Glossary / Property

No objection certificate

A no objection certificate, or NOC, is a document from the developer confirming there are no outstanding service charges or breaches on a unit, and it is required before the Dubai Land Department will register a resale.

The developer charges a fee to issue it, typically a few thousand dirhams, and will not issue it while charges are unpaid.

It is a routine step, but it is a step that can hold up a transfer if the seller has arrears they had not mentioned.

Where people get it wrong

Leaving it to the last week. Outstanding service charges surface here, and they become the seller's problem only if the contract said so.

The framework behind it Transaction costs and the minimum hold period in Dubai sets out the rule, the arithmetic and where it breaks.

Read the framework

Related terms

Service charge A service charge is the annual fee an apartment owner pays the owners association for maintaining shared parts of the building, quoted in Dubai as dirhams per square foot per year and levied whether or not the unit is occupied. Transfer fee The transfer fee is the charge levied by the Dubai Land Department to register a change of property ownership, set at four percent of the sale price and customarily paid by the buyer. Owners association An owners association is the body of unit owners responsible for managing and maintaining the shared parts of a building, and it is the body that sets and collects the service charge.

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