---
title: "The four things a written agreement needs to prevent a fight"
description: "Most Dubai commission disputes are preventable. Here are the four clauses every agent-to-agent split agreement must contain."
category: "disputes-settlements"
readingTime: 11
---
## The deal that nearly ended a working relationship

Picture it: a co-broke on a resale apartment in JLT. Two agencies, one listing agent who held the Form A, one buyer's agent who brought the qualified cash buyer. The Form F got signed, the deposit cheque was handed over, everyone shook hands. Three weeks later, the listing agency paid out — minus 10% they said covered "admin and coordination." Nobody had agreed that number in advance. Nobody had written it down. The buyer's agent had only a WhatsApp thread to argue with, and the other side knew it.

The deal closed. The relationship didn't.

This is the fight that written agreements prevent. Not the fight at RERA's dispute window, not the one in front of the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre — the one that happens while the money is still moving, in the three days between the client paying and the co-broking agency paying out. That gap is where almost every agent-to-agent commission dispute actually lives. And the gap almost always exists because one or more of four things was missing from the agreement signed before the deal closed.

Here is what those four things are, why each one matters in practice, and how they connect to the actual mechanics of a Dubai transaction.

## Why the problem is structural, not personal

Before getting into the four elements, it is worth being clear about where the friction comes from — because it is not usually bad faith. When multiple agents are involved in a single listing, the commission is typically split among them, and this can sometimes complicate the transaction. The complication is structural: two agencies, each representing a different principal, each with their own internal cost expectations, cooperating on a single deal without a single payer.

In Dubai's secondary market, the most common structure is straightforward in theory. When two agents are involved — a listing agent representing the seller and a buyer's agent representing the buyer — the commission needs to be split. The most common structure in Dubai is co-brokerage. The buyer pays 2% to their agent. The seller pays 2% to their agent. Each side pays their own agent directly. That is clean. The problem is when the money does not flow that way — when one side collects everything and is expected to pay the other out.

Commission agreements between agents on a co-broke deal are governed by RERA Form I, which must be formally signed before any commission is disbursed. This prevents the informal arrangements that create disputes in less regulated markets and gives both parties a documented, enforceable position.

The form exists. The standard exists. Form I governs the commission split and professional conduct when two brokers collaborate, one representing the buyer and one the seller. Skipping Form I is widely cited as the leading cause of commission disputes in Dubai.

Yet agents skip it constantly — under time pressure, under the assumption that the other side will do the right thing, or simply because they never established the habit. Then the deal closes and the conversation becomes adversarial at the worst possible moment: when one party is holding all the money and the other has no paper to point to.

The four elements below are what a properly completed agreement — whether that is a Form I, a formal A2A agreement, or any equivalent written instrument between licensed agencies — must contain. None of them are complicated. All of them are skipped regularly.

## One: The exact percentage or amount, expressed as a number

The most common deficiency in rushed commission agreements is vagueness on the number itself. "We'll split it fairly" is not a split. "The usual arrangement" is not a figure. "We'll sort it out after transfer" is an invitation to a fight.

RERA, under the Dubai Land Department, regulates broker licensing and requires commission details to be clearly disclosed in contracts, ensuring transparency. Every contract must clearly state the rate and payment terms upfront. If several agents share work on one property, the total commission is split between them according to agreed roles from the start. Clear terms prevent disputes.

What the agreement must contain is a specific number: either a percentage of the total commission or a fixed dirham figure. Not a range, not a formula that depends on future events that haven't happened yet. A number that both parties can verify against the final invoice without having another conversation.

RERA caps the referral share at 30% of the brokerage commission. Anything higher requires a separate tri-party agreement between the two brokerages and the client, filed with the Dubai Land Department within 48 hours of signing. Most Dubai brokerages use a 70/30 split when one agent supplies the buyer and another lists the property.

