Short answer. Almost all Dubai property transactions are settled with manager's cheques issued by a UAE bank on transfer day. The money to fund those cheques usually arrives from abroad via international wire and can take a few business days. Under the UAE anti-money-laundering framework, real-estate brokers must run source-of-funds checks and, since a 2022 Ministry of Economy circular, must file a Real Estate Activity Report on the goAML platform for freehold purchases involving a single cash payment or multiple cash payments of AED 55,000 or more, and for any payment involving virtual assets.

The AML framework in plain English

UAE anti-money-laundering rules are set out in Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018 and Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2019. Real-estate brokers and agents are classified as Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) and must apply customer due diligence, source-of-funds verification and record keeping. Since the Ministry of Economy circular of 2022, brokers must file a Real Estate Activity Report (REAR) on the Financial Intelligence Unit's goAML platform whenever a freehold transaction involves:

  • A single cash payment of AED 55,000 or more, or multiple cash payments equalling that threshold;
  • A payment made using virtual assets or funds derived from virtual assets.

The framework has been updated several times since 2018 — please refer to the UAE AML framework, including Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018, and confirm current rules with your broker or lawyer before completing.

What that means at your kitchen table

Practically, a compliant broker will always ask a new client to provide:

  • A copy of their passport and, if UAE-resident, their Emirates ID.
  • Proof of address (recent utility bill or bank statement).
  • Source-of-funds evidence: usually a bank statement showing the origin of the money, plus a short letter or explanation (salary, sale of a previous property, business income, investment redemption, inheritance).

The broker keeps these records for a minimum of five years and, if any red flags arise, files a report to the FIU. This is a standard, legal process — not a reflection on the client.

The international wire

Most non-resident buyers move funds via SWIFT to their UAE bank account or directly to the seller's registered UAE account. A few practical realities:

  • Timing: allow 3–5 business days for a large SWIFT wire from Europe or Asia. Some correspondent banks apply extra compliance checks on real-estate purchases.
  • FX: UAE dirham is pegged to the US dollar. If you fund a UAE bank account first, you can convert once and then issue manager's cheques in AED.
  • Compliance questions: both the sending and receiving banks may ask about the purpose of the payment. Answer specifically ("purchase of property in [community] under MOU dated X"). Ambiguous purposes trigger delays.
  • Recipient: for off-plan, funds must go into the project escrow account. For resale, the money is typically held by the buyer's UAE bank and released as manager's cheques on transfer day.

The manager's cheques on transfer day

At the DLD trustee office you will usually hand over:

  • A manager's cheque to the seller for the net purchase price.
  • A manager's cheque to the DLD trustee for the 4% transfer fee and the registration fee.
  • A manager's cheque to the agency for the commission.
  • For mortgage buyers: a manager's cheque from the bank to the seller and a separate cheque for the mortgage registration fee.

Manager's cheques are drawn by a UAE bank against confirmed funds, which is why they replace personal cheques and cash for large-value transactions.

Red flags — for both sides

  • Anyone asking you to send money to a personal account (agent, developer director, even a "trusted intermediary").
  • Requests for cash in envelopes on top of the registered price.
  • Pressure to complete quickly without the broker running source-of-funds checks.
  • Any offer to "structure" the price on paper differently from the true price to reduce the DLD fee.

Any of these are non-negotiable stop signs. Real-estate fraud complaints to the DLD normally trace back to one of them.

How Eylül Estate handles compliance

We complete KYC before we start shortlisting, so on transfer day the file is already clean. Every payment we handle is auditable and every dirham is traceable to a bank statement.

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