Law
No. (7) of 2013
Concerning
the Land Department[1]
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ
We, Mohammed bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai,
After
perusal of:
The
Declaration issued on 24 January 1960 Establishing the Tabou (Land) Department;
Law
No. (7) of 1997 Concerning Land Registration Fees and its amendments;
Law
No. (3) of 2003 Establishing the Executive Council of the Emirate of Dubai;
Law
No. (7) of 2006 Concerning Real Property Registration in the Emirate of Dubai;
Law
No. (27) of 2006 Concerning Management of the Government of Dubai Human
Resources and its amendments;
Law
No. (8) of 2007 Concerning Escrow Accounts for Real Property Development in the
Emirate of Dubai;
Law
No. (26) of 2007 Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants in
the Emirate of Dubai and its amendments;
Law
No. (27) of 2007 Concerning Ownership of Jointly Owned Real Property in the
Emirate of Dubai; and
Law
No. (9) of 2009 Regulating the Interim Real Property Register of the Emirate of
Dubai and its amendments,
Do hereby issue this Law.
This Law will be cited as “Law
No. (7) of 2013 Concerning the Land
Department”.
The following words and
expressions, wherever mentioned in this Law, will have the meaning indicated
opposite each of them unless the context implies otherwise:
Emirate: |
The
Emirate of Dubai. |
Ruler: |
His
Highness the Ruler of Dubai. |
Government: |
The Government
of Dubai. |
Executive
Council: |
The
Executive Council of the Emirate of Dubai. |
Department:
|
The
Land Department. |
Chairman: |
The
chairman of the Department. |
Director
General: |
The
director general of the Department. |
Real
Property Activities: |
All
material acts and legal dispositions related to the development, sale,
purchase, registration, regulation, valuation, and leasing of Real Property
in the Emirate, as well as other Real Property activities and services
performed, regulated, or supervised by the Department and its affiliated
entities. |
The
provisions of this Law will apply to the Land Department established pursuant
to the above-mentioned Declaration issued on 24 January 1960.
The head office of the Department
will be located in the Emirate, and the Department may establish branches and
offices within the Emirate.
In its capacity as the
Government entity in the Emirate responsible for regulating and registering Real
Property and promoting Real Property investment, the Department will have the
following objectives:
1. to create a world-class
pro-investment Real Property environment;
2. to achieve the strategic goals of the Government in the Real Property
sector;
3. to keep up with the latest international Real Property registration
systems;
4. to improve the effectiveness of the Real Property regulation and
control in the Emirate;
5. to manage and develop the Real Property rental sector in the Emirate;
6. to update and develop Real Property registration systems consistent
with the latest international systems;
7. to encourage investment in Real Property through creating a favourable
environment for Real Property investors;
8. to increase the contribution of the Real Property sector to the
overall development of the Emirate; and
9. to plan and develop an integrated strategy for Real Property
development in the Emirate to achieve excellence at the international level.
In addition to the functions
assigned to it pursuant to the legislation in force, the Department will have
the duties and powers to:
1. set and follow up the implementation of the policies and strategies
related to implementing the Dubai Strategic Plan with respect to developing and
regulating the Real Property sector in the Emirate;
2. register Real Property through updating and developing Real Property
registration systems of the Department consistent with the latest international
systems in this regard;
3. regulate Real Property activities through setting the rules regulating
the Escrow Accounts for Real Property Development, Real Property brokerage
offices, and joint ownership;
4. encourage investment in Real Property through providing investors with
information and data on Real Property investment opportunities in the Emirate;
5. propose the initiatives and policies required for achieving the
objectives of the Department, particularly those related to Real Property
promotion and investment in the Emirate;
6. propose the legislation regulating the Real Property sector in the
Emirate, conduct post-application
evaluation of such legislation, regulate the
relationship between Landlords and Tenants, and register Lease Contracts of Real
Property Units;
7. license and supervise Real Property activities in the Emirate and
monitor those engaging in them;
8. set, in cooperation and coordination with the competent entities, the
appropriate measures that ensure the protection and stability of the Real
Property market in the Emirate;
9. undertake Real Property promotion within and outside of the Emirate
through organising and participating in local, regional, and international Real
Property conferences, events, and exhibitions;
10. consider applications of Real Property investors to obtain the
benefits prescribed by the legislation and the policies adopted by the Department;
11. prepare and issue reports and studies specialised in the Real Property
market to increase awareness, prepare bulletins and data to support these
studies, and provide decision-makers with the findings of such studies to
benefit from them in setting and implementing the Government policies and
programmes;
12. provide information and data to investors on Real Property investment
opportunities in the Emirate;
13. provide Real Property valuation services;
14. conduct land surveys and re-surveys and issue maps thereof;
15. disseminate Real Property knowledge through preparing and implementing
various Real Property training programmes to qualify those working on the Real
Property market, including Developers, Real Property brokers, and other Persons
engaging in Real Property activities in the Emirate, and prepare and conduct
educational and awareness programmes on the rights and duties of those involved
in the Real Property sector;
16. provide specialised Real Property consultations for Real Property
Developers, brokers, investors and others;
17. prepare and implement programmes and projects that contribute to
promoting the role of UAE nationals and encouraging them to work in the Real
Property sector;
18. organise Real Property seminars, workshops, and conferences that aim to
discuss issues related to the Real Property market, and propose appropriate
solutions for them;
19. assess the performance of the entities affiliated to the Department
and ensure that they perform the duties and services assigned to them;
20. prepare, develop, and periodically update a unified central database
for the Real Property Activities in the Emirate, and make the data accessible
to serve the objectives and purposes of planning and decision-making;
21. form Real Property councils and groups, and advisory committees
comprising Persons with expertise in the various areas
related to Real Property to provide the Department with
opinions and advice on issues referred to it; and
22. perform any other duties required for the achievement of the
objectives of the Department.
