3 Key Steps to Making Property Power of Attorney in the UAE

A property power of attorney (“POA”) is a document which authorizes another person or company to sell, transfer, manage, rent and/or lease your real estate property in the UAE on your behalf. This POA also covers ancillary powers such as representation before government authorities, property developers, master developers, and utility companies with respect to your property on your behalf.

If you are looking to issue a property POA to someone in the UAE, there are three (3) key steps you need to keep in mind for you to be well guided.

Step 1: Look for someone to act as your attorney

The first step would be for you to find someone who you can trust to act on your behalf in your property POA. It is important for you to take into consideration one of the following three (3) types of attorneys to appoint for this task:

Family member or friend

In most cases, people usually appoint a family member or a friend to carry out the activities mentioned in the POA with respect to your real estate property in the UAE. This eases your mind when looking for someone reliable to act on your behalf for this purpose. The family member or friend, in this case, is the attorney who would manage, rent and/or lease your property, carry out the transfer and handover of your real estate property once a buyer is found by you. The attorney would also be able to sign all necessary transfer documents at the Land Department in the relevant emirate, represent you before any Water and Electricity company, Du, Etisalat, etc. on your behalf. They can collect and transfer the payment to yourself. The collection of the amount related to the sale and transfer of the real estate property is usually in the form of manager’s cheque or cash.

Law firm

If for any reason, you are not in a position to appoint a family member or a friend, you can appoint a law firm, such as Legal Inz, to act as your attorney on your property POA. The law firm will perform the tasks related to the sale and transfer of your real estate property, collection and transfer of the sale amount on your behalf. Appointing a law firm as your attorney means that the tasks are carried out by a professional lawyer who is aware of the processes involved for the sale and transfer of real estate properties in the UAE. This ensures that the entire process of the sale and transfer of your property is handled professionally on your behalf before the POA is finalized.

Buyer

If you have already found a buyer for your real estate property in the UAE, you can appoint the buyer as the attorney in your property POA. With this, the buyer will act on your behalf as the owner and at the same time represent you for the sale and transfer until your real estate property has been transferred to him. This option is not very commonly used. It should be used with caution as you need to ensure that the buyer makes the payment of the sale price to you.

Step 2: Have the draft of your property POA prepared

Once you have selected an attorney for your property POA, you would need to have the document drafted. You may do so by hiring a law firm, such as Legal Inz. This is to ensure that it is prepared in compliance with the UAE laws. This will prevent you from any unnecessary delays or even a possible rejection of the document by relevant government departments.

Once your POA has been successfully drafted, the document must then be legally translated to Arabic. It is mandatory that the Arabic translation must be done by a legal Arabic translator in the UAE duly licensed with the UAE Ministry of Justice.

Step 3: Notarize your property POA

Once the preparation of the property POA has been completed, the final step would be to sign it in the presence of a Notary Public in the UAE and they will get it notarized accordingly. The process of notarization varies depending on the place (Emirate) of signing. For it to be signed in Dubai, you are required to be physically present at the Dubai Courts Notary Public, along with your original passport, Emirates ID and the title deed of the property. For Abu Dhabi, you will be required to upload your signed property POA on the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) portal for their approval, along with the copies of the identification documents of yourself and the attorney, the title deed of the property and the registration card of the Arabic translator of the property POA. Once approved by the ADJD, you will then be required to visit their office physically.

In the event that you are unable to have your property POA notarized before leaving the UAE, it is still possible for you to do the notarization of the document outside the UAE. You may opt for the remote notarization of POAs through video calls with the Notary Public in the UAE. Otherwise, you would need to have it legalized from the relevant country up to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This process is lengthy and costly depending on the country where you sign and notarize the property POA. In order to avoid this, you may opt for remote notarization or ensure having your property POA notarized before leaving the UAE.

Legal Inz has drafted and registered thousands of property POAs in the UAE successfully. Not only do we assist you with the preparation of your property POA, but we also act as your attorney for the completion of the whole process of the sale and transfer of your real estate property in the UAE on your behalf.

Draft your Property Power of Attorney with Legal Inz today!