The phone call that should never happen
Picture this: the deal is done. Form F is signed, the buyer has handed over the manager’s cheque for the deposit, and everyone is shaking hands at the trustee office. Then your phone rings. It’s the other agent, and the conversation is not congratulations — it’s an argument about how the commission is going to be split, who brought the buyer first, and whether anyone actually agreed to fifty-fifty or whether that was just implied over WhatsApp.
Every working agent in Dubai has either been in that call or knows someone who has. It is one of the most avoidable situations in the market, and it still happens constantly. Not because agents are dishonest, but because the agreement that should have existed — clear, signed, and referenced against the deal — was never put in place before the money moved.
That gap, the space between a handshake arrangement and a binding split agreement, is where income disappears and reputations quietly suffer. And the way you close that gap is not complicated. But before explaining how, it is worth understanding exactly why the gap exists and what it actually costs you.
How a Dubai co-broke deal actually comes together
Dubai’s secondary market does not run on exclusive mandates the way some other markets do. Agents who have relationships with other agents get early access to listings before they hit the portals. That is the everyday reality: a listing agent has a property under Form A with the seller, and a buyer’s agent has a client under Form B. Neither has the whole deal. They need each other.
In Dubai’s cooperative brokerage ecosystem, multiple agencies often work together. Form I confirms which agent introduced the buyer and how commissions will be shared. The key word there is “confirms.” Form I is not a formality — it is the document that turns an agreement in principle into something enforceable. Form I comes into play when two RERA-certified agents, one representing the seller and the other the buyer, decide to collaborate. This formal agreement is designed to safeguard the clients and listings of both agents, and it explicitly outlines the commission split between them.
What actually gets recorded in Form I? Property details and permit number, contact details of both agencies, buyer acknowledgment of both brokers’ roles, and the commission-split agreement — commonly 50/50. That last point matters: the split is documented at the level of the deal itself, not assumed from industry convention.
The commission itself becomes legally due when Form F is executed. Agent commission — typically 2% of the sale price — becomes legally due upon Form F signing. Form F is a binding legal contract, and backing out after signing carries financial penalties and potential legal consequences. The question, then, is not whether commission is owed. It is who it is owed to, in what proportion, and who collects it when.
Since the introduction of VAT in the UAE in January 2018, a 5% Value Added Tax applies to real estate brokerage services. Which means the invoicing question also has a compliance dimension — both sides of a shared deal need to be invoicing correctly, and a vague split arrangement makes that harder.
Where the friction actually lives
The dispute rarely starts at the trustee office. It starts earlier, usually in the gap between an informal conversation about splitting the deal and the moment someone has to write an actual number on a document.
Be cautious about verbal agreements on commission. Everything should be in writing on the appropriate RERA form. A verbal agreement that commission will be X percentage holds very little weight if a dispute arises, and disputes over commission are not uncommon in a market where transaction values are high.
The friction points tend to cluster around a few recurring scenarios:
Scenario one: who introduced the buyer? When two agents are both working the same building or community, the same buyer sometimes speaks to both. If Form I was not signed at the point of introduction, both agents can claim the introduction. Without a timestamp on a formal document, the argument becomes a he-said-she-said that has no clean resolution.
Scenario two: the split percentage was never written down. The agents agreed — or thought they agreed — to a 50/50 split. But when the listing agent collects the full commission from the seller, the split does not happen as expected. The buyer’s agent is now chasing the listing agent for half of money that has already been received. At that point, the listing agent’s brokerage is involved, management is involved, and what should have been a simple payment becomes a negotiation at a moment when neither party has any leverage over the other.
Scenario three: the off-plan timing problem. Off-plan is a different workflow. Article 6 of Law No. 8 of 2007 requires developers to establish dedicated escrow accounts for each off-plan project. All buyer payments must be deposited into these accounts, which are closely monitored by the Dubai Land Department and managed by RERA-approved trustee banks. Developer commissions in off-plan deals are typically paid by the developer directly to the registered brokerage — not via the buyer. The timing of that payment depends on the developer’s payment schedule, which can stretch over months. When two agencies are splitting a developer commission that arrives in tranches, a split agreement that was vague to begin with becomes increasingly difficult to enforce as time passes and the deal is no longer front of mind.
Scenario four: the rental deal with a post-dated cheque. In Ejari-registered rentals, commission is due when the tenancy contract is signed and the security deposit and first cheque are handed over. Tenants routinely pay by post-dated cheques. The landlord’s agent and the tenant’s agent may have split the deal, but if the commission arrangement was not signed before those cheques moved, one agent is effectively trusting the other to pay out from funds they received. That trust is not always honoured, and when it is not, the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre becomes the next stop.