a. A Chairman will be appointed to the Department pursuant to a decree
issued by the Ruler.
b. The Chairman will undertake the general supervision of the Department
and make decisions as he deems appropriate to achieve its objectives. In
particular, the Chairman may:
1.
approve the general policy and
strategic plans of the Department and its affiliated entities;
2.
approve the organisational
structure of the Department and its affiliated entities;
3.
approve the draft annual budget
and final accounts of the Department;
4.
approve the fees and charges for
the services provided by the Department and its affiliated entities; and
5. perform any other duties or exercise any other powers related to the
work of the Department and assigned to him by the Ruler.
c. The Chairman may delegate any of the powers vested in him pursuant to
this Law or any other legislation to the Director General.
a. A Director General will be appointed to the Department pursuant to a
decree issued by the Ruler.
b. The Director General will undertake the supervision of the
administrative, technical, and financial affairs of the Department, and will
represent it before third parties. In particular, he may:
1. propose the general policy and strategic plans of the Department and
its affiliated entities, and supervise the implementation of these policies and
plans upon being approved;
2. propose the organisational structure of the Department and its
affiliated entities;
3. approve the bylaws and resolutions regulating the administrative,
financial, and technical work of the Department and its affiliated entities;
4. propose the annual draft budget of the Department and prepare its
final accounts;
5. propose the fees and charges for the services provided by the
Department and its affiliated entities;
6. supervise the work of the executive body of the Department and its
affiliated entities;
7. supervise the work of the executive directors of the affiliated
entities of the Department and their implementation of the strategic and
operational plans of their respective entities; and
8. perform any other duties assigned to him by the Chairman.
The executive body of the
Department will be comprised of a number of administrative and technical Employees.
Law No. (27) of 2006 Concerning Management of the Government of Dubai Human
Resources and its amendments will apply to these Employees.
a. Specialised entities working in areas related to regulating,
conducting, and developing Real Property Activities in the Emirate may be
affiliated to the Department.
b. The Department may, in accordance with its needs and the work
requirements of its affiliated entities, propose redefining the goals and objectives,
dissolving, or merging of these entities. These proposals will be submitted to
the competent authorities for approval.
c. Affiliated entities of the Department must implement the adopted plans
and policies, and must submit periodic reports to the Director General on their
work and programmes as well as the statistics, studies, and information
available to these affiliated entities.
In return for registering Real
Property dispositions and providing other services, the Department will charge
fees as determined pursuant to a resolution of the Chairman of the Executive
Council.
The financial resources of the
Department will consist of:
1. support allocated to the Department in the general budget of the
Government;
2. fees and charges for the services provided by the Department; and
3. any other resources approved by
the Executive Council.
In regulating its accounts and
records, the Department will follow the government accounting rules and standards.
The financial year of the Department will commence on 1 January and will end on
31 December of each year.
The Chairman of the Executive
Council will issue the resolutions required for the implementation of the
provisions of this Law.
The Declaration issued on 24
January 1960 Establishing the Tabou (Land) Department and Law No. (7) of 1997
Concerning Land Registration Fees are hereby repealed. Any provision in any
other legislation will also be repealed to the extent that it contradicts the
provisions of this Law.
This
Law comes into force on the day on which it is issued, and will be published in
the Official Gazette.
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Ruler of Dubai
Issued in Dubai on 18 September 2013
Corresponding to 13 Thu al-Qidah 1434 A.H.
© 2015 The Supreme Legislation Committee in the
Emirate of Dubai
[1]Every effort has been made to produce an accurate and complete English version of this legislation. However, for the purpose of its interpretation and application, reference must be made to the original Arabic text. In case of conflict the Arabic text will prevail.