---
title: "The dispute that starts the day the client delays payment"
description: "Why commission disputes in Dubai almost never start at the trustee office — and how agents can stop them before they begin."
category: "disputes-settlements"
readingTime: 11
---
## The phone call nobody wants to make

Picture the scene. Form F is signed, the NOC is in hand, and transfer day has come and gone. The title deed is sitting in the buyer's name. The deal is done — at least it looks that way from the outside.

But your commission cheque is not in your hand. The client promised to settle within a few days. Then a week passes. Then two. Then the other agency's principal starts calling to ask where their share is. And somewhere in that gap — between the moment the transfer completed and the moment anyone actually gets paid — the dispute has already started. Most agents don't realise it yet, but it started the day the client delayed.

This is not a rare situation in Dubai. It is a structural feature of how deals get done here, and it costs agents real money every year. Not because the market is dishonest, but because the sequence of events that produces a commission payment was never designed to be airtight. It was designed to complete a property transaction. The agent's fee is, in practice, an afterthought in that sequence — unless the agent made it the first thought.

## How commission actually flows in a Dubai secondary sale

Start with the basics, because the mechanics matter.

All commissions are subject to 5% VAT under UAE law. That is straightforward. What is less straightforward is when the money moves and from whom.

In the secondary market, the commission which can be charged on a property sale is typically 2%; the market norm in Dubai is that the buyer pays the entire real estate commission. But that norm has holes. In a standard residential rental, the tenant usually pays the broker who introduces the unit. In a secondary sale, the buyer commonly pays the buyer-side brokerage commission. A seller may also have a separate agreement with their listing broker. When two agencies are working the same deal — a listing agency on the seller's side, a buying agency bringing the buyer — both sides expect to be paid, and neither has automatic sight of what the other has been promised.

Form A (listing agreement), Form B (buyer representation agreement), Form F (memorandum of understanding), and Form I (final commission agreement) are the standard RERA forms that govern the agency relationship and commission obligations in a transaction. Form I is the one most agents underuse. When two agents work together on one deal — one representing the buyer, the other the seller — Dubai requires them to use an Agent-to-Agent Agreement called Form I. This form ensures both agents get their fair share of the commission.

The practical problem is that Form I is often not signed until after the deal is emotionally done — sometimes not until someone chases it. And by then, the client has already paid (or not paid), and the question of who gets what has become a negotiation conducted under pressure rather than a documented fact.

## The co-broking gap: where splits become guesses

In Dubai's highly competitive real estate market, Agent-to-Agent collaboration is not only common — it is essential. Whether working with another broker to close a sale or share a rental lead, knowing how to properly negotiate your commission split is key to building trust, protecting earnings, and creating long-term relationships.

But here is the gap. When two brokers collaborate on a deal, the commission structure must be agreed upon in advance. Without a clear Agent-to-Agent agreement, many agents end up in costly disputes or losing their commission entirely.

In practice, what happens is this: one agency holds the listing via a signed Form A with the seller. Another agency brings the buyer. The two agents speak by WhatsApp or over the phone and agree — loosely — on a split. Often it is the market standard. In Dubai, there is no official law dictating the exact split for Agent-to-Agent commissions, but the commonly accepted standard for sale transactions is a 50/50 split of the total commission. But "commonly accepted" is not the same as documented, and it is certainly not the same as paid.

The split agreement that lives in a WhatsApp message or a verbal conversation is only as solid as the goodwill between the two agencies at the moment the client pays. When payment delays, that goodwill degrades fast. Each day the commission cheque does not appear, both sides start asking questions they should have answered before the deal closed: Did we agree 50/50 or was it 60/40? Does that include VAT or exclude it? Who is responsible for collecting from the client? Who pays whom — does the collecting agency pay the co-broker, or does each agency invoice the client directly?

None of these questions are hard to answer before signature. All of them become contentious when money is overdue.

## The Form F moment and what it does — and does not — protect

Form F is the unified real estate contract between the seller and buyer issued by the Dubai Land Department, and it serves as the primary sale and purchase agreement in the secondary market — often called the "MOU" in day-to-day practice — and sits at the centre of the transaction framework designed by DLD to standardise documentation and reduce disputes.

