The Deal Is Already Half-Done Before You Meet the Buyer
Picture a resale in JVC. The listing agent has been working the seller for three months, staged the unit, and published on the portals with a valid Trakheesi permit number. A buyer’s agent calls, says she has a serious client, and asks to show it. They shake hands — metaphorically, over WhatsApp — on a 50/50 split. The viewing goes well. Offer accepted. Form F gets signed. And then something quiet but corrosive happens: the buyer’s agent submits her commission cheque request, the listing agent’s brokerage processes payment, and two days later there is an argument about whether the agreed split was 50/50 or 60/40, whether it was on the full 2% or net of VAT, and whether either side ever actually confirmed it in writing.
Nothing about that story is unusual. It plays out across Dubai every week, in secondary resale deals, in rental transactions, in new co-broking arrangements between agencies that have known each other for years. The dispute is almost never about whether commission is owed. It is almost always about what was agreed, between whom, and proven how.
The three RERA forms at the centre of every sale transaction — Form A, Form B, and Form F — exist precisely to answer those questions. Understanding what each form actually does, legally and mechanically, is not an administrative exercise. It is the difference between being paid on time and spending weeks chasing a number that was never properly documented.
Form A: The Listing Agent’s Claim Begins Here
Form A is the foundational document for any property sale in Dubai. It establishes the formal agreement between a property owner (seller) and a licensed real estate agent, authorising the agent to market and advertise the property.
Before Form A exists, nothing is official. A privately drafted listing agreement, however detailed, carries no regulatory weight. The contract must be approved by the DLD’s Trakheesi System before the property can be listed. Without that approval and the Trakheesi permit number it generates, the listing agent cannot legally advertise the property on any portal, full stop. Listings that appear without a valid Trakheesi number are non-compliant and subject to immediate removal, broker fines, and potential suspension of the brokerage’s licence. Owners who allow unregistered marketing expose themselves to disputed commission claims and complications when the transaction reaches Form F.
What does Form A actually contain that matters for payment? It includes the property’s legal description, the seller’s asking price and any minimum acceptable price, the agreed agent commission — typically 2% of the sale price — and the duration of the agreement. The form should record the agreed percentage, the responsible party, the trigger event for payment — typically Form F execution or DLD transfer — and VAT treatment.
That last point is where agents get sloppy. If Form A does not specify whether the 2% is inclusive or exclusive of VAT, you will have that conversation at the worst possible moment: when the seller is already nervous about the transfer and looking for any reason to push back. All commissions are subject to 5% VAT under UAE law. That VAT applies to the agency fee as a service — it does not apply to the property price itself — and it needs to be stated explicitly on the form so there is no ambiguity at closing.
Exclusivity and the Multi-Agent Problem
A seller can work with up to three brokers at the same time, which means they can have up to three Form A deals open at any given time. This is the reality of Dubai’s secondary market: exclusive mandates exist but are far from universal. A non-exclusive Form A gives the listing agent the right to market, but it does not guarantee they will be the agent who closes. The commission entitlement under a non-exclusive Form A is tied to whether that agent was the effective cause of the transaction — that is, whether they introduced the buyer who completed.
Signing an exclusive Form A and then engaging additional brokers is a breach of contract and exposes the owner to commission claims from the exclusive broker. Agents holding an exclusive mandate should understand this provides genuine protection, but only if the exclusivity is clearly stated and the Form A is properly executed through Trakheesi. If it is not in the system, the conversation at RERA or the Real Estate Dispute Settlement Centre (RDSC) will be very short.
What Form A Does Not Do
Form A documents the seller-agent relationship. It does not govern what happens when a second agent brings the buyer. The split between the listing agency and the buyer’s agency is a separate agreement — and this is where an enormous share of commission disputes originate. Form A is silent on co-broking splits. Whatever the listing agent verbally tells a co-operating agent about the split, that conversation needs its own documentation before anyone starts making promises to a buyer.