The reputation cost that never shows on an invoice
There is a payment cost to all of this. Chasing a split that was not agreed in writing means phone calls, emails, WhatsApp threads, escalations to agency management, and sometimes complaints through DLD channels. The DLD states that its “Real estate violations complaints” service does not consider contractual disputes, contract revocation, refund or indemnity claims. Which means if the argument is over a commission split between two agents, it may not be a matter RERA can resolve administratively — it becomes a civil matter. If an amicable solution is not reached between the parties, they must resort to the judicial authorities to settle the dispute. That route costs time and money that almost certainly exceeds the disputed amount on all but the very largest deals.
But the invisible cost is worse: the reputation cost. And it works in both directions.
If you are the agent who did not pay the split on time — or at all — word moves fast in Dubai’s brokerage community. This is a market where agents who have relationships with other agents get early access to listings before they hit the portals. That early access is not distributed equally. It goes to agents who other agents trust. The moment you are known as someone who is difficult about splits, or someone who “forgets” to pay once the money is in, you stop getting the call. You become the last option, not the first.
If you are the agent who did not formalise the split agreement — the one now chasing a payment that was never properly documented — your situation is different but equally damaging. You may eventually get paid, or you may not. Either way, you have learned that your income for a deal you worked can be contingent on the goodwill of someone who now has no particular reason to prioritise you. That is a fragile position to be in on any deal, let alone a deal worth AED 40,000 or AED 80,000 in commission.
Form I governs the commission split and professional conduct when two brokers collaborate. Skipping Form I is the leading cause of commission disputes in Dubai. That observation comes from practitioners, not from legislation. It is empirical — it is what actually happens, repeatedly, when the paperwork is skipped in the rush to get a deal moving.
Why fair splits create deal flow
The agents who are genuinely first-call in this market share something beyond market knowledge or listing inventory. They are known to be clean to deal with. When another agent brings them a buyer, they know the split will be signed, the deal will be documented correctly, and the payment will come without drama. That reputation is enormously valuable, and it is built one well-handled co-broke at a time.
Consider the mechanics from the other agent’s perspective. They have a qualified buyer. They have a choice of listing agents to call, because the same property or comparable properties may be listed across multiple agencies — this is the reality of a market without enforced exclusivity. They will call the agent who they know will do the following:
- Sign Form I before the introduction is formalised
- Be transparent about the commission structure on both sides
- Not attempt to renegotiate the split once the buyer is committed
- Pay out cleanly and on time without needing to be chased
That agent gets the first call. Every time. And across a year of deals, “every time” is the difference between a full pipeline and a thin one.
RERA requires agents to disclose their commission arrangement to all parties in the transaction. That transparency obligation is not just regulatory compliance — it is a practical foundation for trust. The agent who treats disclosure as a professional standard, not a box to tick, is the agent who other agents and clients return to.
The Trakheesi permit number on an off-plan listing, the Form A on a secondary-market property, the Ejari registration on a rental — all of these documents create a paper record of what was agreed before money moved. The split agreement between co-broking agents deserves exactly the same treatment. It is not more complicated than any other element of the deal. It just requires the discipline to do it before the pressure of closing pushes it to one side.
The specific mechanics: what needs to be agreed, and when
Knowing that Form I matters is not enough. The question is when it needs to exist and what it needs to say.
Before the introduction
The split should be agreed before the buyer is introduced to the property. Once the introduction has happened, the buyer’s agent has already provided their service. If the split is negotiated after that point, the listing agent is negotiating from a position of strength — they already have what they need. Agreeing the split before the introduction means both sides go into the collaboration with equal standing.
What it needs to cover
A split agreement that is worth having specifies:
- The percentage each agency receives from the total commission collected
- Which party collects the commission from the client (or developer), and when
- How and when the other party will be paid
- Which deal it applies to — specific property, specific buyer, specific transaction
A general verbal understanding that “we usually do fifty-fifty” is not a split agreement. It is a starting point for a conversation that still needs to happen.
The VAT dimension
Commission should always be paid by cheque made out to the brokerage, not to the individual agent personally. This is a RERA requirement and it creates a paper trail that protects both parties if a dispute arises later. In a split deal, both brokerages need to invoice correctly with their own VAT registration details. If the full commission flows to one brokerage and they then pay out the other’s share, that payment needs to be structured as either a proper invoice or a documented internal arrangement — not a cash transfer to an individual. Getting this right protects both parties from VAT compliance issues that can surface later.
