Power of attorney, when you cannot be there.
Most Dubai owners live somewhere else, and Dubai still wants a signature in person. A power of attorney is how that gets resolved. What it covers, what the attestation chain costs, and why the narrow version is usually the right one.
A power of attorney names someone who can act for you on your Dubai property: selling it, letting it, dealing with the developer or signing at a bank. Signed at a notary in Dubai it costs roughly AED 100 to 300 per signature and can be done in a day. Signed abroad it has to pass through the UAE Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which commonly costs AED 1,000 to 3,000 and takes 15 to 30 business days.
In short
A power of attorney lets a named person act on the property while you stay where you are. The Land Department, banks and developers each check it before accepting the holder.
Signed in Dubai it is quick: a notary fee of roughly AED 100 to 300 per signature, and the document is usable the same day.
Signed abroad it runs through a local notary, the UAE Embassy and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Budget 15 to 30 business days.
The document must be in Arabic, or carry a legalised Arabic translation.
A general power of attorney can include the authority to sell. A restricted one that names the specific act is the safer choice for most owners.
What the document covers
A power of attorney is a notarised authority. It names a person, and it names what that person may do on your behalf. In Dubai it exists because the system still expects someone to turn up: at the trustee office to transfer a title, at the bank to sign a mortgage, at the developer to take handover.
The acts it can cover are wide. Signing a sale contract and attending the transfer. Registering a tenancy on Ejari and collecting rent. Dealing with a developer over a handover date or a service charge account. Signing and registering a mortgage, or discharging one. Applying for a title deed replacement.
What it cannot do is stretch. The Land Department, the banks and the developers all read the wording and check that the act in front of them is one the document names. A power of attorney drafted for a sale will not necessarily let the holder register an Ejari contract, and finding that out on the day is a wasted trip for whoever is standing there on your behalf.
Signing here, or signing abroad
Where you sign decides almost everything about the cost and the timeline. Inside the UAE it is one visit. Outside it, the document has to be authenticated by three separate authorities before Dubai will look at it.
| Signed in Dubai | Signed abroad | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it starts | Dubai Courts public notary | A notary where you are |
| Steps after that | None | UAE Embassy, then UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
| Language | Arabic, or legalised translation | Same |
| Typical cost | AED 100 to 300 per signature | AED 1,000 to 3,000, sometimes more |
| How long | Same day | 15 to 30 business days |
Notary and attestation fees current at September 2026 and indicative. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes AED 150 for an individual-affairs document. Embassy fees, courier charges and translation rates vary by country, and a law firm or service provider adds its own fee on top.
The attestation chain is the slow part, and each link has its own queue. Your document is notarised locally, sent to the UAE Embassy in that country for attestation, then attested again by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs once it reaches the UAE. The Ministry publishes a fee of AED 150 for an individual-affairs document. Everything around it, meaning the local notary, the embassy, the courier and the translation, is what takes the total into four figures.
If a sale is already in motion, start the power of attorney before you agree a completion date. Buyers and their banks work to timetables, and a document still sitting at an embassy is not a reason they will wait.
General, or restricted
A general power of attorney hands over broad authority over your affairs, and depending on how it is drafted, that can include selling the property. A restricted one names the act, and often the specific unit, and stops there.
For most owners the restricted version does everything they need. If the task is registering a tenancy while you are in London, the document should say so. If the task is completing a sale of one apartment, it should name that apartment. There is no advantage in the wider version unless the person holding it is going to be running several unrelated things for you over a long period.
This is not a reason to avoid a power of attorney. It is an argument for reading the draft before you notarise it, and for asking the person preparing it to narrow the wording where it is broader than the job requires. Most of the difficulty owners run into comes from documents that were written wide because nobody asked for anything narrower.
Before you sign
Name the acts, and name the property.
A document that says the holder may deal with your real estate in Dubai is broader than one that says they may sell apartment 1203 in a named tower. Write down the transaction you need done, give that list to whoever drafts it, and check the Arabic version says the same thing as the English.
Check the holder will be accepted.
Banks in particular apply their own requirements to who can sign on a mortgage, and some will not accept a holder who is not a relative. Ask the bank or the developer what they need before the document goes through attestation, because a rejected power of attorney has to start the chain again.
Put an end date in the document.
A power of attorney with no expiry stays live until it is revoked. Setting a date that covers the transaction with a margin means an old document cannot be used long after the reason for it has passed.
Revoke it when the job is finished.
Revocation goes through a notary, and the people who were relying on the document need to be told. Owners often skip this because the transaction is over and the paperwork feels finished. The document is not finished until it has been cancelled.
General information for property owners, current at September 2026, and not legal advice. Fees are indicative and vary by country, by notary and by the service used. Confirm the current requirements with a notary, a lawyer or the authority that will receive the document before you rely on any of this.
Questions
- What is a power of attorney for property in Dubai?
- A power of attorney is a notarised document naming someone who can act for you on the property. Depending on what it says, that person can sign a sale and attend the transfer, register a tenancy on Ejari, deal with the developer, or sign mortgage papers at a bank. The Land Department, the banks and the developers all read the document before they accept the holder, and they only accept them for the acts it names.
- Can I sell my Dubai property without flying there?
- Yes, and this is the most common reason owners set one up. A power of attorney that covers the sale lets your representative sign the contract, deal with the trustee office and complete the transfer while you stay where you are. The document has to reach Dubai attested before the transaction is booked, which is the part that takes the time rather than the signing itself.
- How much does a power of attorney cost in Dubai?
- Signed in Dubai, the notary fee at a Dubai Courts public notary is roughly AED 100 to 300 per signature, with legal translation adding somewhere between AED 50 and AED 200. Signed abroad, the total commonly lands between AED 1,000 and AED 3,000 once the local notary, the UAE Embassy, courier charges and translation are counted. Some countries and some service providers push that to AED 3,000 to 7,000.
- How long does attestation take if I sign outside the UAE?
- Budget 15 to 30 business days for the full chain. The document is notarised where you are, attested at the UAE Embassy in that country, then attested again at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Each step has its own queue, and a courier leg sits between them. Signing at a notary in Dubai instead can be done in a day.
- Should I give a general or a specific power of attorney?
- Specific, in most cases. A general power of attorney can carry the authority to sell the property, which is a great deal of power to hand over for a task like registering a tenancy. A restricted document that names the single act you need, and the property it applies to, gives your representative enough to do the job and nothing beyond it.
- How do I cancel a power of attorney?
- Revoke it through a notary, and tell anyone who has been relying on it. A power of attorney does not lapse on its own unless the document sets an end date, so one drafted for a sale three years ago may still be live. Owners who set one up for a single transaction should close it off once the transfer has gone through.
Mulki keeps the deed, the contracts and the dates on every unit, wherever you happen to be.
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