How we are paid

Oliva earns money in four ways. All four are listed here, with the numbers. If a fee is not on this page, we do not charge it.

Service	What you pay	Who pays Oliva	Credits
Underwriting report	AED 1,500, once, at checkout	You	100% credited against our buyer fee when you complete a purchase through Oliva
Buyer-side representation (ready / secondary market)	2% of the purchase price + 5% VAT at transfer. AED 5,000 retainer to start, credited in full	You	The retainer and any report fee you already paid are subtracted from the fee at transfer. You never pay both
Off-plan purchase through Oliva	AED 0	The developer (seller-paid commission)	Nothing to credit — you pay us nothing on off-plan
Partner referrals (snagging, conveyancing, mortgage, FX, property management)	The partner’s own list price, directly to the partner	The partner (referral fee)	Not applicable

Worked example: an AED 1,250,000 one-bedroom apartment

The median Dubai one-bed trades at about AED 1.25M, so that is the honest example — not a AED 10M penthouse.

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

Your total cost is AED 26,250 either way. The report and the retainer are instalments of it, not additions to it. If you buy the report and decide not to buy at all, the report is the only money you have spent.

Off-plan: the developer pays us

When you buy an off-plan unit through Oliva, the developer pays our commission and you pay us nothing on the transaction. This is standard in the Dubai market and it is a conflict of interest: a developer-paid broker earns more when you buy. We disclose it because you should price our advice accordingly. The underwriting report is the counterweight — it is paid for by you, priced separately, and its verdict does not change based on who pays us. It will say “do not buy” when the numbers say so.

Referrals: the partner pays us

When we refer you to a snagging inspector, conveyancer, mortgage broker, FX provider or property manager, 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 will tell you which partner we are sending you to before any introduction is made.

Two more things

The report guarantee is a delivery guarantee, not a satisfaction guarantee: it is automatically refunded in full if not delivered within 48 hours. It is not refunded because the verdict was “do not buy.”
The golden-visa service is free with a qualifying purchase through Oliva and AED 4,500 standalone. Government fees are charged by the government, not by us, and are the same whoever files your paperwork.

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.