That 70/30 market norm is real, but it is still a negotiated outcome between agencies — it is not a fixed rule. Whatever the agreed number is, it must appear in the written agreement with no room for interpretation. If you agreed to 50/50, write "50% of the total net commission invoiced to the buyer, calculated before VAT, payable to [agency name]." If you agreed to a fixed AED amount, write that figure. The agreement that says "a fair split to be agreed at closing" is not an agreement. It is a deferred argument.

One additional complication worth flagging: VAT is a consideration that catches some agents unprepared. Agents registered for VAT must add 5% VAT to the commission invoice. Commission rates must be clearly defined in the relevant RERA forms, and all commissions are subject to 5% VAT under UAE law. If your agreement is silent on whether the split percentage applies to the commission before or after VAT, you will be having that conversation at the least convenient moment. Write it in.

## Two: The trigger event — exactly when payment is owed

A split percentage means nothing without a defined trigger: the event that makes the money due. Agents are sometimes surprised to discover that two parties in the same deal have different assumptions about when payment is actually owed — and those assumptions only collide when money is in someone's account.

The standard expectation in the secondary market is that commission is due upon signing the Memorandum of Understanding — Form F — though some agents collect at the point of title transfer. Both practices exist. Neither is wrong. But if the listing agent expects to pay their co-broker after transfer completes, and the buyer's agent expects payment when the Form F is signed, there is a gap of weeks or months where one party is effectively extending informal credit to the other.

Form F is signed after the initial agreement is reached but before the ownership transfer takes place at the DLD trustee office. Agent commission typically becomes legally due upon Form F signing. That is the trigger most agents in the secondary market expect. Write it in.

The commission also needs clarity in the Form F itself. If two agents are involved, the parties should know who pays what and when. Do not leave agency commission to a side conversation.

The trigger event matters most in two situations that Dubai agents encounter regularly:

**When a deal falls through after Form F.** If a deal falls through after the MOU is signed, the agent may still claim their commission. If your A2A agreement is silent on what happens in a default scenario, you are left arguing about it in exactly the circumstances where both sides are already stressed and the relationship is already damaged. The written agreement should specify: does the co-broker's entitlement survive a buyer default? Who pays in that event, and from what — the retained deposit, the penalty clause, or nothing?

**In off-plan deals.** The trigger for agent payment works differently when the commission comes from a developer rather than from a buyer's cheque. Developers do not pay commissions at the point of sale. The standard payment schedule ties commission release to buyer payment milestones. Most developers release 50% of the commission after the buyer's first payment clears and the remaining 50% after the second or third installment. This creates a 30 to 90 day lag between the sale and full commission receipt.

That lag is the developer's structure, and it applies to the listing brokerage. If a co-broker has brought the buyer in an off-plan deal, the question of when the co-broker gets paid must be settled up front — either proportionally as developer payments arrive, or in a lump sum at a defined point. An agreement that simply says "you'll get your split when I get paid" is vague enough to cause problems. An agreement that says "50% within seven days of the developer's first release, 50% within seven days of the developer's second release" is not.

## Three: Who pays whom — the direction of money

This sounds obvious. In practice, it is omitted regularly.

In a standard Dubai co-broke on a secondary sale, two clear payment paths are possible. Either the buyer pays both agencies separately and no internal split happens at all, or the buyer pays one agency and that agency pays the other. The agreement must specify which structure applies.

Commission should always be paid by cheque made out to the brokerage, not to the individual agent personally. This is a RERA requirement and it creates a paper trail that protects both parties if a dispute arises later. That rule applies to what the client pays — but the co-broker's internal payout must also be traceable. A split paid as a bank transfer to the co-broker's registered brokerage account, with a reference to the agreed deal and the Form I or A2A agreement, is an enforceable transaction. A split handed over as a cheque made out to an individual's name, or paid in cash, is a problem in waiting.

RERA practice expects commission to be paid by cheque made out to the licensed brokerage, not to an individual agent personally, precisely because it creates a traceable paper record if a dispute later reaches the Rental Disputes Centre.