Form F is signed after the initial agreement is reached but before the ownership transfer takes place at the DLD trustee office. Agent commission — typically 2% of the sale price — becomes legally due upon Form F signing.

That sentence carries more weight than most agents give it. Commission becomes legally due at Form F signature — not at transfer, not when the NOC lands, not when the title deed changes hands. But "legally due" and "practically paid" are two very different states of the world, and the gap between them is where every dispute begins.

The Memorandum of Understanding (Form F) is signed, outlining payment, obligations, and broker commission. The phrase "outlining broker commission" is important: Form F creates a record that commission is owed, but it does not automatically disburse anything. The client still has to pay. The timing of that payment — whether it happens at signing, at NOC, at transfer, or after — is often not nailed down tightly enough.

Broker commission — typically 2% of the purchase price — is payable at transfer. Transfer day, in theory, is when cheques are settled. On transfer day, the trustee office clerk collects all cheques from both buyer and seller. The clerk verifies each cheque amount against the transaction documents. But commission cheques are not always presented to the trustee office. They are often handed separately to the brokerage, or collected later, or — increasingly common in deals with overseas buyers or payment plan nuances — promised for a date that slips.

And the moment a client says "I'll sort the commission cheque by end of week," the agent has lost control of the timeline.

## Rentals: the post-dated cheque problem in a different wrapper

The secondary sales process at least has a defined transfer event that concentrates everyone's attention. Rental deals are more diffuse, and the commission timing is less visible.

The most common payment method for rent in Dubai is through post-dated cheques, where tenants provide cheques dated according to the agreed payment schedule in the tenancy contract. Tenants hand the cheques to the landlord or agent at signing, alongside the agency commission — typically 5% of annual rent — and any admin fees. In theory, commission comes in at the start, before the keys change hands.

In practice, the commission cheque is often handed over at the same time as the rent cheques — but those rent cheques may be post-dated. The agent's commission cheque may be dated the same day as signing, but the client is not always liquid on that day. If the tenant is waiting on a bank transfer from overseas, or if an employer is reimbursing the rental deposit and needs a few days, the commission can sit in a drawer waiting to be cleared. Registering the tenancy contract through Ejari is mandatory. Ejari ensures the rental agreement is legally recognized and is required for services such as utility activation and resolving rental disputes. But Ejari registration does not release the commission cheque — that depends entirely on the client honouring what was agreed.

When two agencies are involved in a rental — a landlord's agency and a tenant's agency — the split question resurfaces. If two agents cooperate, the commission split should be agreed between them and should not become a surprise extra cost for the customer. But if the collecting agency receives a single commission cheque from the tenant and is supposed to pass the co-broker's share across, there is now a step — a transfer between agencies — that can delay, shrink, or disappear entirely if the relationship between the two agencies sours.

## Off-plan: a cleaner mechanism, but its own timing trap

Off-plan deals have a different commission structure. In Dubai's off-plan property market, the standard brokerage commission paid by buyers is 0%. The developer compensates the agent directly, allowing buyers to invest without incurring agency fees. This removes one layer of the collection problem — the agent is not chasing the buyer but the developer. However, developers pay on their own schedule, which is often tied to project registration milestones or internal processing cycles, not to the moment the agent expects the money.

For off-plan properties, the commission may vary depending on the project, developer, and brokerage agreement. Typically, the range is between 2% to 8%. That variation in rate also means that co-broking splits in off-plan deals are less standardised. Two agencies bringing buyers to the same project, under the same developer commission structure, may have completely different informal understandings of what share each is owed. If the developer pays the registered brokerage and that brokerage then has to distribute to a co-broker, there is a second collection event that is entirely unregulated by the DLD mechanism — it is a private arrangement between agencies.

