Will Dubai Reduce Property Registration Fee in Four Months?

To put things in perspective – a time frame of four months from now on will fall in the end of October. The end of the tenth month of the year is also the start of the most active business season in Dubai and the wider GCC. Hotels usually report nearly 100% occupancy and room rates are skyrocketing. Exhibitions at the World Trade Center are rolling out a few at the time and the number of business visitors increases nearly two folds year on year. Does this read as a progress conditioned to absorb further inflation?

Yes and No!

If Dubai was not already quite expensive with inflation rates at six years high, one may shrug shoulders and go with the flow. But business veterans who survived the downturn of 2009 are cautious.

As of yesterday, Dubai Land Department has quashed rumours that it was planning to double registration fees for property owners who failed to register their homes by today.

The department issued a statement that said the registration fee, which was increased from 2 per cent to 4 per cent in September 2013 to cool growth in the real estate market, would not be increased further. However, there was no coment if the property registration fee will be decreased, which will be a welcomed by end-users move.

According to a circular issued earlier this month, property developers and homeowners were required to register their purchases on the Dubai Land Registry by June 30. The reasons for issuance of the circular are not clear.

The department issued the statement because it had received numerous inquiries from concerned buyers who were desperate to register their property, fearing that they may subsequently have to pay a fee of 8 per cent.