The written agreement must name the paying party, the receiving party, and the instrument. "Agency X will pay Agency Y, by bank transfer to Agency Y's registered business account, within [X] business days of [trigger event]." That sentence does more to prevent a dispute than any handshake.

In rental transactions, the payment direction question has its own specifics. Tenancy contract commission is due when the Ejari-registered tenancy contract is signed and the security deposit or first cheque is handed over. All tenancy agreements in Dubai must be registered on the Ejari system to be legally valid. Ejari creates a transparent, government-verified record of the lease terms. Without it, neither party has enforceable legal standing. If two agents co-broke on a rental — one who listed the property, one who brought the tenant — the commission trigger for the internal split should be tied to the same moment: Ejari registration and receipt of the first cheque. Not to "when the tenant moves in" or "when the landlord cashes the cheque."

## Four: What happens when something goes wrong

This is the element that almost never appears in rushed agreements, and its absence is precisely what turns a minor delay into a formal dispute.

Written agreements between agents frequently specify the split and the trigger but say nothing about:

- What happens if the paying agency is slow — how many days before the co-broker has a formal grievance
- Whether a disputed amount pauses the entire payment or only the contested portion
- Which body hears the dispute if the parties cannot resolve it between themselves
- Whether the agreement survives a deal being restructured, the client changing their mind about one of the agencies, or one of the agencies being sold or rebranded

If a commission dispute arises, RERA's dispute resolution process handles the case. Having a written agreement is essential to win any dispute. But the written agreement that merely says "we'll split the commission 50/50 upon Form F signing" still leaves a lot for the regulator to interpret. The agreement that adds "payment is due within five business days of Form F signing; if payment is not received within ten business days, the receiving party is entitled to file a formal complaint with the DLD" has a built-in mechanism.

RERA expects all commission arrangements to be documented in appropriate written forms. When a dispute reaches RERA or the relevant dispute body, a complaint can be filed through official DLD channels, and RERA will review the evidence — including representation forms, communication records, and viewing confirmations — before issuing a ruling. Evidence wins those cases. The agent with Form I signed, payment terms written, trigger event defined, and a WhatsApp trail showing the co-broker acknowledged the arrangement will win. The agent who agreed everything verbally over coffee and is now presenting a phone call log will not.

Including a dispute provision is not pessimistic — it is the same professional logic that makes developers include penalty clauses in payment plans and landlords specify notice periods in tenancy contracts. It signals that both parties have read the agreement seriously and that neither side expects to need the clause.

## The rental context: different deal, same four elements

Much of what is written above applies most naturally to a secondary market sale, because that is where co-broking is most common and the money flows are most complex. But rental co-brokes in Dubai have their own version of each problem, and the four elements apply equally.

On a rental, two agents co-operating on a residential letting — one representing the landlord on Form A, one finding the tenant — face the same structural gap. The commission is typically paid by the tenant as part of the handover package alongside the security deposit, the Ejari registration, and the post-dated rent cheques. Rent property in Dubai is still commonly paid by post-dated cheque, usually in one to four instalments. The timing of the co-broker's payout must be connected to when that commission cheque clears, not to an unspecified later point.

Verbal agreements are extremely difficult to enforce in Dubai. That is true for the agent-client relationship and just as true for the agent-to-agent relationship. A rental co-broke agreed verbally — "you bring the tenant, I'll give you half" — is unenforceable the moment the listing agent decides to reinterpret "half" or to delay payment until "things settle down."

The four-element checklist applies identically: the exact percentage, the trigger (Ejari registration and receipt of funds), the direction of payment (agency to agency by traceable instrument), and a default provision covering what happens if the agreed timeline is not met.

## The connection to Form F and what it formally captures

In a secondary sale, Form F is the binding contract between buyer and seller. Form F is the unified real estate contract between the seller and buyer issued by the Dubai Land Department, and since 1 May 2014 it has been mandatory for property sale and purchase transactions in Dubai. In the secondary market, it serves as the primary sale and purchase agreement and sits at the centre of the transaction framework designed by DLD to standardise documentation and reduce disputes.

