Dubai Land Department Launches Its Real Estate Broker Programme
The Dubai Land Department opened the enrolment for the Emirati citizens in its Dubai Real Estate Broker Programme (the “Programme”), which is one of the programmes of Dubai’s agenda and initiatives that seek to increase the engagement of the UAE citizens in the private sector businesses.
The interest shown in the Programme was so exceptional, whether for the number of applications of UAE citizens or the number of applications of developers and real estate brokerage companies, that the Land Department received more than 1,000 applications for membership in the Programme from Emirati citizens.
It is worth mentioning that the activity of a real estate broker was regulated by By-law No. 85 of 2006 on the Regulation of Real Estate Brokers Register in the Emirate of Dubai (the “Brokers Law”) which was issued on May 30, 2006. The Brokers Law was issued pursuant to Article 6, para 6 and Article 28 of Law No. 7 of 2006 concerning Real Property Registration in the Emirate of Dubai.
The Brokers Law established a special register for registering real estate brokers who are licensed to perform brokerage activity in the Emirate of Dubai and every change or amendment made on this data must be recorded in that special register.
The Brokers Law defined the broker as the ‘bidder’, the person who carries on the brokerage activities in Dubai, and defined the brokerage as the contract by which a broker undertakes to another person to look for a second party to enter into a certain contract through mediation and negotiations in consideration of a fee.
The Brokers Law under Article 3 thereof obligates everyone who wishes to practice real estate brokerage activity to be licensed by the competent authorities and registered in the brokers’ special register, that without such registration, no brokerage activity may be practiced in the Emirate of Dubai. The Brokers Law also emphasized the requirement to comply with professional ethics according to the Code of Ethics that was prepared by the Permanent Committee of the Real Estate Brokers, in consultation with brokers with expertise and opinion.
The Programme in line with the Brokers Law’s requirements provides training courses for participants to enable, qualify and train them as well as introducing them to the mandatory qualifications necessary to obtain a real estate broker license. The Program also provides job opportunities to UAE citizens and grant them a citizen real estate broker license, with the assistance and guidance of a group of most prominent and important real estate experts in this industry. The Programme also raises the level of the brokers professionalism and real estate awareness by educating them on the best practices and the ethical standards of the profession, and introducing them to real estate buying, selling and leasing transactions, and further develops the participants specialized capabilities to create their own businesses.
The Program further enhances efforts to allocate 10% to 15% of the development company’s sales to be marketed by Emirati real estate brokers, and empower the UAE citizens by offering them more employment opportunities in the real estate development companies.