Verify a property before you buy

Every legitimate property ad in Dubai — on any portal, not just ours — must carry a Trakheesi permit number issued by DLD's Real Estate Control Department (RERA). No permit number, or a number that doesn't check out, is the single biggest red flag for a fake or unauthorized listing.

DLD's AI advertising-governance platform actively monitors listings across the major portals and has already auto-modified or flagged tens of thousands of non-compliant ads — the permit system isn't theoretical, it's enforced.

For a resale, confirm the seller listed on the contract actually matches DLD's registered owner before any money changes hands — a mismatch is either an honest paperwork lag or something worth walking away from.

A real estate agent operating in Dubai must hold a valid RERA broker card (BRN — Broker Registration Number). Working with an unlicensed 'agent' has no regulatory recourse if something goes wrong.

Off-plan payments in Dubai are legally required to go into a project-specific escrow account, not the developer's general funds, and the project must be registered on DLD's interim register (Oqood) before any unit can legally be sold off-plan. A project you can't find on Oqood isn't one to pay a deposit on.

See our fuller explanation of how this protection actually works.

None of the official checks above tell you whether the price is reasonable — a listing can have a perfectly valid permit and still be priced well above what similar units in the same building or area actually sell for.

This is the one check that isn't a government lookup — it's a straightforward data comparison, and it's where having real transaction history (not a marketing comparable) actually matters.