The headline number is simple: DLD charges 0.125% of the assessed property value on a qualifying gift transfer, with a minimum of AED 2,000, against 4% on a sale. The full cost of a transfer is that fee plus a fixed set of ancillary charges. This page itemises all of them.
0.125% of the DLD-assessed value — not the price the parties believe the property is worth. DLD requires its own valuation as the fee basis. The fee is paid by manager’s cheque on transfer day, on the same basis as a sale.
Worked examples across three values: at AED 1,000,000 the calculated fee is AED 1,250, so the AED 2,000 minimum applies — against AED 40,000 on a sale. At AED 3,000,000 the fee is AED 3,750 against AED 120,000. At AED 10,000,000 it is AED 12,500 against AED 400,000. The concession scales: the larger the holding being consolidated, the larger the differential.
The calculator below produces the complete cost anatomy for a given property value and scenario — DLD fee with the minimum applied, valuation, trustee, title deed and map fees, and the sale-versus-gift differential. Every input is either supplied by you or a published DLD rate. (Build note: mount the approved v8 calculator component in this section.)
DLD does not dictate which party funds the fees; the parties allocate them by agreement, and in family transfers the donor commonly carries them. What matters procedurally is that the manager’s cheques are correctly drawn on the day — a mis-drawn cheque is a same-day failure.
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Last reviewed: July 2026