What protects off-plan buyers' installment payments is entirely different and worth keeping distinct: the escrow account is the central compliance mechanism for off-plan development in Dubai. Every dirham collected from buyers must pass through the escrow account, and every withdrawal must be justified by verified construction progress. This legal escrow structure exists to protect buyers, not to ensure agents get paid on time. The agent's commission sits outside the escrow system entirely — it is a brokerage fee, not a buyer installment. Do not conflate the two.

## Why delays become disputes: the exact mechanism

Here is the chain of events that turns a late payment into a formal dispute. Each step is ordinary; the damage accumulates across all of them together.

**Step one: The commission is not collected at the transaction event.** The client says they will pay shortly. The agent, not wanting to sour the relationship at the last moment, does not push. The deal closes without the commission cheque in hand.

**Step two: The split has not been signed.** The co-broker's share was agreed verbally or in a message. There is no Form I, or the Form I was never circulated for signature by both agencies. Each agency has a different memory of what was agreed.

**Step three: The client delays.** It might be a legitimate cash-flow issue — a mortgage drawdown that ran late, a cheque from overseas that has not cleared. It might be something more deliberate — a buyer who, now that they have the title deed, feels the leverage has shifted. Verbal agreements are extremely difficult to enforce in Dubai. Without a signed document fixing the amount and the timing, the agent is in a weaker position than the situation appears from the outside.

**Step four: The agencies turn on each other.** The listing agency tells the buying agency it cannot pay the co-broker's share until it receives the gross commission from the client. The buying agency says that is not their problem — the split was agreed and they want payment. Now there are two disputes running simultaneously: agent against client, and agency against agency.

**Step five: Formal channels open.** If a commission dispute arises, RERA's relevant dispute resolution channels handle the case. Having a written agreement is essential to win any dispute. The agent who does not have that written agreement is now trying to prove an entitlement with WhatsApp screenshots and a memory of what was said on a call three months ago. A well-constructed complaint needs to be evidence-based: contract, receipts, timeline, and a clear request. Evidence is the one thing nobody gathered properly at the start.

## What the documentation trail actually needs to contain

Before the transaction closes — ideally before the client signs Form F — every party should be able to produce the following without scrambling:

- **Form A**, listing the commission rate the seller owes the listing agency (or confirming it is buyer-paid only)
- **Form B**, signed by the buyer, confirming what they owe their agency and at what rate
- **Form I** (the Agent-to-Agent agreement), signed by both agencies, specifying the split in dirhams or as a clear percentage of the gross commission, and stating when payment from the collecting agency to the co-broker is due
- A commission invoice — or at minimum a written acknowledgment — from the client, dated and fixing the amount, confirming they will pay at transfer or a specific named date
- Clarity on whether VAT is included in the quoted rate or added on top, because all commissions are subject to 5% VAT under UAE law, and a misunderstanding on this point generates its own dispute on settlement day

Every contract must clearly state the rate and payment terms upfront. If several agents share work on one property, the total commission is split between them according to agreed roles from the start. Clear terms prevent disputes. That principle is not aspirational — it is the practical minimum.

RERA expects all commission arrangements to be documented in Form A or Form B. 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.

The paper trail is only useful if it exists. Creating it under pressure, after the client has the keys and the title deed, is orders of magnitude harder than creating it before.

## The timing of payment is the point of maximum leverage

There is a moment in every deal when all parties are maximally motivated to agree. For a secondary sale, that moment is the period between offer acceptance and Form F signature. The buyer wants the unit. The seller wants to close. Both agents want commission. Everyone is aligned.

That is the moment to fix every number in writing: the gross commission from each side, the split between agencies if there is co-broking, the VAT treatment, and — critically — the payment date. Not "at transfer." A specific date, a specific mechanism. A commission cheque to be presented at the trustee office alongside the other transfer-day cheques is cleaner than a promise to bank it separately. On transfer day, the trustee office clerk collects all cheques from both buyer and seller. The clerk verifies each cheque amount against the transaction documents. Getting the commission cheques into that pile, verified against the Form F and the Form I, means the payment event is simultaneous with the deal event. There is no gap. There is no "I'll send it by the weekend."

