Form F in Dubai
The RERA Contract That Actually Binds a Property Sale
Every Dubai resale runs through a short set of standard RERA contracts, and only one of them is the sale itself. Form F is that one. Here is what Contracts A, B and F each do, where they are signed, what happens when somebody walks away, and what to check before you put your name on one — taken from the Dubai Land Department’s own brokerage guide.
What Form F Is, in the Regulator’s Own Words
Ask three agents what Form F is and you will get three answers, most of them roughly right and none of them sourced. The Dubai Land Department has actually published the definition. In its Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide, Second Edition 2024, RERA lists three smart marketing and sales contracts and defines each in a single line. Contract F is an agreement to sell a property between the seller and the buyer.
That definition is worth reading twice, because of what it leaves out. Form F is not an agreement between you and your agent. The broker prepares it, facilitates it and is named on it, but the contract runs between seller and buyer. The agent relationships are handled by the other two contracts in the set: Contract A, an agreement to market a property between the seller and the real estate brokerage, and Contract B, an agreement of desire to purchase a property between the buyer and the real estate broker.
The same guide sets out why these are called smart contracts. RERA states that it has provided them in line with the Dubai government’s vision of the smart transformation of all provided services, and that real estate brokers must commit to using smart contracts for real estate marketing and sales. Elsewhere in the guide it is put more bluntly still: all brokers are mandated to use electronic contracts to record real estate sales transactions. The Dubai REST app is named as the place those smart sales and marketing contracts live, alongside broker data, the green list and off-plan project details.
So the practical sequence in an ordinary Dubai resale is: the seller signs a Contract A with a brokerage so the property can lawfully be marketed; a buyer engages a broker under a Contract B; the two sides agree a price; and the deal is recorded on a Contract F. The transfer is then executed somewhere else entirely — the guide states that all real estate sales are handled through real estate registration trustee offices, which represent the Dubai Land Department in the sales registration process.
Form F at a Glance
Straight from the DLD brokerage guide
Which RERA Form Does What
Three contracts are defined by name in the Dubai Land Department’s brokerage guide. Two further forms are widely used in the market but are not named in that guide — the source column below makes the distinction explicit.
| Form | What It Is | Signed Between | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract A | An agreement to market a property. Without it the property cannot lawfully be advertised. | Seller and the real estate brokerage | DLD guide |
| Contract B | An agreement of desire to purchase a property, engaging a broker on the buying side. | Buyer and the real estate broker | DLD guide |
| Contract F | The agreement to sell the property — the sale contract itself, and the document this page is about. | Seller and buyer | DLD guide |
| Form I | An agreement between brokers collaborating on the same transaction, where each side has its own agent. | Two or more brokers | Market practice |
| Form U | A notice cancelling an existing agency agreement, stating the reason and the termination date. | Client and their broker | Market practice |
| Amicable Settlement (F) | Not a sale form but a dispute service: a route to resolve a breach of a Contract F before litigation. | The parties to a Contract F, via RERA | DLD guide |
Contract A, Contract B, Contract F and the Amicable Settlement Contract (F) are defined in the Dubai Land Department and RERA Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide, Second Edition 2024 (ref. DLD/RERA/RL/LP/Manual/No.6/Vr.2, issue date November 2024), retrieved 26 August 2026. Form I and Form U are not named in that guide; the descriptions given here follow Bayut’s published guide to RERA forms in Dubai, retrieved 26 August 2026, and are marked as market practice rather than as regulator-defined contracts. No deposit percentage, commission rate or penalty figure is stated here because none is set out in the DLD guide.
Six Checks Before You Sign a Form F
Each of these is cheap to do before signature and expensive to discover afterwards, once the Amicable Settlement process is the only route left.
Have a Form F in front of you?
Send it to TruHauz before you sign. We will check the permit, the title position and the completion terms, and tell you plainly what is missing.
What Happens If Somebody Walks Away
This is the part of the process most buyers never read about until they need it, and it is set out plainly in the Dubai Land Department’s brokerage guide.
Apply through Trakheesi
RERA provides an Amicable Settlement Contract (F) service to assist in resolving disputes relating to a Contract F. The guide states that where the contracting parties wish to reach an agreement, the application is submitted through the Trakheesi system.
The department convenes a meeting
Once the application is submitted, the guide states that the concerned department will hold a meeting to discuss the breach and try to reach an amicable settlement between the parties. This is a mediation step, not a judgment.
Otherwise, the courts
The guide is explicit about what follows failure: in the event that an amicable solution is not reached between the parties, the parties must resort to the judicial authorities to settle the dispute. There is no third administrative option.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions buyers and sellers ask most often about Form F and the RERA contract set.
Read It Before You Sign It
TruHauz checks the permit, the title position, the authority to sell and the completion terms on every transaction we handle — before a Form F is signed, not after. Tell us what you are buying.
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