Dubai Land Department (DLD) is embracing digitization like never before. The year 2020 marked a landmark year for the real estate legislative body surpassing 1.4 million digital services for its customers through its smart channels including – DLD website and Dubai REST app. Digital services are a fundamental aspect of DLD’s digital transformation process.
This exponential surge in the number of digital services is perceived as a big boost for the Dubai Land Department in its commitment to establish Dubai as the world’s premier real estate destination. The increase in the number of digital services will play a vital role in fostering digitization and bringing more efficiency and transparency in the operations of the Dubai Land Department.
How is Dubai Rest is Fostering Digitalization in the Real estate Sector?
Dubai REST app. is an integral aspect of promoting digitization at the Dubai Land Department. This revolutionary platform was launched during Cityscape Global 2018, as a comprehensive smart solution to facilitate a vast array of real estate services.
DubaiREST is a smart real estate platform that provides quick access to all real-estate services to the associated parties. It is a mobile application that offers valuable insights into the UAE real estate market including – property verification through facial recognition. DubaiRest application is widely popular among property owners, real estate brokers, developers, tenants, real estate valuators, investors, property management firms, and all beneficiaries of the real estate sector.
What Makes DubaiRest App. Distinctive?
The unique features of DubaiRest App. Include:
- Empower all the beneficiaries of the off-plan projects to obtain real-time information about the projects such as:
- The percentage of completion, the actual pictures of the project
- Payments due on the owners in the projects that they invested in addition to the possibility of activating the feature of the favorite projects to be able to follow-up the details of these projects.
- DubaiRest is a full-fledged real estate wallet for real estate owners available on smart devices includes all the services that enable them to conduct property transactions (sale, purchase, lease, and mortgage).
- DubaiRest provides comprehensive information about real estate brokers and their performance levels, data of real estate offices and their classifications, valuation companies, management companies, consultancy companies and certified developers.
- The real estate services offered by DubaiRest includes: selling, leasing, submit rental dispute cases and follow up them, submitting applications for issuing a valuation certificate, letter To Whom It May Concern and issuing map through the application.
- The application provides for all of the real estate market beneficiaries with multiple services such as: the rental index and the sale house price index in Dubai and the service charges index of the property with the ability of payment through the application.
- Electronic payment through the electronic payment portal – Noqodi
- The system is available in Arabic and English on iOS and Android.
Launch of Electronic No Objection Certificate (e-NOC):
In its revolutionary decision, Dubai Land Department (DLD) has made it much easier for the property owners to obtain no-objection certificates digitally by launching an e-NOC system at its office on 20 April 2021.
e-NOCs are now only applicable for owners for the buildings where the budget of the current year is not approved or the current quarter of that building is not invoiced for any reason. Owners can now directly proceed with the transfer after clearing all the service charges which are invoiced through Mollak. The owners can go to the Trustee’s office directly since their employees have access to the Mollak system and they can check the system and advise accordingly.
The foremost reason for introducing the e-NOC system was to minimize the additional cost on the sellers as developers & strata management firms demand & get a fee for the NOC issue irrespective of how old the property is. Only ready properties managed by Owner association management companies and owners receiving service charge invoices from the Mollak system are eligible for e-NOC.
The New Fee:
Dubai Land Department has not mentioned any fees yet for property sellers for e-NOCs in its press release. This is perceived as a welcoming move by the owners.
Until now, developers & strata management firms charge between AED 1,500 – 3,000 for the service. In exceptional cases, getting the NOC can cost the owner up to AED 5,000.
Reason behind the Launch of e-NOC:
Owners were unhappy with the fact that whether its one-year-old property or 10 years, developers and owners’ association firms were demanding and getting a fee for the NOC issue. Many of them were charged with AED 1500 even though they didn’t have any outstanding payments with the developer or the property management firm. Owners perceived as an unwarranted charge and as an additional burden on the seller.
