Working with a broker in Dubai: what to ask first

Dubai's brokerage profession is regulated more closely than most buyers assume, and the regulation gives a buyer or seller a short list of things to check before the first viewing. The group's own brokerage partner meets all of them; so should anyone else who asks for your signature.

Begin with the numbers. Every practising broker holds a Broker Registration Number issued by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency after training and examination, and every brokerage holds an Office Registration Number. Both are printed on the broker's card and both can be verified through the Land Department's public services. A broker who cannot produce a current BRN is not entitled to act, whatever the business card says.

Then the forms. The regulator has standardised the agreements between brokers and their clients: Form A appoints a broker to sell, and sets the listing price, the period and the commission; Form B appoints a broker to buy; and Form F is the memorandum of understanding between buyer and seller that records the price, the deposit and the timetable to transfer. A professional uses these forms, explains them, and files them with the regulator. An arrangement that avoids them is avoiding the regulator's protection.

Commission is customary rather than fixed, and in sales it is two per cent of the price, paid by the buyer, with the seller's side sometimes arranged separately. In lettings it is customarily five per cent of the annual rent. A broker who proposes a materially different figure should be able to say why. Deposits on a sale are usually ten per cent, held under the Form F and, for the safest arrangement, by the developer's or a conveyancer's trust account rather than the broker's own.

Finally, the questions. Ask who the broker represents in the transaction, and whether the same office acts for both sides. Ask to see the title deed or the off-plan registration before making an offer, and the current service charge. Ask how long the property has been listed and at what prices. A professional answers all of these readily and in writing; the quality of the answers is the best measure of the person you are about to rely on.