Owners living outside the UAE
Power of Attorney for Property Management in Dubai
If you own a Dubai property and live elsewhere, a power of attorney for property management lets someone here run it for you. Collecting rent sits on one side of the line, selling the unit sits on the other.
- Each task named plainly
- Arabic drafted first
- We go with you
Managing a Dubai property from abroad, in brief
A power of attorney for property management appoints someone here to look after a property you own while you are living somewhere else, so rent is collected, repairs are arranged and the tenant has a person to deal with. Article 871 limits a document written in general terms to acts of management, so the safe version names each task rather than leaving it to general words.
What it is called
A wakala, an agency contract
Governing law
Federal Decree-Law 25/2025, Articles 866 to 903
Language and venue
Arabic, before a notary public
Where a power of attorney for property management stops
Two articles of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 decide how far your document reaches, and they pull in opposite directions. Article 871 says an agency expressed in general terms, without specifying what is intended, grants only the power to perform acts of management. Article 870 says 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, and it names sale and mortgage among its examples.
Article 871 draws a line, not a list
The article limits general wording to acts of management. It does not publish a list of what counts as management, so nobody can point at it and say that collecting rent is covered. That is the reason we write the tasks into the document rather than leave them to the general words, and the reason this page names them one by one.
Handing the running of your property to someone here
An owner who lives outside the UAE still has a property that needs attention every month. Rent has to be collected, a tenant has to be answered, a repair has to be arranged and paid for, and somebody has to hold the keys. A power of attorney lets another person do those things in your name. In the Civil Transactions Law it is an agency contract, and Articles 866 to 903 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 govern it.
Nothing in those articles is written for property owners in particular. The same two provisions that decide every other agency decide this one as well. What makes this document unusual is that almost everything an absent owner wants is running and looking after the property, which is the part Article 871 leaves inside general wording. The small part that falls outside it is where an agent can do something you never meant to allow.
Jobs an owner abroad usually hands over
These are the tasks people ask us to cover when they are not here to do them. Each one goes into the document in plain words rather than being left to a general phrase, because Article 870 asks a special agency to specify the type of act and the dispositions it entails, and because writing it down settles the argument before it starts.
- Collecting the rent, holding it and accounting to you for it
- Agreeing terms with a tenant and signing the tenancy in your name
- Arranging repairs and maintenance, and paying for the work done
- Paying the service charges and the utility bills on your behalf
- Dealing with the tenant during the term and at handover
- Holding the keys, giving access for viewings and taking the unit back
One property, two very different authorities
Both sit in the same law and both are agencies under it. What separates them is whether the act looks after the property or disposes of it.
Running the property
Day to day care of the unit
Collecting rent, arranging repairs, paying bills and dealing with the tenant. Article 871 leaves acts of management inside general wording but does not say what counts, so we name each one.
Disposing of it
Selling, mortgaging or giving it away
Article 870 requires a special agency specifying the type of act. Sale, mortgage and donation are named in that article, so general words will never reach any of them.
Four stages before your agent can act
We take the instruction, write the Arabic, check the identity papers and come to the appointment with you. The document is ratified before a notary public.
1
List the tasks, one by one
We ask what the agent has to be able to do each month, and whether anything on that list disposes of the property rather than looking after it.
2
Draft the Arabic text
Dubai Law 4/2013 requires the instrument to be in Arabic. A foreign language version is accepted with a translation by a certified translator, and both versions are signed by the parties.
3
Check identity and capacity
Federal Decree-Law 20/2022 has the notary verify identity from an ID card, a passport or another official State document, and check capacity and consent before anything is signed.
4
Attend the ratification
The notary reads the content of the transaction out and reveals its effects. If the notary does not speak your language, an interpreter from the Ministry register is engaged.
Paperwork to gather before the appointment
Documents reach Dubai Courts as soft copies in PDF, with Arabic legal translation by a translator registered with the Ministry of Justice.
From the absent owner
The principal giving the authority
- Emirates ID, or a passport if you do not hold one
- The title deed, so the unit is identified in the text
- The list of tasks the manager has to be able to cover
- The term you want the authority to run for
About the manager
The person you are appointing
- Emirates ID number, or a copy of the card itself
- A passport copy where there is no Emirates ID
- The name spelled the way the identity document spells it
- A number to reach them on while the wording is checked
If you sign where you live
Three attestations before it travels
- Attestation by the foreign ministry of the issuing country
- Attestation by the UAE embassy or consulate in that country
- Attestation here by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, AED 150 for individual affairs documents
- An Arabic legal translation, and the sheet left unlaminated
Wording that leaves an owner exposed
The first list is what we read in documents that arrive already drafted. The second is what replaces it before anyone signs.
- A general phrase covering everything and naming nothing
- Authority to sell folded into a document meant for running the unit
- Article 955 quoted from the 1985 Civil Code, which is repealed
- Every task the manager performs, written out in the text
- Management and disposal kept apart, so neither is granted by accident
- Citations taken from Federal Decree-Law 25/2025, the law now in force
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often on this one.
Can my agent collect the rent while I am abroad?
Whether general wording on its own reaches rent collection is not a question Article 871 answers. It limits general wording to acts of management and does not publish a list of what counts, so we do not lean on it. The wording we draft says the agent may collect the rent, hold it and account to you for it, in those words.
Why does a sale have to be named when running the property does not?
Article 870 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 says 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, and it names sale and mortgage among its examples. Running a property does not dispose of it. Selling does, so the document has to say so in terms.
Can my agent hand the work to someone else?
That is a question for the wording, so we settle it in the document rather than leave it open to argument later. What the law does settle is what happens afterwards. Article 903 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 provides that when a principal agency is revoked, every sub agency derived from it is revoked by law as well.
What happens to the authority if I die or lose capacity?
It ends. Article 897 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 extinguishes an agency when the work entrusted to the agent is completed, when the term specified for the agency expires, or on the death of the principal or the agent, or either of them losing legal capacity. No general statutory period runs beyond the term you write in.
I live overseas. How does my document get to Dubai?
Through the legalisation chain. The foreign ministry of the country where it was issued attests it, then the UAE embassy or consulate in that country, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation here, at AED 150 for individual affairs documents. After that it needs an Arabic legal translation, and the document must not be laminated.
How do I take the authority back from my manager?
Article 898 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 lets the principal revoke or restrict the authority of the agent at any time, unless the agency involves the right of a third party or was issued in the interest of the agent. Article 899 adds that revoking at an inappropriate time, or without acceptable justification, can leave you compensating the agent.
Is this different from a general power of attorney?
It is the same instrument written to a narrower purpose. Article 869 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 recognises an agency as general, special, conditional or deferred to a future time. A document that identifies the property and sets out what the manager may do is specific, whatever it is titled, and that is what Article 870 asks for.
What identity details does my manager have to give?
Under Federal Decree-Law 20/2022 the notary verifies identity from an ID card, a passport or another official document issued by the State, and checks capacity and consent as well. The Dubai Courts power of attorney service asks for the agent’s details by Emirates ID number, or for the Emirates ID or passport to be uploaded in PDF.
Start here
Tell us what the property needs day to day
Send the title deed, the name of the person you want to appoint, and a few lines on what they have to be able to do each month. We will draft the Arabic and the English, arrange legal translation where your papers are in another language, check the identity documents against what the notary will ask for, and attend the appointment with you.
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.