Emirates Auction Property: How It Works, Deposit, Fees and How to Bid

Emirates Auction Property

Here is how a property sale at Emirates Auction works, how to bid step by step, what the deposit and the fees are, and what can go wrong.

How Emirates Auction Works for Property

Emirates Auction is a company that runs auctions. It was set up in the UAE in 2004. Most people know it for cars and number plates, and it sells both. This page is only about the homes it sells.

In an auction, buyers compete by offering a price, which is called a bid. The highest bid wins. At Emirates Auction, one more thing has to happen first: a court must approve the winning bid. To see why, you need to know who is selling.

Who sells the homes, and why

In an ordinary sale, an owner decides to sell and looks for a buyer. Most homes at Emirates Auction are different. A court has ordered the sale, and the owner did not choose it.

This is the usual story. An owner in Dubai stops paying the mortgage or another debt. The bank cannot simply take the home and sell it. It has to ask a judge, and the judge orders the home to be sold at a public auction. The money from the sale is used to pay the debt.

Emirates Auction is the company that runs those auctions for the court. Its own terms call it "a company contracting with the court". It is a company, and it is not part of the government.

So a home reaches the site in one of three ways:

• It is sold to pay a debt. A court has ordered the sale so that a bank, or someone else who is owed money, can be paid. This is the largest group.
• It is sold in an inheritance case. The owner has died, and a court sells the home so that the money can be shared between the heirs. The heirs are the people who inherit.
• A private owner chose to auction it. The company says it also lists privately owned property in Dubai and Ajman.

What the court does

The court does two things in these sales. First, it orders the home to be sold. Second, it decides if the winning bid is accepted.

The second part is the one that matters to you. When the auction ends, the highest bid goes to the court, and the court can say yes or no. Each listing says the decisions of the Dubai Courts apply "in terms of accepting or rejecting offers of the bidders".

So you have not won when the timer stops. You have won when the court approves your bid. The rest of this guide comes back to this point several times, because your deadline to pay starts on the day of approval.

Where the auctions take place

Almost everything happens online, on the Emirates Auction website or in its app. Each home has its own page there, called a listing. The listing shows the end date and time of that home's auction.

Now and then the company holds an auction in a hall. When it does, it announces the time and place on its website.

How to Bid on a Property at Emirates Auction

There are eight steps. The order matters, because you cannot bid until Emirates Auction holds your deposit. The first three steps cost nothing, so take your time over them. From step 4 onwards, your money is involved.

We did not create an account ourselves. So for the screens you see after you log in, we follow the company's own Help Guide.

Step 1: Create a free account

Go to the Emirates Auction website, emiratesauction.com, and press Create Account in the top right corner. You can then sign up in one of two ways. Either fill in your details, or choose "Sign up with UAE pass". UAE Pass is the UAE's digital identity app.

The site sends a code to your phone by SMS or WhatsApp. Type the code in to finish.

The account is free, and people of every nationality can open one. You must be over 21, and you may have only one account.

Step 2: Read the listing from top to bottom

Open Properties on the site. You see a list of homes, each in its own box. Press the box of a home you like, and its listing opens.

Check four things on the listing:

• The ownership label. "Freehold" means people of any nationality can buy the home. "GCC" means only citizens of Gulf countries can buy it.
• What is being sold. A listing called "Part of property" sells only a share of a home. You would own the home together with strangers. Unless you understand shared ownership well, leave these.
• The description. It tells you if the home is empty, lived in by the owner, or rented. It also tells you if you can view it.
• The documents. There may be a plan of the plot. For a rented property, there may be a report of the rents. Open each document.

The description uses a few fixed lines. These three tell you most of what you need to know:

Step 3: View the home, if the listing allows it

You can go inside a home only when two things are true: the home is empty, and the court has given the key to Emirates Auction. To book a visit, call Emirates Auction on 600 545454 or use the chat on its website.

If the listing says "Viewing is not Available", you would be bidding on a home you have never seen inside. At least go to the building and look at it from outside.

This is also the time to check the price. Find out what similar homes in the same building have sold for recently, and compare those prices with the start price. Our guide on how to check sold prices on the Dubai Land Department website shows you how, step by step.

Do this check yourself. Emirates Auction's terms say you rely on your own valuation of the home, and not on any valuation from the company.

Step 4: Pay the security deposit

The security deposit is money you hand over before you bid, to show that you are serious. For property it is 20% of the start price. Each listing has a "how to bid" box, and that box shows the exact amount for that home.