For rentals, the equivalent moment is the offer letter or lease heads of terms — before Ejari is even raised. When the tenant is still competing for the unit, they are motivated to confirm terms in writing. Once they have signed the tenancy contract and the Ejari is registered, the agent's leverage is gone. Tenants hand the cheques to the landlord or agent at signing, alongside the agency commission — the word "at" is doing a lot of work. If the commission cheque is not physically collected at the same moment the tenancy cheques are handed over, the "at" becomes "shortly after," which becomes "next week," which becomes a problem.

## The co-broker payment: the internal dispute that never reaches RERA

Most of the disputes that agents describe in the market are not actually agent-versus-client disputes. They are agency-versus-agency disputes: the collecting agency has received the commission but has not passed the co-broker's share across.

This happens for several reasons. Sometimes it is deliberate — an agency that received 100% of the commission is not in a hurry to send 50% elsewhere. Sometimes it is a cash-flow problem — the collecting agency has its own overheads and treats incoming commission as working capital before it is distributed. Sometimes it is a genuine disagreement about what was agreed. And sometimes it is just disorganisation — the right person to authorise the payment is unavailable, the co-broker's banking details were never properly collected, and weeks pass.

An A2A contract is a formal agreement between two licensed real estate brokers or agencies in Dubai, outlining the terms of collaboration on a shared listing or deal. It is a key component in co-broking, helping define each party's responsibilities and commission splits, and avoiding future disputes. In short, it is a written commitment that protects both brokers and ensures transparency during a real estate transaction.

Without that contract, the co-broker is in an awkward position. They cannot go to RERA with a dispute against another licensed agency if there is no written agreement between them. They cannot enforce a verbal split. Their only option is to negotiate, escalate through agency management, or accept a lesser amount and remember not to co-broke with that agency again. None of those options recover the money quickly or cleanly.

The Form I, signed before the transaction closes, is the document that makes this recoverable. But the Form I is only as useful as the payment mechanics it describes. If the Form I says "the co-broker will receive their share within 7 days of commission collection" and the collecting agency has a clear record of when it received the client's payment, there is an enforceable timeline. If the Form I just says "commission to be split 50/50" without specifying the trigger date and payment method, it is better than nothing but still leaves a gap.

## What good looks like: the split agreed, signed, and paid at once

Every experienced agent in Dubai can describe a deal that went smoothly: the commission was agreed in writing before Form F, the Form I was signed by both agencies, the client handed over the commission cheque on the same day as the transfer, and the co-broker received their share within days. No chasing, no negotiation, no bad feeling. The deal is done and both agencies are paid.

That outcome is not luck. It is the product of sequencing decisions made early in the transaction, when all parties are still aligned on wanting the deal to close.

The principle is simple: the split should be agreed and signed before the client pays, and every party should be paid at the same moment. Not the listing agency first, then the co-broker. Not the client's payment to the agency, then a separate transfer weeks later. All at once, simultaneously, with no intervening step where one party holds the money and the other waits.

When payment and agreement happen in the same moment — when the commission cheque and the co-broker's confirmation of receipt occur at the transaction event itself — there is no gap for a dispute to live in. The disagreement that would have emerged over weeks of non-payment never gets the chance to take root, because the conditions that create it — uncertainty about amounts, ambiguity about timing, one party holding another's money — were eliminated before the client signed anything.

RERA, under the Dubai Land Department, regulates broker licensing and requires commission details to be clearly disclosed in contracts, ensuring transparency. Every contract must clearly state the rate and payment terms upfront.

The regulation already points in this direction. The documentation framework already exists. Form A, Form B, Form F, Form I — these are not bureaucratic obstacles. They are the scaffolding that, when used properly and in the right sequence, mean an agent never has to make the phone call that starts the dispute.

The agent who agrees the split in writing before the deal closes, fixes the payment date as a specific event rather than a vague promise, and ensures every party is paid simultaneously, is the agent who does not appear in this article's cautionary examples. That is the outcome worth working toward — not because it is idealistic, but because it is the only version of a deal where the agent's money is as secure as the client's title deed.