Off-plan: the developer commission question
In off-plan deals, the listing brokerage typically has a formal relationship with the developer and is the registered entity to receive commission. If a second agency brings the buyer, the split arrangement needs to be in place before the sale is registered with the developer — because once the developer’s records show only one agency, the second agency has no standing with the developer at all. Their only claim is against the listing brokerage, and that claim is only as strong as the written agreement that exists.
Brokers marketing off-plan units on behalf of developers must hold valid RERA broker registration and display the project’s RERA permit number. Both agents need to be properly registered and working within their licences — a split arrangement with an unlicensed or improperly registered agent creates its own compliance risks.
What payment timing actually means in practice
One of the quieter sources of split disputes is the gap between when commission is earned and when it is received.
Commission is typically due upon signing the MOU (Form F), though some agents collect at the point of title transfer. Most agents consider commission earned when the buyer and seller sign the MOU. This is the standard expectation and is supported by RERA in disputes.
But “commission is earned” and “commission is in the bank” are two different events. The DLD transfer process takes time. Mortgage redemptions, NOC applications, and title deed transfers can stretch the gap between Form F signing and actual payment by weeks. In that window, both agents are owed money they have not received.
The risk in that window is that one agent pays the other — or does not — based on their own cash position, their own relationship with the client, or simply their own priorities. If the split was not fully documented, including the payment timing, the agent waiting to be paid has limited options other than hoping the money arrives.
The cleanest outcome is the one where both parties are paid at the same time, from the same transaction, with the same degree of certainty. When the split is agreed and signed before the client pays, and when the disbursement of both shares is treated as a single event rather than a primary payment followed by a hoped-for secondary one, the gap disappears. There is no waiting, no chasing, and no moment where one party has the money and the other does not.
That outcome does not happen by accident. It happens because someone — usually the agent who values their reputation more than the marginal advantage of collecting first — insists on structuring the deal that way from the start.
The Ejari rental context: smaller deals, same principles
Rental commissions are smaller in absolute terms, but the dynamics are identical. A landlord’s agent has a listed property. A tenant’s agent brings a qualified tenant. The tenancy is registered through Ejari. Commission is due at signing and is subject to 5% VAT.
The difference in rentals is that the amounts involved sometimes make the split feel not worth formalising. A 5% commission on an AED 80,000-per-year apartment is AED 4,000 plus VAT. Split two ways, that is AED 2,000 each — an amount that agents will sometimes not bother documenting properly because it feels like admin overhead on a small deal.
That reasoning is exactly backwards. The smaller the amount, the less likely either party will chase it through formal dispute channels if it goes wrong. Which means the agent who did not get paid simply absorbs the loss. Multiply that across a portfolio of rental transactions and it becomes meaningful money written off for no reason other than skipping paperwork that takes ten minutes to complete.
The agent who handles rental co-brokes cleanly — who signs the split agreement, invoices correctly, and pays the other side without prompting — is building a pipeline of referrals from other rental agents. When multiple agents are involved in the same listing, commissions are split between them according to signed RERA forms. This ensures transparency and avoids disputes. The form exists precisely because informal arrangements do not hold. Using it on every deal, regardless of deal size, is the mark of an agent who takes the work seriously.
The principle that removes the friction
There is no single document, rule, or framework that eliminates commission disputes from the Dubai market. The market is too large, too fragmented across agencies, and too dependent on cooperation between agents who may have never worked together before. Disputes will happen.
But the vast majority of split disputes share a common origin: someone assumed the other party understood the arrangement, or assumed the payment would come without a signed agreement to compel it, or assumed that good faith would substitute for documentation. Those assumptions are wrong often enough to cost serious money and permanent reputation damage.
The agents who have built the kind of reputations that make them genuinely first-call — across years, not just one good quarter — operate from a different assumption. They treat the split agreement as a precondition of the collaboration, not an afterthought. They sign it before the introduction. They structure the payment as a simultaneous event for both parties, not a primary collection followed by a secondary hope. They treat the other agent’s share as an obligation they owe, not a discretionary payment they make when convenient.
That discipline is not about being naïve or generous. It is about understanding that Dubai’s real estate market runs on a distributed network of agents who are always choosing who to call first. Form I ensures a professional relationship is established and gives each agent the right to compensation provided they contribute to the sale or rental of the property. The right to compensation means nothing without the paper that establishes it. Sign it early. Pay it cleanly. Do it on every deal regardless of size.
The agents who do that consistently do not need to chase the market. The market calls them.
