How we make money

Oliva earns money in four ways. Most of our work is off-plan, where the developer pays our commission and you pay nothing to be represented. If a fee is not on this page, we do not charge it.

Revenue line	Who pays Oliva	What you pay
Off-plan purchase through Oliva	The developer. Their standard commission, usually 2% to 5% of the unit price	Nothing for our representation
Underwriting report	You	AED 1,500, once, at checkout
Golden visa facilitation	You, unless you buy through Oliva	AED 4,500 standalone. AED 0 with a qualifying purchase through Oliva
Partner referrals (inspection, furnishing, mortgage, conveyancing, leasing, management)	The partner. A referral fee agreed with each partner	The partner’s own price, paid to the partner

Off-plan: the developer pays us

Buy an off-plan unit through Oliva and the developer pays our commission. You pay us nothing for representation on that purchase.

The underwriting report: you pay us

AED 1,500 for a signed underwrite of one specific unit. It is the one thing you buy from us before you decide anything.

The guarantee covers delivery, not satisfaction. The fee is refunded in full and automatically if we have not delivered within 48 hours. It is not refunded because the verdict was “do not buy.”

Golden visa facilitation: you pay us, or nothing

AED 4,500 as a standalone service. Free with a qualifying purchase through Oliva. Government fees are charged by the government, not by us, and are the same whoever files your paperwork.

Partner referrals: the partner pays us

We refer you to snagging inspectors, furnishing companies, mortgage brokers, conveyancers, leasing agents and property managers. You pay the partner their normal price, and the partner pays Oliva a referral fee. We only refer to partners we have signed agreements with, and we name the partner before the introduction is made.

The exception: resale and secondary purchases

On a resale or secondary-market purchase there is no developer to pay us, so the buyer does. On those purchases only, our fee is 2% of the purchase price plus 5% VAT, payable at transfer, with an AED 5,000 retainer to start. This fee does not apply to off-plan purchases.

On a resale purchase, the AED 5,000 retainer and any AED 1,500 report fee you have already paid are subtracted from that fee at transfer. You never pay both. On off-plan there is no buyer fee, so there is nothing to credit against: the report costs AED 1,500 and that is the whole of it.

Resale example: an AED 1,250,000 apartment

Buyer fee on resale: 2% of the purchase price: AED 25,000
VAT: 5% of the fee: AED 1,250
Total fee including VAT: AED 26,250
Less: report fee already paid: − AED 1,500
Less: retainer already paid: − AED 5,000
Balance due at transfer: AED 19,750

The same purchase off-plan costs you nothing in representation fees, because the developer pays us instead.

Where our interests and yours diverge

We earn more when you buy than when you walk away, and on off-plan that money comes from the developer whose project we are advising you on. That is a real conflict of interest and we do not pretend otherwise. What we do instead is publish who pays us on every line above, before you engage us.

The underwriting report is the counterweight. You pay for it, and its verdict does not change with who pays us. It returns “do not buy” verdicts on projects whose developers pay us commission, and we will show you the numbers behind that verdict.

Oliva DB Properties CO. L.L.C. S.O.C. · RERA BRN 1573501 · DLD Broker Card 92025. Your broker is Javier Sanz. Questions about any fee: contact us or see the full service menu.