What to ask a Dubai brokerage before you sign

What is the split, and what exactly triggers payment?

The percentage is the number every agency leads with and the one that tells you least on its own. Two firms offering the same split can pay very differently, because the split is only the first of three things that decide what reaches you.

The second is the trigger. Ask which event releases your commission: the transfer at the Land Department, the firm receiving cleared funds, or a fixed number of days after either. Then ask how many days. A high split paid long after the transaction has closed is worth less than a lower one paid promptly, and the difference compounds across a year of deals.

The third is deductions. Ask what comes out before the split is applied and what comes out after, and get the list rather than a reassurance. Anything the firm spends on your behalf has to be recovered somewhere, and a firm that has thought about its own model can tell you exactly where.

A useful answer names all three in one sentence: the share, the event and the number of days, and what is deducted first. "A stated percentage of the commission after portal fees, paid a stated number of days after the firm receives cleared funds" is an answer. "Competitive, and we pay quickly" is not.

1. 01

   The percentage

   What share of the commission is yours, and whether it moves with performance. If it is tiered, ask what resets the tier and when.

2. 02

   The trigger

   The specific event that starts the clock, and the number of days after it. Ask for both, in writing, in the contract.

3. 03

   The deductions

   What is taken off before your share is calculated, and what is billed to you afterwards. Portal fees and marketing spend are the usual two.

Where do the leads come from, and how are they given out?

This is the question that separates two firms offering identical splits, and it is easily answered with a word rather than a process. "We provide leads" can mean a funded portal presence with a written allocation rule, or it can mean that leads exist somewhere in the business and you may see one.

Ask where the leads originate: portal enquiries the firm pays for, the firm's own marketing, referrals from past clients, or the developer relationships the firm holds. Then ask how they are allocated between agents, and ask for the rule rather than the reassurance. A firm that distributes by rota will say so. A firm that distributes by performance will say so, and will tell you what happens in your first month before you have any performance to weigh.

Ask what proportion of the team's business came from firm-supplied leads last year against what agents sourced themselves. A firm that does not know is telling you something. A firm that does know, and says the number is low, is being straight with you, and that is more useful than a promise. A useful answer describes the rule, says who decides exceptions, and states what a new joiner receives in the first month.

Who sponsors your visa, and who holds your BRN?

Two separate things get conflated here, and they have different consequences when you leave.

The first is your residence visa. Ask the brokerage to explain the proposed sponsorship arrangements and what joining or leaving would mean for your residence status. Ask who pays for the visa, the medical test and the residency permit, and whether any of it can be recovered from you. Where the arrangement is employment under UAE labour law, the employer is prohibited from charging the worker the fees and costs of recruitment and employment, directly or indirectly. Whether your arrangement is employment, and how that applies to you, is a question for MOHRE.

The second is your broker card, with its Brokers Registration Number. Your broker card is issued to you, and the Dubai Land Department links its validity to the brokerage's trade licence. Before changing firms, ask the current and prospective brokerages which registration steps apply to your case and confirm the requirements with the Department. Also ask the firm what its process is when an agent leaves, and how long it took the last time.

If you hold residency some other way, ask before you rely on it. The Dubai Land Department's frequently asked questions list residency on the same licence among the things needed to add a broker to a brokerage. They also give one example of a different position: the wife of a non-citizen under her husband's sponsorship may apply for a broker's licence, provided that MOHRE approves. That is one example, not a full list of cases, so ask the Department and MOHRE how it applies to you.

Who pays for portals, photography and marketing?

Property in Dubai is sold on portals, and a portal presence is expensive. Somebody funds it, and the arrangement differs between firms. The time to find out which one you are joining is before you join it.

Ask whether portal listing credits are provided, capped or billed. Ask who pays for photography and video on your listings, and whether the brokerage has its own team or you arrange and expense it yourself. Ask whether there is a marketing budget attached to you and who authorises spending from it. A useful answer says whether credits are provided, capped or billed, and states the cap if there is one.

The Dubai Land Department's brokerage practice guide says real estate brokerages must obtain a permit through its Trakheesi system for any real estate advertisement, and that the permit number must be displayed on the ad. For the advertising permit types listed in the DLD service terms, a broker applicant must provide a marketing contract with the property owner. Ask who in the firm applies for permits, how long the firm usually takes to get one, and whether any permit fee is charged to you. Establish who handles that paperwork before you join.

What happens to your pipeline if you leave?

Ask this at the interview, precisely because it is uncomfortable to ask at the interview. The answer tells you how the firm behaves at the moment it has the least incentive to behave well.

There are three things to establish. What happens to a deal that has been agreed but not transferred when you resign, and whether you are paid on it. What happens to the client relationships and the data you brought in with you. And what notice period applies, in both directions.

Ask for the policy on deals in progress, client information and notice before you join. A useful answer identifies the relevant written terms and explains how the firm applies them.

1. 01

   Deals in progress

   Agreed but not transferred at the point you resign. Ask whether you are paid, at what rate, and when.

2. 02

   Clients and data

   What you brought with you, and what you built while there. Ask what the contract says rather than what is customary.

3. 03

   Notice, both ways

   What you owe the firm and what the firm owes you. Asymmetric notice periods are worth noticing before you sign one.

What will the probation period test, and what is expected of you?

Beyond the five core questions, ask whether there is a probation or trial period, how long it is, what you are expected to do during it, and what happens at the end. A useful answer is specific: the activity the firm will review, such as viewings booked or listings won, how often it reviews it, and who makes the decision.

Ask the same about the role itself. What a normal week looks like in the first three months, which hours and days you are expected to work, and whether there are activity or listing targets. Targets are not a problem in themselves. Unstated ones are, because you find out about them when you are told you missed them.

What should be in writing before you sign?

Everything above is answerable in a conversation, and a conversation is not a contract. The five core questions are how commission is paid, including the trigger and the deductions; how leads are sourced and allocated; your visa arrangements and what happens to your broker registration if you leave; who pays for portals and marketing; and what happens to deals in progress, clients and notice when you go.

Ask for those in the document. Not as an ultimatum, and not as a test of the firm's character. Ask because a written term is one both sides can consult later without either of them having to remember the room correctly, which is a service to the firm as much as to you.

If a firm declines to put one of them in writing, that is information rather than an accusation. Ask why. There are legitimate answers, and the willingness to give one is itself part of what you are assessing.

Alongside the five core questions, confirm the probation terms and role expectations in writing. Separately, check the firm's registration through the Dubai Land Department. A written term does not, by itself, establish that it is lawful.

1. 01

   Pay

   Your share, the payment trigger and number of days, and the deductions, in one sentence.

2. 02

   Leads

   Where they come from, the allocation rule, and what you receive in month one.

3. 03

   Visa and registration

   Who sponsors and who pays, and what happens to your broker registration if you leave.

4. 04

   Marketing

   Portal credits provided, capped or billed, who pays for photography, and who handles permits.

5. 05

   Leaving

   Deals in progress, clients and data, and notice in both directions.