Opening your own brokerage in Dubai, and the question nobody asks first

What do you need to open a real estate brokerage in Dubai? Two licences, not one: a trade licence from Dubai Economy and Tourism, and a real estate activity licence from the Dubai Land Department, applied for through the Trakheesi system. On top of that comes an office, the compliance obligations of a licensed firm, and your own broker card, because the company licence does not let you personally broker anything.

Most people researching this question are really asking a different one, and it is worth separating the two before you spend a dirham.

Company licence and broker card are not the same thing

This is the most common confusion in Dubai real estate, and it costs people months.

The broker card is personal. It carries your Broker Registration Number, it is what lets you advertise and broker, and it is issued to individuals working under a licensed firm. Our RERA licence guide covers it end to end.

The activity licence is corporate. It authorises a company to carry on a regulated real estate activity. The Dubai Land Department lists twenty-one such activities, and “real estate sales and purchase brokerage” and “real estate leasing brokerage” are two of them. Holding it does not make you personally licensed to broker: you still need the card.

If you join a firm, you need only the card. The licence is the firm’s problem.

What the structure actually requires

Working from the DLD’s own service page:

The application runs through Trakheesi or the Invest in Dubai platform: submit the details and documents, an officer reviews and approves, you pay, and the No Objection Letter is issued.

Dubai Economy and Tourism is involved as a licensing partner. The DLD authorises the activity; the trade licence itself is a separate instrument. Budget for both, and for the office address that a trade licence presupposes.

Some activities carry heavy structural conditions. Leasing and managing third-party properties, for example, requires a bank guarantee of AED 5 million and, for a branch, at least twenty administrative employees. Sales and purchase brokerage is not held to that particular threshold, but the example shows what kind of regime you are entering: the DLD sets conditions per activity, and they are not negotiable.

Fees vary by activity and change. We are not going to print a figure here that we cannot verify against the source today; the linked DLD page is the authority. Be sceptical of any blog that quotes you one confident all-in number for “the” brokerage licence, because there is no such single number.

The costs nobody puts in the spreadsheet

The licence is the cheap part. What follows it:

• Office and trade licence renewal, annually, whether you closed a deal or not
• Staff, once you have anyone at all, with visas attached to your establishment
• Compliance: anti-money-laundering obligations, registered forms, advertising permits, and the annual renewals for every card in the firm
• Your own time, redirected from selling into administration, which is the cost that actually decides whether the firm works

None of this is an argument against opening a brokerage. Plenty of good ones start exactly this way. It is an argument for being honest about what you are buying.

The question nobody asks first

Most people who research this are not trying to build a firm with staff. They want the economics of their own business: keep what they earn, own their clients, answer to nobody about how they work.

That does not actually require a company licence. It requires an arrangement in which the brokerage does not take a share of your commission.

That is what MARNER Members is. You keep 100 per cent of the commission on your transactions; we take no share of any deal you close. Instead there is one fixed monthly fee, agreed before you join. You operate under the MARNER brand and its licence, your client book stays yours, and the compliance and documentation run through MAYA, our administrative platform, rather than through your evenings.

Whether that beats running your own firm depends on what you want. If the goal is to build an organisation, open the brokerage. If the goal is to keep your earnings and your clients without carrying an establishment, the licence is an expensive way to get there.

Frequently asked questions

Can a foreigner own a real estate company in Dubai? Yes. Since the 2021 reform of the Commercial Companies Law, full foreign ownership is available for mainland companies across most commercial activities, real estate brokerage among them, without an Emirati partner.

Can I set up in a free zone instead? Do not assume so. This is the single question to settle before you choose a structure, because brokerage registration is tied to the licensing route, and a company licensed in the wrong place can end up unable to broker Dubai property at all. The DLD’s licensing service does issue a no-objection letter for free zone licences, so free zone real estate activity exists in some form — but whether it covers what you intend to do is a question for a licensing adviser and the DLD, not for a blog. Ours included.

How long does it take to get a brokerage licence in Dubai? The DLD approval step is administrative and can move quickly once documents are complete. The realistic timeline is set by the trade licence, the office lease and the visa quota, not by the DLD form.

Do I need a physical office? A trade licence presupposes a licensed address. What that means in practice depends on the jurisdiction you licence in, which is one more reason to take advice before committing to a structure.

Do I still need a broker card if I own the company? Yes, if you personally intend to broker, advertise or handle transactions. Ownership and personal licensing are separate. See our RERA guide.

Is it cheaper to join a brokerage than to open one? Almost always, in the first years. The relevant comparison is not licence fee against monthly fee; it is your total annual cost of operating, including the hours you would spend on administration, against what a brokerage arrangement leaves you. The commission calculator gives you the revenue side of that sum.