In Dubai you cannot legally advertise a property without a permit. Every listing and every ad needs a Trakheesi permit number issued through the Dubai Land Department, tied to a valid listing agreement and a licensed brokerage. That permit number, usually shown as a QR code, has to appear on your portal listings and should be ready for your social and Google ads too. Advertising without it risks fines and removed listings, so the permit comes before the campaign.
The short version
- No permit, no ad. Dubai requires a Trakheesi advertising permit for property listings, issued through the Dubai Land Department.
- The permit is tied to a real listing agreement and a licensed broker with a valid ORN, not just to the property.
- The permit number or QR code belongs on your listings, and you should have it ready before you run paid ads.
- Advertising without a valid permit risks fines and takedowns. Compliance is cheaper than the penalty.
What is a Trakheesi permit and who needs one?
Trakheesi is the Dubai Land Department’s system for issuing real estate advertising permits. In plain terms, before a licensed brokerage advertises a specific property in Dubai, it applies through Trakheesi and receives a permit number for that advertisement. That number, often displayed as a QR code, is what makes the ad legal. It links the advertisement back to a real listing, a real owner agreement and a licensed broker.
Anyone advertising property in Dubai needs one: brokerages, agents and developers marketing their own units. The portals enforce it, which is why Bayut and Property Finder ask for a permit number before a listing goes live. The same expectation increasingly applies to the property ads you run on social and search.
A note on scope: we are a marketing agency, not a legal advisor, and the rules here change. Treat this as an orientation, and confirm the current requirements with the Dubai Land Department or your compliance team before you rely on it. What we can tell you with confidence is how it affects the way you should plan campaigns.
What do you need before you can get a permit?
A permit is the last step, not the first. It sits on top of a chain of things that have to be in order, and if any link is missing the permit does not issue.
| Requirement | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Licensed brokerage with a valid ORN | Only licensed offices can advertise property |
| A registered agent with a broker card | The person marketing must be permitted to |
| A signed listing agreement with the owner | The permit ties the ad to a real mandate |
| Accurate property and listing details | The ad must match the registered listing |
| The Trakheesi permit itself | The number and QR that make the ad legal |
How does this change how you run ads?
It puts compliance on the critical path of every launch. A campaign is only as fast as its slowest permit, so the practical move is to line up the paperwork before the creative, not after. We have watched brokerages build a beautiful Meta campaign and then sit on it for days because the permit was an afterthought. Build the permit step into your launch checklist and it stops being a bottleneck.
It also rewards honest advertising, which happens to be better marketing anyway. The permit ties your ad to a real, registered listing, so the bait-and-switch tactic of advertising a unit that does not exist to harvest cheap leads is both against the rules and, as we argue in Google Ads for real estate, a bad way to get buyers. Advertising the actual property at the actual price is what the regulation wants and what converts.
What happens if you advertise without a permit?
You expose the brokerage to penalties and your listings to removal. The Dubai Land Department can issue fines for advertising property without a valid permit, and the portals will take down listings that do not carry a permit number. Beyond the direct cost, an account that keeps breaching the rules risks its standing, which is a far more expensive problem than the permit fee it was trying to skip. Compliance is not the exciting part of a campaign, but it is the cheap part, and skipping it is where the real money gets lost.
A mistake worth avoiding: running property ads on social or search with no permit because “it is only Instagram, not a portal”. The requirement is about advertising property in Dubai, not about which platform you use, and enforcement has widened over time. Assuming social ads are outside the rules is how a brokerage collects fines it did not budget for. Have the permit ready for every channel you advertise on, and keep the permit number visible where the rules expect it.
If you want campaigns that are built to be compliant from the first day rather than paused for paperwork on launch day, that is how we prefer to work. Book a growth call, or see how we approach real estate accounts.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Dubai requires a Trakheesi advertising permit, issued through the Dubai Land Department, for property advertisements. The permit number, often shown as a QR code, links the ad to a registered listing and a licensed broker. Portals enforce it on listings, and you should have it ready for social and search ads too.
Trakheesi is the Dubai Land Department’s permit system used to issue real estate advertising permits, among other approvals. A licensed brokerage applies through it for a permit tied to a specific property advertisement, and receives a number that makes the ad legal. Confirm the current process with the Dubai Land Department, as the rules are updated periodically.
Generally a licensed brokerage with a valid ORN, a registered agent with a broker card, a signed listing agreement with the property owner, and accurate listing details that match the ad. The permit sits on top of that chain, so if any part is missing or out of date, the permit will not issue. Line these up before you build the campaign.
You should treat them as if they do. The requirement is about advertising property in Dubai rather than about a single platform, and enforcement has broadened. Running property ads on Instagram or Google without a permit because they are not portals is a risky assumption. Have the permit ready for every channel and keep the number visible where required.
You risk fines from the Dubai Land Department and removal of your listings by the portals, plus damage to the brokerage’s standing if breaches continue. The permit is inexpensive compared with the penalty, so compliance is simply the cheaper path. Build it into your launch process rather than treating it as an afterthought on the day you want to go live.