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How to use this glossary
Fifty terms that appear in a Dubai purchase or financing file, each defined in one or two sentences. Where a term rests on
a rule, a central bank regulation, a Land Department fee, a decree, the rule is stated with the number, so you can check
it rather than take our word for it.
The terms most often misunderstood by first-time buyers from outside the UAE are LTV, DBR, reversion rate, service charge and valuation. Each of those has changed the arithmetic of a real mandate for us, and each is explained at length elsewhere on this site: see the mortgage guide, the down payment guide and case study 01.
Fifty terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| AED | The United Arab Emirates dirham. Pegged to the US dollar at approximately 3.6725 AED per dollar, which is why UAE interest rates follow US policy rates rather than European ones. About 4.26 AED to the euro as of 11 September 2026, moving daily. |
| Amortisation | The portion of a monthly instalment that reduces the loan balance rather than paying interest. Early in a 25-year mortgage it is small: on AED 650,000 at 5.99 per cent, the first year repays about AED 11,588 of principal against AED 38,620 of interest. |
| Annuity | A loan repaid in constant monthly instalments combining interest and principal. The standard structure for a UAE mortgage. |
| Approval in Principle (AIP) | A written indication from a bank of how much it is prepared to lend and on what terms, issued before a property is chosen. Valid for a limited period. Getting one before viewing is the single most useful preparatory step for a non-resident. |
| Base Rate | A bank's own reference rate, used by some lenders instead of EIBOR. Unlike EIBOR it is not published by the central bank, so ask how it is set and how often it changes before accepting a variable loan priced against it. |
| Cooling | District cooling, the centralised air conditioning used in most Dubai towers. Billed separately from the service charge and often from utilities, and a real running cost that yield calculations frequently omit. |
| CRS (Common Reporting Standard) | The international framework for automatic exchange of financial account information. The UAE participates, so a UAE account is reported to the tax authority where you are resident. Any offer marketing a UAE account as invisible is describing something that no longer exists. |
| Current Account | A bank account with a chequebook. In the UAE it requires residency status; non-residents receive a savings account instead. |
| DBR (Debt Burden Ratio) | The share of gross income absorbed by all monthly debt payments combined. The UAE Central Bank caps it at 50 per cent, counting loans held anywhere in the world. It is usually the binding constraint on how much a non-resident can borrow. |
| DEWA | Dubai Electricity and Water Authority. The utility account must be transferred to the new owner after completion; a deposit is payable. |
| DLD (Dubai Land Department) | The government body that registers property ownership and mortgages in Dubai, issues title deeds and levies the 4 per cent transfer fee. It also maintains the rent index. |
| EIBOR | The Emirates Interbank Offered Rate, the rate at which UAE banks lend to one another. Published by the UAE Central Bank every business day and used as the reference for variable mortgages, typically at the three-month tenor. It was 3.88 per cent on 21 August 2026 and around 4.05 per cent in early September 2026. |
| Ejari | The system through which a tenancy contract is registered in Dubai. Registration is required for utilities, visas and dispute resolution. |
| Emirates ID | The national identity card issued to UAE residents. Not required to buy property or to open a non-resident savings account; required for a current account and most resident services. |
| Equity Release | Borrowing against a property you already own outright or partly own, to release capital. Available in the UAE but on tighter terms for non-residents than for residents. |
| Escrow Account | The regulated project account into which off-plan payments must be made. Payments go to the escrow account of the development, not to the developer directly. |
| Expatriate | A foreign national living in the UAE. Distinct from a non-resident, who does not live there, the distinction matters, because lending terms differ. |
| Fall-below Fee | A monthly charge levied when an account balance drops below the required minimum. Small, permanent and routinely overlooked when a non-resident account is opened. |
| Fixed Rate | An interest rate fixed for an agreed period, commonly one, three or five years in the UAE, after which the loan reverts to a variable rate. See Reversion Rate. |
| Form F | The Dubai Land Department's standard memorandum of understanding between buyer and seller for a completed property, setting price, payment terms and deadlines. A deposit of 10 per cent is customary. |
| Freehold | Full ownership of a property, available to foreign nationals in Dubai's designated freehold areas regardless of residence. Registered with the Dubai Land Department and evidenced by a title deed. |
| Golden Visa | The UAE long-term residence permit. For property investors it runs ten years and is renewable, from a property value of AED 2 million. A mortgaged property qualifies with a no-objection letter from the lender. |
| Gross Yield | Annual rent divided by purchase price, before costs. Useful only alongside the net figure: on a property let at AED 75,000 with a service charge of AED 10,047, the gross 5.77 per cent becomes 5.00 per cent after that single item. |
| Handover | The point at which a developer delivers a completed unit to the buyer. A UAE bank will only finance a property from handover onwards, which is why off-plan purchases are paid from your own funds until then. |
| Handover Facility | A loan product that pays the final developer instalment at handover, converting an off-plan purchase into a financed one. A different product from a standard mortgage, with its own conditions. |
| Ijara | An Islamic finance structure in which the bank holds an ownership interest and leases it to you, with ownership transferring at the end. Economically comparable to a mortgage; contractually different, particularly on early settlement. |
| KYC (Know Your Customer) | The identification and due diligence a bank must complete before opening an account. For non-residents the requirements are heightened, because the bank cannot check any local history. |
| Liability Letter | A statement from the seller's bank of the outstanding balance on an existing mortgage, needed before a mortgaged property can be transferred. |
