Welcome back to The Conveyance Desk.
In Episode 15, we covered off-plan resale.
Assigning Oqood-registered positions to new buyers.
Today is Episode 16.
And this one is about gift transfers between family.
The Hiba route.
A registered transfer of property ownership without consideration.
Between first-degree relatives.
At a concessional fee.
Quick reminder.
This is general educational content.
Not legal advice.
Hiba eligibility is exact.
Documentation requirements are exact.
So use this as a guide.
Then validate your own situation against current DLD requirements.
Here is the framing.
A Hiba transfer is a gift.
The donor relinquishes title.
The donee receives title.
No money changes hands.
The transfer is registered at DLD on the same procedural basis as a sale.
The donor’s name comes off the title.
The donee’s name goes on.
A new title deed issues.
The substantive distinction from a sale is the absence of consideration.
And the resulting concessional DLD fee.
0.125 percent of the assessed property value.
Minimum AED 2,000.
Against the standard 4 percent applied to sales.
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1) The legal framework
Hiba is established at two levels.
Federal Law Number 5 of 1985, the UAE Civil Transactions Code, defines the gift as a lifetime transfer of property without consideration, requiring donor capacity and voluntary action.
At the emirate level, Law Number 14 of 2017 Regulating Endowments and Gifts in the Emirate of Dubai sets the specific Hiba rules.
The 0.125 percent fee structure.
The eligibility criteria.
The restrictions on repeated gifting of the same property.
These are not optional procedural rules.
They are the legal framework that governs the route.
A transfer that does not meet the framework is not a Hiba.
It is a sale.
Assessed at 4 percent.
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2) Eligibility part one — first-degree relatives
First-degree relatives are.
Parent to child.
Child to parent.
Between spouses.
That is the full list.
Sibling transfers do not qualify.
Grandparent to grandchild does not qualify.
Aunts and uncles to nieces and nephews do not qualify.
Cousins do not qualify.
Stepparents and stepchildren do not qualify.
A transfer outside the eligible relationships is treated as a sale and assessed at 4 percent.
Documentary proof of relationship is mandatory.
Birth certificates linking parent and child.
Marriage certificates between spouses.
UAE citizens may submit a marriage contract or Family Book.
Non-UAE documents must be attested through the issuing-country foreign ministry.
Legalised by the UAE embassy or consulate in the issuing country.
MOFAIC-attested in the UAE.
Translated into Arabic by a UAE-sworn translator.
The UAE is not a Hague Apostille Convention member.
Apostille alone is not sufficient.
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3) Eligibility part two — self-owned companies
DLD permits a second eligibility category.
Self-owned companies.
A donor may gift property to a company they wholly own.
Or a wholly-owned company may gift property to its sole shareholder.
The company must be registered with DLD before the gift application is submitted.
Constitutional documents must establish the sole-ownership position.
Trade licence.
Certificate of incorporation.
Share certificate.
Memorandum and articles of association.
Where the company is registered outside the UAE, corporate documents must be legalised through the full MOFAIC chain and translated into Arabic.
This category is useful for individuals consolidating property holdings into a single corporate vehicle for asset protection or estate planning.
Or unwinding the same structure back to personal ownership.
It is a real eligibility route.
But it is restricted to genuinely self-owned companies.
Joint ownership companies do not qualify.
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4) The fee structure
DLD applies 0.125 percent of the DLD-assessed property value.
Minimum AED 2,000.
Beyond that.
Trustee office registration fee.
Title deed issuance fee, AED 250.
Map fee, AED 225 for properties under Dubai Municipality.
AED 100 for properties outside.
Admin fees.
Knowledge and innovation fees.
Developer NOC fee where applicable.
DLD valuation fee.
Approximately AED 4,020 for residential apartments and villas.
The valuation is the basis for the fee calculation.
The 0.125 percent rate is significantly below the 4 percent applied to sales.
For a property valued at AED 3 million, the differential is the difference between AED 3,750 and AED 120,000.
A gap of more than AED 116,000.
The concession reflects the policy intent of facilitating intra-family transfers.
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5) Eligible and ineligible properties
Not every property qualifies for Hiba registration.
Eligible properties have a clear title deed registered with DLD.
Are located in a designated freehold area.
Granted land does not qualify.
Restricted land does not qualify.
Off-plan properties do not qualify until title issuance at handover.
Mortgaged properties can be gifted, but the bank’s NOC is required and the mortgage position must be addressed at or before transfer.
A property linked to an active Golden Visa cannot be gifted while the visa is held against it.
The visa would need to be re-anchored to a different property before the gift transfer can proceed.
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6) The double-gifting rule
The same property cannot be gifted at the 0.125 percent rate more than once.
Under Law Number 14 of 2017, double gifting is restricted.
A subsequent gift transfer of a property that has already been transferred by Hiba may not qualify for the reduced rate.
May be assessed at the full 4 percent.
Depending on DLD’s assessment of the circumstances.
This restriction is strictly applied.
Families sometimes plan multiple Hiba transfers across generations.
A property gifted from grandparent to parent.
Then parent to child.
The second transfer may be assessed at the full sale rate.
Plan accordingly.
The first Hiba is the concessional one.
The second is not guaranteed to be.
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7) Documentation requirements
Original title deed.
Donor and donee Emirates IDs and passports.
Relationship proof, attested where issued outside the UAE.
Developer NOC, or eNOC for jointly owned properties.
Service-charge clearance.
DLD valuation certificate.
The Hiba contract recording the transfer.
For corporate parties, the constitutional documents and board resolution.
Where the donor or donee cannot attend trustee day, a compliant Power of Attorney specifically authorising the gift action.
Compliant with DLD Circular 29/R/2025.
Verified through official electronic platforms.
QR code verification alone is not accepted.
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8) Mortgaged properties in Hiba
Three scenarios.
Mortgage release at transfer.
The donor settles the mortgage from personal funds or refinances.
The bank releases the deed and clearance letter.
The property transfers unencumbered to the donee.
Mortgage assumption by the donee.
The donee qualifies for a mortgage in their own right.
The bank substitutes the loan onto the donee’s name.
The property transfers with the existing charge in place.
Bank approval is required.
Donee mortgage post-transfer.
The property transfers unencumbered.
The donee takes a fresh mortgage against it later.
Each path requires explicit bank consent and sequencing.
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9) Revocability
A registered Hiba is generally irrevocable.
The donor cannot unilaterally reverse it.
Revocation is possible only through a court order.
Or by mutual agreement of both parties followed by a new registration process with its own fees.
This is significant.
Donors sometimes treat Hiba as a revocable arrangement.
It is not.
Once the title transfers, the donee is the registered owner.
The donor has no claim against the property.
A donor who later regrets the gift cannot reclaim by demand.
The route is one-way.
This makes Hiba a serious estate-planning instrument.
Not a flexible one.
The decision to gift should be made with the irrevocability understood.
In the next episode, we will cover service charges and developer NOC.
What the NOC actually establishes.
Why developers withhold it.
Mollak and eNOC.
And what to do when service charges are disputed.
That’s all for today.
This was The Conveyance Desk.