Form B: The Buyer’s Agent’s Foundation
Form B is signed when the buyer appoints an agent to find a property for sale. The information in Form B must include all necessary data, including contract termination terms, compensation percentage and agency commission. Like Form A, it is registered with RERA through the DLD system, which gives it legal standing.
Commission is not owed simply because an agent showed a buyer a property or answered their messages. It becomes legally payable only once a signed representation is in place and the transaction the agent was engaged to complete actually goes ahead. In Dubai, that representation is documented on a RERA form generated through the Trakheesi permit system — and the form, not a viewing or a phone call, is what establishes the agent’s entitlement to a fee.
This matters enormously in practice. A buyer’s agent who skips Form B because the client seemed serious, or because they felt it would slow things down, has no documented basis for their commission claim if the deal closes through another broker. That is not a regulatory technicality — it is the entire foundation of the entitlement.
Who Pays the Buyer’s Agent?
In a typical resale transaction, both the buyer and seller have their own agents, and each party pays their own agent 2%. The buyer pays their agent 2% — this is the most common arrangement. The seller pays their listing agent 2%, agreed upon in Form A.
RERA does not fix commission rates by law. The 2% and 5% rates are market custom, not law. RERA recognises these as standard but does not enforce them — parties are free to agree on different rates. The rate agreed in Form B is what governs the buyer-agent relationship. If the Form B says 2%, the agent has a documented claim. If the Form B says nothing specific, or was never signed, the claim becomes a matter of what can be proven.
Form B in a Rental Deal
On the rental side, the dynamic is different. Developers pay commissions for primary off-plan property sales, meaning buyers in that segment often pay zero commission. Tenants typically pay the 5% leasing commission on rental agreements. For lease transactions, the agent’s agreement with the tenant is governed by the equivalent form for rental, and the Ejari registration — which officially records the tenancy with the Dubai Land Department — sits at the other end of the process, after the rental contract is signed and cheques are handed over. For rentals, the commission is paid at the time of signing the tenancy contract and handing over the rent cheques. Missing a signed form at the start of a rental search creates the same vulnerability as in a sale: if the tenant goes directly to the landlord or a competitor, the first agent has no documented claim.
Form F: Where Everything Gets Named — and Where Disputes Crystallise
Form F is the Contract of Sale between the buyer and seller — often referred to as the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). It is one of the most important documents in a property purchase, confirming the deal in writing once the price and terms have been agreed.
A complete Form F includes detailed identification of all parties — buyer, seller, and agents — the property’s legal description matching the title deed, the agreed purchase price, the deposit amount, the payment schedule and method, the expected completion date, conditions for obtaining the developer’s No Objection Certificate (NOC) if applicable, responsibility for settling outstanding service charges, the process for title transfer at DLD, and agent commission details.
That commission line is where Form F does something Form A and Form B cannot do on their own: it names both agents and records both commissions in a single document that all parties — buyer, seller, and the witnessing agent — sign. Form F will cover property and financial details and the commission to be paid to the seller’s and buyer’s agents. Once those numbers are on Form F and everyone has signed, the commission amounts are formally part of the binding sale contract.
The Timing of the Commission Cheque
The commission cheque is usually collected by the agent at the time of signing the Form F. However, the agent does not cash it immediately. The cheque is held as security. It is only handed over or cashed on the day of the final transfer at the DLD Trustee Office, once the Title Deed has been successfully transferred.
This is the standard market practice — and it is the mechanic that creates one of the most common payment delays. The cheque sits somewhere between Form F signing and transfer day, which can be 30, 60, or 90 days depending on mortgage timelines, NOC procurement, and developer approvals. If the deal collapses during that window, the commission cheque is returned. If the buyer or seller defaults, there are penalty provisions in Form F, but the agent’s commission is not automatically protected in a collapse — it depends entirely on what the Form F says and what caused the default.
Form F can only be generated by a licensed RERA broker. Buyers or sellers cannot fill out this form and sign it themselves. Prior to Form F, Form A and Form B — which outline agreements with the broker — must be signed by the seller and buyer. Form F can only be issued after that. This sequencing is not optional. If a transaction arrives at Form F without valid Form A or Form B in place, those gaps will surface — at transfer, at the RDSC, or when the agent tries to enforce their commission.
