Now RAK Offshore Companies are qualified to purchase and own real estate properties in Dubai.

Effective from January 2011, all offshore companies were not allowed to own properties in Dubai, except for companies registered in Jebel Ali Free Zone. This has changed now.

One major real estate news story stood out last month in Dubai. Companies registered under RAK International Corporate Centre (RAKICC) also known as RAK offshore companies can buy property in Dubai’s free-hold areas.

The change follows the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between RAKEZ and RAKICC and the Dubai Land Department (DLD) on 16 July 2019.

Such shift surely provides more flexibility to real estate investors to diversify and structure their wealth in UAE.

DLD will welcome applications from RAKICC companies for freehold property ownership and all related rights. To be approved, the RAKICC company must provide a “No Objection Letter (NOC)” from RAKICC to DLD.

Other criteria to qualify for the property ownership is that the company has to be in good standing and owned by individual shareholder(s). More detailed guidance or regulations are yet to come. We assume that either the DLD or RAKICC/RAKEZ would issue further guidance on this matter.

This is a huge momentum for real estate investors who are keen on pursuing property ownership through corporate structures and also to the Dubai market geniuses who continuously think of ways to create better ecosystem and legal framework to foreign investors.

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