Form F captures every material term of the deal: the property details, the agreed price, the payment schedule, the transfer timeline, penalty clauses, and the agent's commission. Once signed by all three parties — buyer, seller, and agent — it is registered with the DLD through the agent's brokerage. This registration is what gives the document its legal weight. It is not just a private contract between two individuals; it is a regulated instrument recognised by the government.

Form F records the name of the real estate brokerage, the commission percentage or amount, and who is responsible for paying it. By including this in DLD Form F, both parties agree upfront on agency costs, avoiding future disagreements. It ensures that agents are compensated fairly and that costs are transparent.

What Form F does not do on its own is govern what happens between the two agencies after the client pays. That is the function of Form I or an equivalent A2A agreement. The two documents work together: Form F establishes what is owed to the agency in total; Form I or A2A establishes how that total is divided and who receives each portion. Treating Form F as sufficient — because the commission line is in there — is the mistake that produces the situation at the top of this article.

## What all four elements look like in the same document

For clarity, here is the shape of an agreement that has all four elements, described in plain terms rather than as a legal template:

**The number:** "Agency A will pay Agency B 50% of the total net commission received from the buyer, based on the commission figure stated in Form F, before VAT. Agency A's VAT obligation and Agency B's VAT obligation are separate and each agency is responsible for its own VAT accounting."

**The trigger:** "Payment is due within five business days of Agency A receiving the buyer's commission payment or, in the case of a bank transfer from the buyer, within five business days of the funds clearing Agency A's account."

**The direction:** "Agency A will transfer the agreed amount to Agency B's registered UAE business bank account, by bank transfer, with the property address and Form F reference number cited in the transfer description."

**The default provision:** "If Agency A does not transfer the agreed amount within ten business days of the trigger event, Agency B is entitled to raise a formal complaint with the DLD/RERA using this agreement as supporting documentation. The obligation to pay the agreed amount is not affected by any subsequent dispute between Agency A and the seller, or between Agency A and the buyer, except where Agency A has not in fact received the commission."

That is not a long document. It is under 200 words. It takes ten minutes to agree and two minutes to sign. It removes the ambiguity that turns a professional relationship into a formal dispute.

## The argument for paying everyone at once

Each of the four elements above is designed to reduce the gap between the client paying and the co-broker receiving. The ideal outcome removes that gap entirely.

The cleanest version of any co-broke deal is one where both agencies are paid simultaneously — at the exact moment the client's commission lands, each party's share moves immediately to the right account. There is no period during which one agency holds money that belongs in part to another. There is no discretion over timing, no internal cash-flow calculation, no opportunity to delay. The split is agreed and signed before the deal closes, and it executes at the moment it is triggered.

This is not a novel idea. It is exactly the logic behind the rule that commission must be paid to the brokerage, not the individual agent — creating a paper trail that protects both parties if a dispute arises later. It is the same logic behind the DLD's requirement that commission terms appear in Form F itself rather than being left to a side agreement between the parties. The whole architecture of Dubai's brokerage regulatory framework pushes toward documentation, clarity, and simultaneous settlement.

The practical challenge is that the architecture stops at the agency boundary. Once the client has paid the listing agency, the secondary transfer to the co-broker is unregulated in timing and informal in practice — which is precisely where the fight happens.

An agreement with all four elements does not replicate the client payment architecture on its own. But it is the foundation. Without a written number, a written trigger, a written direction, and a written default provision, no other mechanism can substitute. With all four in place, every other professional arrangement — including any operational system a brokerage uses to manage payouts — has something concrete to execute against.

The principle is simple: agree the split before the client pays, sign it before the deal closes, and structure the payout so that both parties receive their share in the same motion. The agent who builds this into every co-broke as standard practice is not being pessimistic about their colleagues — they are removing the conditions under which even good-faith colleagues become adversaries.

That is what a written agreement is for.