Form F in Off-Plan Deals
Off-plan transactions follow a different structure. In Dubai’s off-plan property market, the standard brokerage commission paid by buyers is 0%. The developer compensates the agent directly, allowing buyers to invest without incurring agency fees. Developers pay brokerages between 3% and 7% of the unit price for every qualified buyer they bring, making off-plan sales significantly more profitable than resale transactions on a per-deal basis.
In off-plan, there is no secondary-market Form F between buyer and seller in the traditional sense. The sale is governed by a developer Sales Purchase Agreement (SPA), and buyer payments flow into the developer’s RERA-regulated escrow account — the account established under Dubai’s law governing off-plan development, which ensures buyer funds are ring-fenced for construction rather than used at the developer’s discretion. An Off-Plan Sale Permit is the legal authorisation RERA issues through the Trakheesi system before a developer can market or sell any off-plan units in Dubai. For off-plan deals, Form A is signed between the developer and the broker. The agent’s commission entitlement flows from that agreement, not from the buyer — which is why an agent selling off-plan without a proper registered relationship with the developer can find themselves with a completed sale and no legal route to collect.
The Gap Between the Forms: Where Commission Disputes Actually Live
Forms A, B, and F govern three distinct relationships: seller-to-agent, buyer-to-agent, and buyer-to-seller. What they do not directly govern, in a shared deal, is the agent-to-agent relationship — the split between the listing agency and the buyer’s agency.
Form I is mainly applicable when several agents are involved in one joint transaction concerning property sale or lease. When a listing is managed by another broker, the two agents can sign Form I — a broker-to-broker agreement that outlines how they will split responsibilities and commission.
When two brokers collaborate on a deal, the commission structure must be agreed upon in advance. Without a clear agent-to-agent agreement, many agents end up in costly disputes or losing their commission entirely.
In Dubai, there is no official law dictating the exact split for agent-to-agent commissions, but the commonly accepted standard for sale transactions is a 50/50 split of the total commission. That is a market convention, not a regulation. Both agencies are free to negotiate differently. The problem is when the negotiation happens verbally, over the phone, or in a WhatsApp thread that one side later interprets differently. Form I — signed between the two brokerages before the deal reaches Form F — is the mechanism that removes that ambiguity.
The Sequence That Creates Disputes
Most commission disputes in co-broke deals follow the same sequence:
- Listing agent and buyer’s agent agree a split verbally or informally.
- Deal progresses to Form F without a signed Form I in place.
- One party claims the verbal agreement was different from the other party’s understanding.
- Form F records both commissions as absolute amounts — it does not record the inter-agency split.
- The dispute ends up at the RDSC, where if a commission dispute arises, RERA’s dispute resolution mechanisms handle the case — and having a written agreement is essential to win any dispute.
RERA forms have legal enforceability: when a transaction is documented using the appropriate RERA form, the agreement becomes enforceable under UAE law. A verbal agreement about a co-broking split does not. The agent without a signed form is relying on goodwill, and goodwill under payment pressure is unreliable.
When the Client Disappears to Another Agent
A recurring dispute: a buyer views a unit with Agent A, later finds the same unit listed by Agent B at the same price, and signs through Agent B — then Agent A demands a fee. This is the scenario that Form B is designed to prevent from the buyer’s side, and that proper Form A documentation prevents from the seller’s side.
Form A, Form B, Form F, and Form I are the standard RERA forms that govern the agency relationship and commission obligations in a transaction. These forms need to be signed before an agent can legally claim commission on a deal. If any link in that chain is missing — if the buyer’s agent never had a Form B, if the listing agent’s Form A was not Trakheesi-registered, if the co-broking split was never documented — then that agent’s claim rests on informal evidence in a formal dispute process. The RDSC adjudicates based on documentation. The forms create a paper trail that protects all parties if disputes arise, ensuring that agreed terms are documented and enforceable.
