The Legal Framework

A property Power of Attorney in Dubai sits at the intersection of three distinct legal layers. Each layer regulates a different aspect of the instrument. A POA may satisfy one layer and fail another. Acceptance at the registration counter requires compliance with all three.

The Three Layers

The UAE Civil Transactions Law provides the substantive law of agency — what the contract is, who can grant it, how it ends. Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2022 governs the form of notarisation — who notarises, by what means, and to what evidentiary effect. DLD’s guidance on property POAs (Circular No. 29/R/2025) sets the property-specific acceptance and verification practice applied by the Dubai Land Department. The law creates the instrument, the Decree-Law sets the form, and DLD’s guidance sets the registration filter; confirm its current requirements with DLD before relying on an instrument.

Federal Civil Transactions Law

The UAE Civil Transactions Law — Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 — came into force on 1 June 2026 and repealed Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 (which still governs documents issued before that date). Articles 866 to 903 govern agency, known in Arabic as wakala.

Article 866 defines agency as a contract between the principal and the agent whereby the agent undertakes to perform a legal act in the name and on behalf of the principal. Article 868 sets the conditions of validity: the principal must have the right to dispose of the matter, the agent must be competent to carry it out, and the subject must be known and capable of being performed by proxy. Articles 869 to 871 distinguish general from special agency: an agency in general terms authorises only acts of administration, and a sale, gift, pledge or settlement requires a special agency naming the type of act. Article 897 provides that the agency ends on the death or loss of legal capacity of either party. Article 898 governs dismissal — the principal may dismiss or restrict the agent whenever he wishes, unless a third party’s right is attached to the agency or it was issued for the agent’s benefit. Article 144 protects a contract concluded while both the agent and the counterparty are unaware that the agency has ended: its effects accrue to the principal, which is why notification matters.

Together these provisions form the substantive backbone of the Power of Attorney as a contractual instrument under UAE law.

Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2022

Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2022 regulates the profession of Notary Public. The framework recognises two categories of notary: Public Notaries operating within the courts and the Ministry of Justice, and Private Notaries licensed under the Decree-Law. The Decree-Law gives legal effect to electronic notarisation, opening the path to remote and digital execution of notarised instruments.Cabinet Resolution No. 16 of 2024 issues the Executive Regulations implementing the Decree-Law. The Resolution sets out the operating standards for Notaries, the procedures for digital notarisation, and the conditions under which an electronically notarised document carries the same evidentiary weight as a paper-notarised one.

Dubai Resolution No. 137 of 2022

At the Emirate level, Dubai Resolution No. 137 of 2022 authorises digital notarisation procedures in Dubai. The Resolution provides the local procedural authority for video-conference identification, electronic signature, and remote attestation of notarised instruments by Dubai Courts Notaries.

DLD Circular No. 29/R/2025

Dubai Land Department Circular No. 29/R/2025 is DLD’s guidance on the acceptance and verification of POAs submitted to the DLD or a Real Estate Registration Trustee for real estate dispositions in Dubai. Its current requirements should be confirmed with DLD before relying on an instrument.

The Circular’s scope covers sale, purchase, gift, mortgage, usufruct, and musataha. Its policy intent is procedural transparency, fraud prevention, and integrity of the property registration system. The guidance is understood to address transaction-specific wording, verification through the issuing authority’s official records, acceptance limits and the routing of sale proceeds; the original text has not been reproduced here, so confirm its current requirements with the receiving DLD service or trustee.

How the Layers Interact

The layers operate sequentially. A POA must first be a valid agency contract under the Civil Transactions Law: the principal must have capacity, the agent must be identifiable, and the act must be a known permissible one. The instrument must then be notarised in a form recognised by Decree-Law No. 20 of 2022 — through a Public or Private Notary, in person or digitally. Finally, when presented at the DLD, the instrument must satisfy DLD’s current wording, verification and validity requirements, confirmed with the receiving service.

A POA may be valid as an agency contract under the Civil Transactions Law yet rejected by the DLD if the Circular’s wording or verification requirements are not met. The reverse is also true: a document satisfying the Circular’s procedural requirements remains substantively governed by the Civil Transactions Law.

The Practical Implication

A property POA drafted before DLD’s current guidance was issued may not meet the wording DLD now expects. Any property POA executed before that date should be reviewed against the Circular before use in a post-Circular transaction. Where the wording falls short, re-execution is the safer course.