United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates is located in the southeastern end of the Arabian Peninsula on the Gulf of Persia. The country borders Oman in the east and Saudi Arabia in the south and shares sea borders between Qatar and Iran. The total population according to 2017 consisted of 9.4 million. Where only one-tenth of its population are locals, the remainder consists mostly of foreign guest workers and other housing, which means that the demand for houses and apartments from foreign citizens is large. The country consists of seven emirates (ie the principals), where the emirate Dubai is the most in demand by foreigners when buying a home.

 

Buying houses and apartments in United Arab Emirates

A lot of people like to visit the country during the winter months and buying houses and apartments in the United Arab Emirates as an investment or as a second home is vey popular.  As a Swedish citizen, you are free to enter UAE and stay for 30 days without a visa, you can also extend your visit with 10 more days without an extra charge. If you want to stay longer, you can extend your stay by another 30 days for a fee. One must also take out a health insurance in connection with an extension. The sickness insurance is signed with the immigration authority while at the same time extending the visa. It is also important that the passport must be valid for at least 6 months from the date of your trip out of the United Arab Emirates, if your passport has a shorter period of validity than you can be denied entry into the country.

Buying a property, house or owner-occupied apartment in the United Arab Emirates has become much easier thanks to the new legislation that allows non-United Arab Emirates to own properties with full ownership, so-called “freehold”.

The range of houses in the most common areas among Swedes which consists mainly of detached villas, townhomes, and independent villas in gated communities. These areas offer security services with shared facilities such as pool, tennis courts, shuffle boards and gym. For apartments, that is, owner apartments, you will find a large selection of apartments in high-rise buildings. Either at the coast or “Downtown” at the major cities such as Dubai.

“Off-plan” and purchase of new production is the most common and simplest option for foreigners. The process assumes that the buyer pays an initial deposit of about 10% of the total price. The rest of the amount will be paid in several stages until the day the project is completed. Partial payments vary in scope and depends on the client. Purchase agreements are signed at the payment plan at the initial stage before the transaction is completed.

If you were to purchase a “resale” property, that is, a completed property, you have to pay a dormant deposit which is held until a purchase contract and the final payment have been made in order to complete the purchase.

If you are a foreigner and own property in, for example, Dubai, you pay no taxes but you have to pay tax in your home country. For help with these issues, you should contact an international tax lawyer in Sweden.

 

Things to do in the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates offers a great variety of activities such as

Golf, shopping, boating, fishing, water sports, kite surfing, windsurfing, motor sports and horse sports.

Cost of buying property in Dubai

When buying new and uninhabited properties in Dubai, you have to pay a so-called “Oqood fee”. That means 4% of the purchase price is paid to the Dubai Land Department, DDL, while the first installment is paid in or just after the payment of the property developer’s pre-registration fee. The fee is approximately 1500 AED. After that, you also pay a commission fee to the real estate agent of 2% of the purchase price.

Even in the case of “resale” or previously owned properties, one must pay a commission fee to the real estate agent of 2%. The share of 2% of the purchase price is paid regardless of whether the property is sold or purchased exclusively by the property developer. You also have to register the purchase with DDL and pay 4% of the purchase price and an administrative cost of 500 AED. You also have to pay 4,000 AED at the transfer date to the staff performing the transfer. This cost is often shared between the seller and the buyer.

Should it be the case that the seller has taken out a loan to pay for the property, this is obliged to request a “liability settlement statement” a so-called payment obligation certificate from their lender, this fee may vary. Sellers must also apply for a NOC (No Objection Certificate) and are between 500 and 5,000 AED depending on the property developer.

When buying a resale, that is, a seller has bought or pre-booked a property and wants to sell it further already at the design of the property, the seller can demand an advance payment and can vary between 1% to 25% of the purchase price depending on whether the property is well sought after. or not.