Buying assets for a business
Assets purchase power of attorney in the UAE
Authorising someone to buy assets for your business hands them the power to spend your money. This page covers where UAE law draws the line between management and disposition, and the limits that keep a buying authority under control.
- A written spending cap
- Named classes of asset
- An end date
Assets purchase power of attorney, in brief
An assets purchase power of attorney lets a named agent buy assets for you or your business and pay for them out of your money. Article 870 names sale in particular but not purchase, so a buying authority is judged by the general test in that article, which means the wording has to do the work.
Governing law
Federal Decree-Law 25/2025, Articles 866 to 903
The test that applies
Act of management, or an act of disposition
Three limits to write
A cap, an asset class, an end date
Spending money is not an act of management
Article 870 requires a special agency for any act that is not an act of management and preservation, and it names sale in particular. Purchase is not on that list. That does not make buying safe ground, because the article introduces its examples with the word particularly, so the list illustrates the rule rather than exhausting it. A purchase is measured against the same general test, and one that commits capital does not look like management and preservation.
Article 870(1), Federal Decree-Law 25/2025
Any act that is not an act of management and preservation requires a special agency specifying the type of act and the dispositions it entails, particularly in donations, sale, settlement, mortgage, acknowledgment, arbitration, administering and accepting an oath, and pleading before the court.
Where the line falls when the agent is buying
Buying replacement stock for a shop that already sells it, or paying for the consumables a workshop runs on, keeps the business doing what it was already doing. That is the kind of act Article 871 has in mind when it limits a generally worded agency to acts of management. Nothing new is acquired, and the principal’s position is preserved rather than changed.
Committing capital to acquire equipment, a vehicle, plant or a block of fixtures is a different act altogether. It converts your money into something the business did not own before, at a price the agent chose, on terms the agent agreed. Treat that as a disposition and write a special agency for it, naming what may be bought and how much may be spent on it.
The limits worth writing in
An assets purchase power of attorney is an authority to spend. Left open, it has no ceiling, no boundary around what may be bought and no finish line. These are the six limits we write into the document, and every one of them narrows what an agent can do with your money.
- A ceiling on the total the agent may commit, written in figures and in words
- A named class of asset, so the authority reaches nothing outside it
- A fixed end date, since Article 897 extinguishes an agency when its term expires
- One identified purchase where the deal is already known, instead of a standing power to buy
- No power to mortgage or give security over what is bought, an act Article 870 names separately
- No right to appoint a sub-agent, so the authority cannot be handed to someone you have never met
Restocking and capital spending are different acts
The same person, the same signature and the same money can sit on either side of this line. What decides it is what the money buys, and whether the business ends up owning something it did not own before.
Keeping the business running
Replacing what is already used
Buying in the stock, materials and consumables the business already trades on. This sits with acts of management and preservation, which is all a generally worded agency grants.
Committing your capital
Acquiring something new for the business
Paying for equipment, plant, a vehicle or fixtures the business did not own before. The agent is disposing of your money, so the act and the ceiling both have to be written.
From your instruction to the notary appointment
Our lawyers and legal consultants draft the wording, prepare the Arabic and attend with you. The notarial ratification itself happens before a notary public, and everything around it is our work.
1
We settle the ceiling and the class
You tell us what is being bought and the most you are willing to see committed. We turn that into wording that names the class of asset and the limit.
2
We draft it as a special agency
Article 871 limits general wording to acts of management, so the draft spells out the buying power act by act instead of relying on one wide phrase.
3
We prepare the Arabic text
Dubai’s notary law requires instruments in Arabic, and a foreign language version needs a certified translator’s Arabic beside it, with both versions signed by the parties.
4
Ratification with the buyer present
The notary verifies identity, capacity and consent, and reads the content out before signature. We are there to answer on the wording. The ratification is carried out before a notary public.
The file behind a buying authority
Three groups, and they come from different places. Identity comes from the notary’s own duties, the Arabic from Dubai’s notary law, and the last group applies only if you are signing outside the country.