| LTV (Loan-to-Value) | The share of a property's value a bank will lend. For non-residents in Dubai, typically 65 per cent, and in some cases 50 per cent. It is a risk decision by the bank, not a fixed entitlement, and it can change during a process. |
| Manager's Cheque | A bank-issued cheque used to settle the purchase price at the transfer appointment. Still the standard instrument at a registration trustee office. |
| Murabaha | An Islamic finance structure based on a cost-plus sale, used as an alternative to an interest-bearing loan. |
| NOC (No Objection Certificate) | A developer's confirmation that no claims are outstanding on a unit. Required before a resale can be transferred; typically three to ten days and a few hundred to a few thousand dirhams. |
| Non-Resident | For lending purposes, a buyer who neither lives nor works in the UAE. Non-residents can buy freehold property and can borrow, on terms distinct from those offered to residents. |
| Off-Plan | A property bought before completion, paid according to the developer's instalment plan. A bank does not finance it until handover. In July 2026 off-plan traded at a median 24.9 per cent above completed property per square foot. |
| Offer Letter | The bank's binding financing offer, issued after valuation. The document in which the rate mechanism, the term and the early-settlement terms are actually defined, read those clauses here, not later. |
| Oqood | The Dubai Land Department's interim registration for an off-plan unit, used before a title deed can be issued. |
| PEP (Politically Exposed Person) | A person holding or connected to a prominent public function. Not excluded from UAE banking, but subject to enhanced due diligence and longer processing. |
| Power of Attorney | The instrument allowing an attorney to complete a transfer on your behalf. For Dubai it must be notarised at home, authenticated at home (the UAE is not an Apostille country; the apostille alone is not enough), attested by the UAE embassy and translated into Arabic, with a clearly limited scope. |
| Ready Property | A completed property, available for handover. The only segment a UAE bank will finance, and in July 2026 the only segment still up year on year. |
| Registration Trustee | A Dubai Land Department-appointed office where property transfers are executed. Charges about AED 4,000 plus VAT on purchases above AED 500,000. |
| RERA | The Real Estate Regulatory Agency, the regulatory arm of the Dubai Land Department. Maintains the rent index that governs permitted rent increases. |
| Rent Index | The Emirate of Dubai's official reference for market rents, used to determine whether and by how much a rent may be increased. The index decides, not the owner's opinion. |
| Reversion Rate | The variable rate a mortgage falls to when a fixed period ends, usually EIBOR plus a margin. The number that determines the true long-run cost of a loan marketed on its fixed-period headline. |
| Savings Account | The account type available to non-residents in the UAE: IBAN, online banking, debit card and multi-currency sub-accounts, but no chequebook and usually no overdraft. |
| Service Charge | The annual charge per square foot levied by an owners' association for maintenance of a building and its common areas. AED 15 to 25 per square foot is normal in a well-run tower; on 591 square feet at AED 17 that is AED 10,047 a year, around 13 per cent of a typical rent. |
| Source of Funds | Documentary evidence of where the money for a purchase or deposit came from, traced without gaps. In our mandates it is the single most common cause of delay. |
| SPA (Sale and Purchase Agreement) | The developer's contract for an off-plan purchase, setting the instalment plan and the handover terms. |
| Title Deed | The document evidencing registered ownership, issued by the Dubai Land Department in the buyer's name. Costs AED 250 to issue; a mortgage is noted on it at the same time. |
| UAE Central Bank (CBUAE) | The regulator that licenses and supervises banks in the UAE and sets the mortgage rules that apply to every lender: a 25-year maximum term, a 50 per cent debt-burden cap and lending against the lower of price and valuation. |
| Valuation | The bank's own assessment of a property's worth. The loan is calculated on the lower of the agreed price and the valuation, so a valuation below the price increases your equity requirement rather than reducing the loan. |
Missing a term? The German glossary at nexusbridgecapital.de/glossar/ covers the same ground for German-speaking readers. If something here is unclear, the FAQ answers forty of the questions we are actually asked.
Sources
- UAE Central Bank Rulebook, Regulations Regarding Mortgage Loans, https://rulebook.centralbank.ae/en/rulebook/regulations-regarding-mortgage-loans (accessed 5 September 2026).
- UAE Central Bank Rulebook, Article 3, Important Ratios (loan-to-value, debt burden, tenor), https://rulebook.centralbank.ae/en/rulebook/article-3-important-ratios (accessed 5 September 2026).
- UAE Central Bank, EIBOR rates, published every business day, https://www.centralbank.ae/en/forex-eibor/eibor-rates/ (accessed 5 September 2026).
- Dubai Land Department, Property Sale Registration (transfer fee and process), https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/property-sale-registration/ (accessed 5 September 2026).
- Dubai Land Department, Request for Mortgage Registration, https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/request-for-mortgage-registration/ (accessed 5 September 2026).
- Dubai Land Department, Rental Index, https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/rental-index/ (accessed 5 September 2026).
- Dubai Land Department, Request for Golden Visa (Investor), https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/request-for-golden-visa-investor/ (accessed 5 September 2026).
- UAE Ministry of Finance, Automatic Exchange of Information (CRS / FATCA), https://mof.gov.ae/en/public-finance/international-relations/automatic-exchange-of-information-aeoi-fatca-crs/ (accessed 5 September 2026).
- PropertyIndex, Dubai residential price index, median price per square foot, July 2026, https://www.propertyindex.ae/ (accessed 5 September 2026).
DT
Written by Denise Tanrikul, Managing Partner · Reviewed by Martin Krygier, Manager, himself a property buyer, refurbisher and landlord in Germany and Dubai
Last reviewed 5 September 2026. Regulatory statements come from the primary sources linked at the foot of each page (UAE Central Bank, Dubai Land Department, federal authorities) and are refreshed at least quarterly. Bank terms change at short notice, always confirm the current position with the lender before deciding.