Documents required:
The service will be provided by the Real Estate Registration Services Department – Real Estate Registration Assurance Services.
The key documents required for e-NOC includes – sale contract, copy of the owner’s ID or Passport for non-residents, certificate of settlement of payments for the property, attendance of the owner in person, or attendance of an attorney authorised by the owner pursuant to an official notarised document, no objection certificate from the maintenance company, in case of resale of the property in addition to a copy of the ID or passport of the buyer and the sale contract agreement MOU.
The Process:
To obtain e-NOC, the customer must complete the registration assurance application form by visiting the Dubai Land Department Website through electronic services. Alternatively, customers can visit the Dubai Land Department main Office at the Registration Assurance Section, enclosing the documents. DLD will notify the customer of the readiness of the certificate by email. The time period for e-NOC service is between 14-18 days. There are no updates on the service fee. This link will take you to the PDF which provides instructions on obtaining e-NOC.
The Impact of DLDs Digital Measures on the Real estate sector:
This exponential surge in the number of digital services will also boost Dubai Land Department’s confidence in swiftly adopting emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Cloud. This will lead the real estate sector towards complete digital transformation and will create a more supportive and transparent business environment for property investors. This increase in digital services will also strengthen the capabilities of the Dubai Land Department in supporting its ambitious ‘Smart Dubai’ vision in line with the goal of the Dubai Paperless Strategy.
‘Smart Dubai’ initiative was launched with a vision to make Dubai the happiest city in the world. It involves participation from all city stakeholders which includes – residents, visitors, business owners, parents, and families. The primary goal behind the ‘Smart Dubai’ initiative is to foster a culture of innovation, and creativity in the nation. The initiative will fortify Dubai in keeping pace with the modern global systems.
Furthermore, the launch of the e-NOC system will facilitate the customers in the hassle-free transfer of the property. It will not only bring agility to the process but will also curtail the cost for the seller. At present, NOCs are issued by the developer or a concerned strata management firm.
e-NOC service will also facilitate customers in applying for issuing a No Objection Certificate to register a property in the interim or permanent registration system in case the developer refuses to register the same in the interim registration system (Off-Plan Sale – Initial Sale Form – Initial Sale Contract – Title Deed Issuance). In the case of resale, the No Objection Certificate may be issued if the developer refuses to issue the certificate without legally valid reasons.
Both the initiatives being taken by the Dubai Land Department (DLD) are welcoming news for the real estate sector. This will bring transparency in the process, ease the current legislative framework for the real estate sector and increase the number of transactions every month.
Summary:
- Dubai Land Department (DLD) reached 1.4 million digital services in 2020 for its customers on its website and DubaiRest App. This is indeed a great step in fostering digitalization in the Real estate sector.
- Dubai REST app. is a smart real estate platform that provides quick access to all real-estate services to the associated parties.
- Dubai Land Department (DLD) has also launched electronic no-objection certificates or e-NOC system at its office on 20 April 2021 to minimize the additional cost on the sellers as developers & strata management firms demand & get a fee for the NOC issue irrespective of how old the property is.
- Eligibility: Only ready properties managed by Owner association management companies and owners receiving service charge invoices from the Mollak system are eligible for e-NOC.
- Fees: Dubai Land Department has not mentioned any fees yet for property sellers for e-NOCs in its press release.
- How to Obtain e-NOC?: To obtain e-NOC, the customer must complete the registration assurance application form by visiting the Dubai Land Department Website through electronic services.
- The time period for e-NOC service is between 14-18 days. There are no updates on the service fee.
- Both DubaiRest and e-NOC are welcoming news for the real estate sector. It will make the process of real estate transactions more transparent, simply the legislative framework to boost the real estate transactions.
- The e-NOC system will also boost Dubai’s ambitious ‘Smart Dubai’ initiative in line with the goal of the Dubai Paperless Strategy and will allow the customers in the hassle-free transfer of the property to bring efficiency to the process and reduce the cost for the seller
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