The Trakheesi Permit
How to Tell Whether a Dubai Property Listing Is Real
Every property advertisement published in Dubai is supposed to carry a permit number issued by the Dubai Land Department through its Trakheesi system, and a Madmoun QR code that lets anyone scan it and check. Most buyers and tenants never look. This is what the permit is, what the Land Department charges for it, what the QR code actually proves — and, just as importantly, what it does not.
A Permit Number Behind Every Legitimate Advertisement
Dubai regulates property advertising at the source. Before a licensed company can publish an advertisement for a property in the emirate — on a portal, a billboard, a brochure or a social feed — it is expected to obtain a real estate advertisement permit from the Dubai Land Department. The system that issues those permits is called Trakheesi, and the Land Department lists its own website (Trakheesi) as the service channel for the application.
The design intent is straightforward. An advertisement is the first thing a buyer or tenant sees, and it is also the cheapest thing in the world to fabricate. Requiring a permit puts a licensed, identifiable company and a documented mandate behind each advertisement, so that the listing is traceable to something other than a phone number.
The permit is not something an individual applies for. The Land Department’s service card records the eligibility for the real estate advertisement permit as “Company”, and specifies that a real estate broker must supply a copy of the marketing contract with the property owner. That second requirement is the substantive one. It means a compliant listing is not merely a company advertising a property; it is a company advertising a property it has actually been instructed to market by the person who owns it. Brokers in Dubai generally refer to that owner’s mandate by the RERA form name — Form A — but the requirement as the Land Department publishes it is the marketing contract itself.
The permit is issued quickly. The Land Department gives the service completion time as one working day, and lists credit card, e-Dirham and the Noqodi wallet as the payment methods. Notably, the published service card does not state a validity period for the permit, so the sensible assumption for a consumer is that a permit number proves an advertisement was authorised at some point, not that it is authorised today.
For off-plan property, the terms attached to the service reach further back into the transaction: advertisements for off-plan property in Dubai require the project to be registered with the Land Department’s Escrow Account Department. Advertising permission and escrow registration are connected by design, which is why the permit is worth more on an off-plan listing than on a ready one.
Trakheesi at a Glance — 2026
DLD Real Estate Ad Permit, Dubai
What the Land Department Charges for an Advertising Permit
These are the fees as published on the Dubai Land Department’s own service card for the real estate ad permit. Figures circulating on brokerage blogs vary considerably; where a secondary source conflicts with the service card, the service card is the one to trust.
| Permit or Activity | هزینه DLD | Added Levy | یادداشتها |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other permits (standard advertisement) | ۱۰۰۰ درهم | AED 20 knowledge and innovation fee | The ordinary case for a property listing |
| Project launch event permit | ۵٬۰۰۰ درهم امارات | AED 20 knowledge and innovation fee | Requires the site tenancy contract or a no-objection letter from the hotel |
| Exhibition — preliminary booking | AED 10,200 | — | Stated as non-refundable |
| Exhibition — participation, per exhibitor | AED 1,020 | — | Charged for each participating company |
| Service completion time | 1 working day | — | Applies to the permit application |
Source: Dubai Land Department, Real Estate Ad Permit service card, dubailand.gov.ae, retrieved 20 August 2026. Payment methods listed: credit card, e-Dirham, Noqodi wallet. Fees are those published by DLD at the date of retrieval and can change.
The QR Code, and Five Other Things to Check
In April 2023 the Land Department added a consumer-facing layer on top of the permit. Madmoun is a QR code, activated through the Trakheesi system, that anyone can scan to check an advertisement against the Land Department’s record.
DLD announced Madmoun on 18 April 2023, stating that from 24 April all real estate companies were expected to feature the QR code on print and audiovisual advertisements. Scanning it surfaces authorised information including the advertising company’s details and the property specifications, and DLD notes the link can be secured against data modification.
On a portal listing the permit number is usually displayed in the listing details rather than the headline. Its absence on an advertisement for a Dubai property is a reason to ask a question before you spend time on a viewing, not a reason to panic — but it should be asked.
The permit is issued to a company, and the Land Department’s eligibility for the service is recorded as “Company”. An individual introducing themselves as an agent is operating under a brokerage licence or not at all, so the brokerage is the entity whose credentials are worth confirming.
DLD requires a broker to provide a copy of the marketing contract with the owner. If the same unit appears from several brokerages at meaningfully different prices, the question to ask is which of them holds a current mandate from the owner — and what the owner’s actual asking price is.
The service terms require off-plan projects advertised in Dubai to be registered with the Escrow Account Department. Advertising compliance and escrow registration travel together, which is why our guide to Dubai escrow accounts is the natural next check on any off-plan listing.
A permit establishes that an advertisement was authorised, by a licensed company, with a documented mandate. It says nothing about whether the price is fair, the condition is as photographed, or the unit is still available. Those remain entirely your problem.
Sources: Dubai Land Department, “DLD provides ‘Madmoun’ service to verify validity of real estate ads via QR codes”, dubailand.gov.ae, published 18 April 2023; DLD Real Estate Ad Permit service card, dubailand.gov.ae. Both retrieved 20 August 2026.
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What the Land Department’s Own Numbers Show
In December 2023, eight months after Madmoun went live, DLD published a progress statement on the service. The figures are worth reading carefully, because they say something more interesting than “enforcement is working”.
Permits Issued Carrying a QR Code
DLD reported this total for advertising permits issued with a QR code since the service launched in April 2023. The scale is the point: at that volume, the QR code is not an exception applied to suspicious listings, it is the ordinary condition of advertising property in Dubai. An advertisement without one is the outlier.
Warnings Against 5 Violations
DLD recorded 1,980 warnings issued to non-compliant companies and just five recorded violations. The gap between those two numbers is the story. Most non-compliance was corrected at the warning stage rather than escalating, which suggests a regime aimed at bringing advertising into line rather than at collecting penalties.
The Stated Value of a Violation
DLD stated the value of each violation at AED 50,000. For a brokerage, that is a serious number set against a permit costing AED 1,000 — a deliberate ratio. Compliance is cheap and non-compliance is not, which is precisely why a missing permit number on a listing tells you something.
پرسشهای متداول
The questions buyers, tenants and owners ask most often about Trakheesi permits and Madmoun QR codes.
Verify Before You Commit
TruHauz is a RERA-licensed Dubai brokerage. Every property we market carries a Land Department advertising permit and a mandate from the owner, and we will happily check a listing you found somewhere else before you act on it.
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