Identity for both sides
What the notary verifies
- An ID card, passport or other official document issued by the State
- Capacity and consent, which the notary checks at the appointment
- The agent’s Emirates ID details, not only their name
- The same spelling of every name on every page
The Arabic side of the file
What Dubai’s notary law sets
- Arabic drafting, which is the rule for instruments in Dubai
- A certified translator’s Arabic where the source text is English
- Both versions signed by the parties
- Legal translation approved by the UAE Ministry of Justice
When the signing happens abroad
The consular chain
- Attestation by the foreign ministry of the country you sign in
- Attestation by the UAE embassy or consulate there
- Attestation by MOFAIC once the document reaches the UAE
- An unlaminated original in Arabic or English, or with a certified translation
Wording that quietly turns into a blank cheque
These are the drafting habits that turn a buying authority into an open account. None of them looks dangerous on the page, and each one removes a limit the principal assumed was there.
- A power to buy whatever the agent considers necessary for the business
- No amount at all, so nothing caps what can be committed in your name
- No end date, leaving the authority running long after the purchase is done
- Buying and selling folded into one document, so one holder can move assets both ways
- A power to mortgage or give security bundled in behind the buying power
- A citation of Article 955, which belongs to the repealed 1985 Civil Code
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often on this one.
Can an agent buy equipment under a generally worded power of attorney?
Article 871 says an agency expressed in general terms, without specifying what is intended, grants only the power to perform acts of management. Buying in replacement stock may sit inside that. Committing capital to acquire equipment does not, because it changes what the business owns. For that you need a special agency that names the act.
Article 870 names sale but not purchase, so is buying outside it?
No. The article introduces its examples with the word particularly, so the list illustrates the rule instead of closing it. An act it does not name can still fail the general test. A purchase is judged on whether it is an act of management and preservation or an act of disposition, and spending capital is a disposition.
How do I put a spending limit into the document?
By writing the maximum the agent may commit into the authority itself, in figures and in words, beside the class of asset it applies to. A ceiling kept in a side letter or an email does not narrow what the document says on its face. If the number is not in the text, it is not a limit.
Should one document cover both buying and selling business assets?
We draft them separately. Sale is named in Article 870 and needs a special agency of its own, and folding the two together gives one holder the power to move assets in both directions. Separate documents also let you end the buying authority once the purchase is done and leave the other one running.
How long does an assets purchase power of attorney last?
For as long as the document says. UAE law sets no general fixed period for an agency. Article 897 extinguishes it when the work entrusted to the agent is completed, when the term specified for it expires, or on the death or loss of legal capacity of the principal or the agent. So write a date in.
Can I take the authority back once the agent has started buying?
Article 898 lets the principal revoke or restrict the agent’s authority at any time, unless the agency involves the right of a third party or was issued in the agent’s interest. Article 899 adds that revoking at an inappropriate time, or without acceptable justification, can oblige you to compensate the agent for the damage.
What are the published notary fees for a document like this?
The federal schedule sets execution or notarisation of a general or special power of attorney at AED 100 per party, and a private notary charges that plus thirty percent, so AED 130 per party. Notarising a translation included in the instrument is AED 50 per page. Dubai Courts sits outside that federal schedule under Dubai Law 4/2013.
I will sign abroad. Does an apostille work for the UAE?
No. The UAE is not a contracting party to the Apostille Convention, so there is no apostille route in. The document is attested by the foreign ministry of the country you sign in, then by the UAE embassy or consulate there, then by MOFAIC. The published MOFAIC fee is AED 150 for individual affairs documents and AED 2,000 for commercial documents.
Start here
Send us the ceiling and what is being bought
Tell us what the agent is meant to buy and the most you are prepared to see spent, and we will draft from there. Our lawyers and legal consultants prepare the wording, produce the Arabic legal translation, and attend the appointment with you. The ratification happens before a notary public, and our work is everything around it.
Tell us what the document has to do
Say who will receive it and what you need it to allow, and you will get a straight answer on the wording, the government fees and what to bring. You can also send it through the contact form.
Call us
Speak to the person who will handle your file and get an answer on the same call.
Send photographs of your passport, your Emirates ID and anything the matter attaches to.
Best for a company matter, or anything that runs to several documents.
Visit the office
Jebel Ali area, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai. Come in, or have it handled remotely and only turn up to sign.
Opening hours. Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 18:00. Friday, 9:00 to 12:00. Saturday, 9:00 to 18:00. Sunday, closed.