You can pay the deposit in two ways:

• With a manager's cheque made out to Emirates Auction. A manager's cheque is a cheque that your bank issues itself, after it has taken the money from your account. Take the cheque to any Emirates Auction branch. Bring the bank's receipt and a copy of your Emirates ID, the UAE's identity card for residents.
• By bank transfer or bank deposit. You pay the money into Emirates Auction's bank account. The account details are on the "Contact Us" page of the website. Then you upload the bank's slip, which proves the payment, in your Emirates Auction account.

Emirates Auction does not accept personal cheques or credit cards for property.

You also sign an auction registration form. And each deposit covers one home only, so you need a separate deposit for each home you want to bid on.

Step 5: Place your bid

You can bid once the deposit shows in your account. Open the listing again. The Help Guide says the bidding box is on the right side of the page.

Type the amount you want to offer, press Bid with your chosen amount, and confirm.

Two rules apply while the auction runs:

• A late bid makes the auction longer. If anyone bids in the last three minutes, three more minutes are added. So an auction can run well past the end time on the listing.
• You cannot take a bid back once you are the highest bidder.

So decide the highest price you will pay before the auction starts, and write it down.

Step 6: Wait for the court to approve your bid

When the timer ends, the home is not yours yet, even if your bid is the highest. Your bid goes to the court, and the court accepts it or rejects it.

To see what the court has decided, open the "My won items" list in your account. It shows each item as approved or still under approval.

If you did not win, your deposit does not come back by itself. You have to ask for it, in the Deposit Dashboard in your account. Emirates Auction then returns it in one of two ways: as a cheque, or as a transfer to the bank account the money came from.

Step 7: Pay the rest within 10 days

The 10 days begin on the day the court approves your bid. In those 10 days you pay two things: the rest of your bid, and the fees. You can pay by bank transfer or with a manager's cheque.

Here is an example with numbers. A flat has a start price of AED 1.5 million, and you win it with a bid of AED 1.6 million.

Your deposit was AED 300,000, which is 20% of the start price. So you still owe AED 1.3 million of your bid. The fees on this bid are AED 63,000.

The terms do not give anyone more than 10 days. So have the money ready in a UAE bank account before you bid.

Emirates Auction can also ask you to show where the money came from. Keep your bank statements so that you can.

Step 8: Receive the title deed

The title deed is the official paper that shows who owns a home. In Dubai it is issued by the Dubai Land Department, or DLD. The DLD is the government office that registers every home sale.

You do not have to go to the DLD yourself. Emirates Auction says it completes every step for you until ownership is issued in your name.

Until the title deed is issued, the sale is not final. Emirates Auction says that winning, or even paying in full, "does not mean that it is final ownership".

One rule can still undo your win. For 10 days after the sale, another person can offer at least 10% more than your price. If someone does, the auction is run again, and you can lose the home.

Emirates Auction's pages do not agree on the day these 10 days start. One page counts from the day the auction ends, and another counts from the day the winner pays. Ask the company for the exact date for your sale.

These are the stages after the auction ends, in order:

1. Auction endsThe court looks at your bidThe highest bid wins only if the court accepts it.
2. Approval dayYour 10 days to pay begin"My won items" in your account shows the bid as approved.
3. Within 10 daysYou pay the rest and the feesIf you do not, you lose the whole deposit.
4. For 10 days after the saleAnother person can reopen the auctionThey must offer at least 10% more than your price. The auction is then run again, and you can lose the home.
5. After thatThe title deed is issued in your nameOnly now is the home yours.

On the website, sales that can still be reopened are listed under "Re-open The Auction".

Emirates Auction Property Fees and the Deposit

You deal with two sums of money at Emirates Auction. The first is the deposit, which you pay before you bid. The second is the fees, which you pay only if you win.

Registering costs nothing. The deposit is not an extra cost either, because it becomes part of the price when you win. So the fees are the only extra cost of buying this way.

The security deposit

There is no single minimum deposit. The deposit is always 20% of the start price of the home you want, so a dearer home needs a bigger deposit. On a start price of AED 800,000, the deposit is AED 160,000.

What happens to your deposit depends on how the auction ends:

• If you win and pay on time, the deposit counts towards the price.
• If you do not win, you get it back, but you have to ask for it in your account, as step 6 explains.
• If you win and do not pay on time, you lose all of it.

The fees on top of your bid

In October 2026, Emirates Auction's terms for property auctions say the buyer pays 3% of the sale price plus AED 15,000. The sale price is your winning bid.

