Listings come from seven sources: owner referrals, expired and off-market owners, developer allocations, your own landlord base, portal seller enquiries, Instagram and one farmed community. Each ends in three documents: an owner-approved Form A, a Trakheesi permit at AED 1,000 plus AED 20 with its number on every ad (Dubai Land Department, 2026), and the Madmoun QR code since 24 April 2023 (Dubai Land Department, 2023). A seller may sign up to three brokers (Gulf News, 2022), so the first specific answer usually wins.
Dubai had 32,294 registered brokers and 9,785 brokerage offices at the end of 2025 (Dubai Land Department, March 2026). A buyer lead is shared with every agent who advertised the unit. A listing is a contract with your name on it, and the buyers come through you. The buyer side is in how to get buyer leads in Dubai.
Where do seller listings in Dubai come from?
Seven sources, and the first four cost time rather than money.
Owner referrals
Every buyer you closed becomes a seller in time. Ask at handover who else in the building is thinking of selling, then call on the purchase anniversary with the latest sold price in their tower.
Expired and off-market owners
A standard listing runs about three months unless the seller sets another term (Gulf News, October 2022). When it lapses, call with the reason it did not move and a written plan.
Developer allocations
Off-plan feeds listings at launch, through a marketing agreement, and at handover, when investors need a resale agent. The practice guide requires the project registered with RERA, payments into its escrow account, and a developer-brokerage marketing contract (Dubai Land Department, November 2024).
Landlord databases, your own
Federal Decree Law No. 45 of 2021 prohibits processing personal data without the owner's consent, with limited exceptions (u.ae, December 2025), so a scraped owner list is a liability. Work the list you built: tenants, landlords you manage, owners who enquired once.
Property Finder and Bayut seller enquiries
Both portals take valuation enquiries that rarely reach only you. Reply inside five minutes with two comparable sold prices and ask when they want to sell. Bayut will not publish without a Trakheesi permit number, which needs a Form A or owner NOC (Bayut, August 2026). See also why Bayut and Property Finder leads don't convert.
Sellers follow agents who show the process, not the inventory. One walkthrough with the permit number in frame beats ten carousels; electronic ads need a permit like any other (Dubai Land Department, November 2024).
Community farming
Pick two or three towers and know every sale in them: a monthly price note to owners you may lawfully contact, a seat at the owners' association, an open day (its own permit type), a reply to every neighbour's WhatsApp. Slow for six months, then most Form As come from here.
Which DLD and RERA rules decide whether you can market a listing?
Three: an owner-approved Form A, a Trakheesi permit whose number appears on every ad, and the Madmoun QR code on print and audiovisual ads.
Form A first. The practice guide calls it Contract A, "an agreement to market a property between the seller and the real estate brokerage", and brokers must use the smart version (Dubai Land Department, November 2024). You create it in the Dubai Brokers app from the title deed, with the owner verified and an owner-signed NOC, and the owner approves through a link (Dubai Land Department, 2024). A seller may list with at most three brokers, none without a digitally approved Form A, and must terminate one contract before signing a fourth (Gulf News, October 2022).
The permit second. Brokerages "must obtain a permit for any real estate advertisement or marketing material through the Trakheesi system", with the number displayed on the ad, across fourteen permit types (Dubai Land Department, November 2024). A permit costs AED 1,000 plus a AED 20 Knowledge and Innovation Fee, with the owner's marketing contract attached (Dubai Land Department, 2026).
The QR code third. Since 24 April 2023 every permit carries a Madmoun QR code confirming the ad "has been approved by RERA", shown on print and audiovisual ads (Dubai Land Department, 2023).
RERA checks: in October 2020 it fined 10 companies and warned 30 for missing, manipulated or expired permits, each fine "a progressive AED 50,000" (Dubai Media Office, October 2020). Sold units come off the market immediately (Gulf News, 2022).
Want the buyer side built while you chase listings?
We run the ads, the qualifying questions and the automatic first reply that book exclusive buyer appointments, one agency per area in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Take the 60-second qualifier See if your area is still open.How fast should you answer a seller enquiry?
Inside five minutes, never outside the hour. A Harvard Business Review audit of 2,241 US companies found 37% answered a web enquiry within an hour and 23% never did, and firms that tried within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead as those an hour slower, over 60 times as likely as those that waited a day (Harvard Business Review, March 2011). That is US data, but a Dubai owner can sign three Form As, so the enquiry you answer after lunch has already been answered.
The first message follows our Dubai real estate WhatsApp follow up script: their name, the exact unit, one fact they lacked (the last sold price on their floor), one question (when do you want the sale done?). Then a call within the hour with two valuation times.
What does a weekly listing routine look like?
Five fixed blocks, one per working day, so prospecting never loses to viewings.
| Day | Block | What gets done |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Pipeline | Review every Form A by expiry; renew at 30 days, price update to owners at 60. |
| Tuesday | Owners | Twenty calls: anniversaries, leases ending, listings that expired this week. Goal: three valuations. |
| Wednesday | Permits, content | Permit on every new Form A, withdraw on anything sold, one process video. |
| Thursday | Community | One hour in the farm: owners' association, building manager, shop owners. Price note out. |
| Friday | Follow-up | A written plan to every valuation. Count: conversations, valuations, Form As, listings live. |
Portal seller enquiries are answered inside five minutes, every day.
Frequently asked questions
How many brokers can a Dubai seller list with?
Up to three, each with a Form A the owner approved digitally, under the Dubai Land Department rule of October 2022. To add another broker, the owner first terminates one of the three contracts.
Do I need a Trakheesi permit to post a listing on Instagram?
Yes. The RERA practice guide lists electronic ads and promotion platforms among the advertisements that need a permit, with the permit number displayed on the ad.
How much does a Trakheesi advertising permit cost?
AED 1,000 plus a AED 20 Knowledge and Innovation Fee per permit, AED 5,000 for a project launch event, with the owner's marketing contract attached.
Can I buy a landlord database to find sellers in Dubai?
Not safely. Federal Decree Law No. 45 of 2021 prohibits processing personal data without the owner's consent, with limited exceptions. Build the list from clients, tenants and landlords you already serve.
Related reading
- How to get buyer leads in Dubai
- Dubai real estate WhatsApp lead follow up script
- Why Bayut and Property Finder leads don't convert
- What the Dubai buyer-appointment system costs
Every number above links to its source. We have not run a campaign in Dubai or Abu Dhabi yet, and we say so. The flat fee, one agency per area, is on the pricing page.
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