Business assets, not shares
Assets Sale Power of Attorney: Selling Business Assets in the UAE
An assets sale power of attorney has to name the assets one by one, because a sale is not an act of management. Wording that says the business and its property opens a door you did not mean to open.
- Every asset named
- Arabic drafting and translation
- We attend the ratification
An assets sale power of attorney at a glance
It is a special agency that names the sale and identifies each asset the agent is allowed to sell, so the authority stops at the edge of the list. General wording will not carry it, because an agency written in general terms only grants the agent acts of management.
Agency type
Special, with the sale named
Legal basis
Articles 870 and 871, Federal Decree-Law 25/2025
Federal notary fee
AED 100 per party to the deed
Where management ends and disposal begins
The law splits acts into management and preservation on one side, and everything else on the other. That split runs through a trading business. Moving stock in the ordinary course of trade is one act. Selling the machine that makes the stock is another, because that is a sale, and sale is named in Article 870 as something a special agency has to specify. A deed that does not draw the line leaves the agent on both sides of it.
Article 871, Federal Decree-Law 25 of 2025
If the agency is expressed in general terms without specifying what is intended, it shall only grant the agent the power to perform acts of management.
Why a mixed list of assets is harder to draft
Shares are one thing, repeated. A block of shares in one company can be described in a line, and every unit in it is identical to every other unit. A sale of business assets is not like that. It is a mixed bag of different things: machines, vehicles, stock, fit-out, tools, signage, sometimes a stake in something else. Each item has its own owner on the record and its own description, and the deed has to carry all of that.
So the drafting problem on this page is identification rather than direction. The agent has to be able to point at the deed and say this machine, this vehicle, this batch. Anything the wording leaves loose is room the agent can move in, and room you did not mean to give away. We build the list with you first, then write the authority around the list rather than around the business.
How each asset has to be identified
Article 870 asks a deed to specify the type of act and the dispositions it entails. On a sale of assets that means naming the sale itself, and then naming what is being sold tightly enough that a second reading of the list is not possible.
- The act written plainly as a sale, not as authority to deal with or to manage
- A description of each asset that separates it from every other item you hold
- Serial, chassis, plate or model numbers wherever the asset carries one
- Quantities and batch references where the asset is stock rather than a single item
- Who holds the asset on the record, in any case where that is not you
- Anything on the list that is financed or leased, flagged to us before a word is drafted
Two things people call selling the business
These two belong in different deeds, and the difference is what changes hands rather than who is buying. We ask which one you are in before we start drafting, because the wording has almost nothing in common.
Assets
The business sells its things
The deed names the sale and identifies each machine, vehicle, batch and fitting the agent may sell. Everything the agent can reach is on that list, and nothing else is.
Shares
The owner sells a shareholding
What is being sold is a holding in a company, so the deed names that holding instead of a list of items. It is a separate deed and we keep it separate.
From the asset list to the notary appointment
Four steps, and the first one is the one that takes the time. Nothing goes into the Arabic text until the list underneath it is settled.
1
We build the asset list with you
You tell us what is being sold. We turn it into a schedule in which each item is described tightly enough that no other item you own could answer to the description.
2
We check who holds each item
Anything financed, leased or standing in another name comes out of the schedule and is dealt with on its own, because a principal cannot pass on authority he does not hold.
3
We draft the deed and its Arabic
Our lawyers and legal consultants write the special agency wording, name the sale, attach the schedule and prepare the Arabic text the notary public will work from.
4
You attend and sign the deed
You attend and sign. The notary verifies identity, capacity and consent and reads the content out before ratifying it. The ratification is carried out before a notary public.
Papers that pin down what is being sold
Send these across before we draft. The identity documents are set by law, and the asset papers are simply how the schedule gets written accurately the first time.
