws apply where the assets are located, Muslim applicants directed to a lawyer)
If you own here and have never looked at this, text me on WhatsApp and I will point you at the official pages rather than a sales pitch, because the fee schedule and the eligibility rules are both published and worth reading yourself.
Text me on WhatsApp