The terms say this amount includes two things: the fees for transferring ownership of the home to you, and Emirates Auction's own commission.

Take a home you win with a bid of AED 1.6 million. Three per cent of that is AED 48,000. Add AED 15,000, and the fees come to AED 63,000.

That is less than an ordinary purchase usually costs. When you buy a home from its owner in Dubai in the normal way, you usually pay three things. You pay a transfer fee of 4% to the Dubai Land Department. You pay a fee to the office that registers the sale. And you pay an estate agent.

One thing in this comparison is not certain. The terms say the 3% plus AED 15,000 includes the transfer fees, and the comparison takes the terms at their word. But the terms do not name the Dubai Land Department.

So ask Emirates Auction to confirm in writing that the Dubai Land Department's fees are included. Do this before you pay a deposit. It is the third question in the list below.

After the sale, you pay what any owner pays. One example is service charges, the yearly fees for the upkeep of the building. You pay them from the day the home is yours.

Read the full guide: the cost of buying property in Dubai

What Emirates Auction does not publish

Emirates Auction's public pages do not answer every question about money. The five questions below are the ones they leave open.

Send them to Emirates Auction in writing. You can open a support ticket on its website, or use its WhatsApp chat. Wait for the answers before you send any money.

The fourth question matters for this reason. The general part of Emirates Auction's terms mentions two penalties for buyers who pay late: AED 105 a day, and a fine of 30% of the sale amount. The terms do not say if either penalty applies to property.

What Can Go Wrong When You Buy a Home at Emirates Auction

A sale ordered by a court, with low fees, can look like a safe way to buy. In one way it is safe: the sale is real, and the seller cannot change their mind.

But the buyer carries the risks, and there are five. Each one is below, with what you can do about it.

The home is sold as it is

You buy the home in the condition it is in, with every fault it has. Nobody inspects it for you, and nobody gives you a warranty or a list of repairs.

Emirates Auction's terms say every item is sold "as is". They also say that by bidding you accept the home's legal and physical condition. Furniture is not included.

So view the home if the listing offers a viewing. And lower your highest bid, so that you have money left for repairs.

Someone may be living in it

A tenant or the old owner may still live in the home on the day it becomes yours. This is the risk people think about least.

Emirates Auction does not move anyone out for you. It says the rental matter is not its concern. So once you own the home, you deal with the people inside yourself.

A tenant can stay until the tenancy contract ends. Dubai's tenancy law says a change of owner "does not affect the Tenant's right to continue to occupy" the home while the contract runs.

The listings name two things you have to do yourself. You must notify the tenant through a notary, an official who certifies legal papers. And if you want to recover rent or have anyone removed, you must file a case with the rental disputes body.

A tenant who pays a fair rent can suit an investor. If you want to live in the home yourself, bid only on listings marked "Vacant".

Service charges can be unclear

Service charges are the yearly fees every owner pays for the upkeep of the building. An owner in debt has often stopped paying them. So the worry is that the old owner's unpaid bills become yours.

Here the news is mostly good. Emirates Auction says the buyer does not pay the previous owner's service charges. Each listing also says you pay the developer's fees only from the date the title deed is in your name.

Still, ask Emirates Auction to confirm in writing that no old debt will be passed to you. Our guide to Dubai service charges explains how these fees work.

You lose the deposit if you cannot pay in time

This is the risk that costs the most. Once the court approves your bid, you have 10 days to pay the rest of the price and the fees. If you miss that deadline, your deposit is not returned.

There is no time to arrange a mortgage

A mortgage is a bank loan for a home. It usually takes several weeks to arrange, and you have 10 days to pay.

Emirates Auction says any bank finance is your own responsibility. The deadline does not move because a bank is slow.

In practice, buying at Emirates Auction is for people who already have the money.

Put the five risks together, and the decision comes down to this:

Emirates Auction or the Dubai Land Department's Auction Site

Emirates Auction is not the only property auction in Dubai. The Dubai Land Department runs its own online auction site, called eMart.

The main difference is who decides to sell. On eMart, the owner chooses to put the home up for auction. At Emirates Auction, a court has usually ordered the sale. The deposit and the deadlines differ too:

So eMart asks for less money at the start and gives you more time. Its deposit is half the size, and 20 working days is about four weeks.

Emirates Auction is where you find the homes that a court has ordered to be sold.

Read the full guide: distressed property in Dubai and the five places to find it