The seller’s papers
Whoever is granting the authority
- Emirates ID, or a passport if you are not resident
- Trade licence where the seller is a company rather than a person
- Identity document of the individual who will actually sign
- Contact details we can reach you on while drafting is under way
The agent’s papers
Whoever will act on the deed
- Emirates ID number, or a copy of the Emirates ID card
- Passport copy where the agent is currently outside the UAE
- Full name spelled exactly as it reads on the identity document
- Confirmation from the agent that he has agreed to act
The asset papers
How the schedule gets written
- Invoices or purchase records that describe each item
- Ownership certificate for any vehicle sitting on the list
- Finance or lease agreements covering anything on the list
- Stock records showing quantities and batches where stock is included
Drafting that fails and drafting that holds
The same sale, written two ways. The first list is the wording we take out of a draft, and the second is what we put in its place once the schedule is settled.
- General authority to manage and dispose of the property of the business, with no sale named anywhere in it.
- A schedule that says all machinery and equipment, so no single machine can be tied to the authority.
- An item left on the list that the principal does not hold on the record, because it is financed or leased.
- The sale named in the deed, in the terms Article 870 uses, with the dispositions it entails written out.
- Each item described so closely that only one thing in the business answers to the description.
- Anything financed or leased taken off the list first, and handled in a deed of its own if it is needed.
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often on this one.
Can one power of attorney cover every asset in the business?
It can, provided every asset in it is identified. The limit is not the number of items, it is how closely each one is described. A single deed with a proper schedule works well. A single deed that gestures at the business as a whole does not, because Article 870 asks for the type of act and the dispositions it entails.
Does selling stock in the ordinary course need a special agency?
Article 871 says an agency expressed in general terms only grants the agent acts of management, so an act that really is management sits inside general wording. Selling the machinery is not management. That is a sale, and sale is one of the acts Article 870 names as needing a special agency. We draft to the harder case.
What happens if an item on the list is financed or leased?
Then the owner on the record may not be you, and a power of attorney cannot hand over authority the principal does not hold himself. We take those items out of the schedule and deal with them separately. What the finance or leasing party has agreed to is something we ask you about before drafting, never something we assume.
Which language does the notarised instrument have to be in?
The instrument drawn up by the notary is in Arabic. Federal Decree-Law 20/2022 permits a foreign language only in circumstances set by a resolution of the Minister, and in Dubai, Law 4/2013 requires a foreign-language document to be accompanied by a certified translation, with both versions signed by the parties. We prepare the Arabic ourselves.
What are the published notary fees for a deed like this?
Under the federal schedule in Cabinet Resolution 19/2024, execution or notarisation of a general or special power of attorney is AED 100 per party. A private notary charges that fee plus 30 per cent as professional fees, so AED 130 per party, and notarising a translation inside the instrument is AED 50 per page. Dubai Courts sits outside that schedule under Dubai Law 4/2013.
How long does an assets sale power of attorney stay alive?
For as long as the deed itself says. UAE law sets no general fixed validity period for an agency. Article 897 extinguishes one on completion of the work entrusted to the agent, on expiry of the term specified in it, or on the death or loss of legal capacity of either the principal or the agent. A completed sale therefore ends it.
Can I sign the deed outside the UAE and use it here?
A document issued abroad has to be attested by the foreign ministry of the issuing country, then by the UAE embassy or consulate there, then by MOFAIC inside the UAE. There is no apostille route, because the UAE is not a contracting party to the Apostille Convention. MOFAIC charges AED 150 for individual affairs documents and AED 2,000 for commercial ones.
Can I pull the authority back once the sale is under way?
Article 898 lets the principal revoke or restrict the agent’s authority at any time, unless the agency involves a right of a third party or was issued in the interest of the agent. Article 899 can require you to compensate the agent for revoking at an inappropriate time or without acceptable justification. Article 955 belongs to the repealed 1985 law, so ignore it.
Start here
Start with the asset list
Write down what is being sold, item by item, and send it to us with the ownership papers. We will tell you which items can sit in one deed, which ones have to come out, and what the wording has to say about each of them. Our lawyers and legal consultants draft it and prepare the Arabic. The ratification itself happens before a notary public, with you present.
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.