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The Owner-Broker and Broker-Tenant Leasing Agreements: Two Different Contracts, Two Different Obligations

Keyva ResearchAugust 31, 2026

Two separate contracts exist for a reason: the party who owes commission, and to whom, is not the same person depending on which one you sign. Dubai Land Department's rules and regulations library lists standard leasing brokerage templates by name — an owner-broker agreement, a broker-tenant agreement, and a property viewing form — and treating them as interchangeable is where tenants get caught owing money they didn't expect to owe.

Two templates, two counterparties

DLD's "Leasing Brokerage Agreement" category isn't one document with variations — it's three distinct forms, each defining who is bound to whom. The owner-broker agreement sits between a landlord and the agent instructed to market the unit. The broker-tenant agreement sits between the agent and the person renting the unit. The viewing form is narrower still, usually just confirming that a viewing took place and who arranged it.

Only one of these three names the tenant as a party with obligations. If you're a tenant and you're being asked to sign something, the first question is which of the three it actually is.

What the owner-broker agreement is for

This contract protects the landlord and the broker's mandate to act on the landlord's behalf. It typically sets out the scope of the listing, how long the broker has exclusivity (if any), and what the landlord owes the broker once a tenant is found and a lease is signed. A tenant has no place in this document — it governs the supply side of the transaction, not the demand side. If a tenant is shown this agreement and asked to sign it, something has gone wrong, because it was never written with a tenant's obligations in mind.

What the broker-tenant agreement is for

This is the one that actually binds a tenant to anything. It typically covers what the broker has been asked to find, what happens if the tenant proceeds with a unit the broker introduced, and what commission the tenant owes the broker directly, separate from whatever the landlord has already agreed to pay. This is the document a tenant should expect to see and should read carefully before signing — because it is the one that creates a debt.

Why the mix-up happens

In a fast-moving rental market, some brokers use whichever template is on hand rather than the one that matches the relationship in front of them. An owner-broker form gets repurposed with names swapped, or a tenant signs a broker-tenant agreement without registering that it's a separate document from anything the landlord has agreed to. Either way, the tenant ends up committed to a commission structure they didn't read closely, because the paperwork looked routine rather than because it was explained.

What our numbers cover — and what they don't

Keyva's database is built on registered residential sales — 95,948 of them across 307 areas, with 75% of that volume off-plan and off-plan trading at roughly a 23% premium over completed homes. That's a useful lens on what a property is worth, but it says nothing about leasing brokerage commission rates, because commission percentages and lease terms aren't part of a sales registration. We won't manufacture a "typical" tenant commission figure to fill that gap — the honest answer is that our data doesn't extend there, and any number we gave you would be a guess dressed up as research. What we can say with confidence is drawn from sale prices, not lease agreements, so treat this article as a guide to the paperwork, not a benchmark for the fee.

What to check before signing anything

  • Ask directly which of the two agreements is in front of you — owner-broker or broker-tenant — and read the heading, not just the blanks you're asked to fill in.
  • Confirm the broker's registration is current before signing anything with a commission clause; /verify exists for exactly this check.
  • If you're told the landlord already pays the broker, get that stated in the same document you're being asked to sign, not implied verbally.
  • Check any rent figures quoted against actual permitted increases before you commit to a renewal built on that number — /rent-increase covers the rules on that separately.
  • If you're shopping across several units and want a sense of what similar homes have actually sold or leased for by area, /areas and /properties are built on registered activity, not asking prices.

The bottom line

Two agreements exist because two different relationships exist — a landlord instructing an agent, and an agent placing a tenant. Confusing the two is usually not malicious, but it does shift who owes what. Before signing anything with a commission clause, ask which contract you're actually being handed. If the answer isn't immediately clear from the document itself, that's the moment to stop and ask, not the moment to sign and check later.