The Payment Chain in a Shared Resale Deal
Walk through the full mechanic of a shared secondary market deal and it becomes clear exactly where each form does its work and where the gaps appear:
Step 1 — Listing: The seller and listing agent sign Form A, approved through Trakheesi. The commission rate, exclusivity status, and trigger event for payment are all recorded. The listing goes live with a valid permit number.
Step 2 — Buyer engagement: A buyer’s agent identifies the property and contacts the listing agent. Before bringing the buyer to a viewing, a sensible buyer’s agent already has a signed Form B in place. The listing agent and buyer’s agent agree the co-broking split — and if they are professional about it, they document that in writing at this stage, even informally, before the first viewing happens.
Step 3 — Offer and Form F: Offer is accepted. The Form F is prepared by the licensed broker, recording buyer details, seller details, purchase price, deposit, payment schedule, and the commission for both agents. Both parties sign. The buyer submits the 10% deposit — typically a manager’s cheque — and the commission cheques are collected at the same session and held pending transfer.
Step 4 — NOC and transfer: The listing agent co-ordinates the No Objection Certificate from the developer or master community. Outstanding service charges are cleared. Mortgage approvals, where applicable, are confirmed. The transfer appointment at the DLD Trustee Office is booked. On transfer day, the title deed changes hands, and the commission cheques are released.
The gap between Step 3 and Step 4 is where delay accumulates. Mortgage timelines slip. NOC applications take longer than expected. Service charge disputes between seller and developer need resolving before the NOC is issued. Meanwhile, two agents’ commission cheques are sitting uncashed, and neither agent can do anything about it until transfer completes.
This is not a dispute — it is the normal friction of the market. But it becomes a dispute the moment there is any ambiguity in the documentation: if the split was not confirmed before Form F, if the Form B was not in place when the buyer’s agent is claiming their share, or if the Form A’s trigger event for payment was ambiguously worded.
VAT, the Brokerage Cheque, and Why It Has to Be Right
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.
Brokerage commission is a service, so the UAE’s 5% VAT applies to the commission amount, not the property price. In a shared deal where two agencies are involved, each agency’s commission cheque should reflect its agreed share plus the VAT applicable to that share. If the commission cheque is made out incorrectly — wrong payee, wrong amount, missing VAT — the correction process at the Trustee Office on transfer day becomes a delay that no one planned for.
The practical implication: when the split is agreed between agencies, agree it in writing to the level of detail that lets both sides prepare their cheques correctly before transfer day. Not approximate. Exact — the dirham amount, the VAT amount, the payee name.
The Principle That Makes All of This Work
Every friction point described in this article — the disputed split, the missing Form B, the uncashable cheque, the agent who never documented their co-broking agreement — traces back to the same failure: the payment was not agreed, proven, and locked down before the client’s money moved.
Commission rates are negotiable but must be clearly defined in the Form A and Form B contracts. The Form F gives a resale transaction its written structure. It connects the accepted offer to the actual transfer by recording price, deposit, timeline, commission, NOC steps, and default rules. But Form F alone is downstream of the agreements that should already have been made. By the time Form F is being prepared, the commission should be uncontested — because it was documented in Form A when the listing was taken, in Form B when the buyer was engaged, and in whatever written agreement was reached between the two agencies before the first viewing.
The market reality is that many agents treat documentation as something that follows the deal rather than something that structures it. They agree the split on a call, move fast because the buyer is motivated, sign Form F under time pressure, and leave the inter-agency arrangement to be sorted out later. “Later” is when the disputes are born.
The cleanest version of a Dubai resale deal — from a payment perspective — is one where the split is agreed in writing before the first showing, both client forms are in place before the offer goes in, Form F records the exact commission for each agency, and both commission cheques are issued on Form F signing day, held by the relevant parties, and released simultaneously at transfer. Every agent paid at the same moment, from the same transaction, on terms that were agreed weeks before the Trustee Office appointment was booked.
That outcome is achievable. It requires discipline at the start of a deal, not the end. It requires treating the documentation as the deal — because in Dubai, legally and practically, it is.
