Power of Attorney in the UAE: How It Works

A power of attorney in the UAE is a notarised instrument that lets one person act for another, and it will not be accepted by a court, a registry or a bank unless it has been through a notary. For anything that disposes of an asset, selling property, granting a mortgage, settling a claim, the authority has to be specific rather than general.

Agency sits in the civil code. The UAE recodified that code in Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025, which replaced Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 and came into force on 1 June 2026. The underlying principles of agency are long established, but the recodification is recent and practice around some provisions is still settling, so where a matter is significant it is worth checking the current text rather than relying on older commentary.

What does a power of attorney do in the UAE?

It transfers authority, not liability. The attorney acts in the principal’s name and within the four corners of the document. Anything outside that scope is not binding on the principal unless the principal ratifies it.

UAE institutions read powers of attorney narrowly. A registry clerk, a bank compliance officer or a court will look for the specific act in the text and will decline if it is not there in terms. This is the opposite of the drafting instinct in some common law systems, where a broad grant is treated as safer. Here, breadth without specificity is usually the reason a document is rejected.

What is the difference between a general and a special power of attorney?

A general power of attorney authorises management and routine administration: paying bills, dealing with correspondence, renewing licences, handling day-to-day dealings with authorities. A special power of attorney authorises one defined transaction or one defined class of act, described precisely, often by reference to a named property, account or case.

The distinction matters because UAE civil law has long required a specific mandate for acts of disposal. Selling or mortgaging property, gifting, settling or waiving a claim, and similar acts that diminish the principal’s estate are not covered by a general authority to manage affairs. The Dubai Land Department, banks and courts apply that reading strictly.

Practical consequences follow:

• Name the asset. A property power of attorney should identify the unit, plot or title deed number.
• Name the act. Sell, mortgage, lease, receive proceeds and sign the transfer are separate powers, and a document that says sell may not carry the power to receive the price.
• Name the attorney properly, with passport and Emirates ID details, and say whether two attorneys act jointly or severally.
• Consider limits: a minimum price, a validity period, or a requirement to report back.

How is a UAE power of attorney notarised?

A power of attorney signed in the UAE is executed before a notary public. In Dubai that can be a notary in the courts, a licensed private notary, or one of the remote notarisation services operated by Dubai Courts. Abu Dhabi operates through the Judicial Department, and other emirates through their own courts. The service is increasingly available by video, with identity verified electronically.

The principal attends in person or by the approved remote channel with original identification. For an individual that means passport and, for residents, Emirates ID. For a company the notary will want the trade licence, the memorandum of association, the passport and identification of the authorised signatory, and a board or shareholder resolution authorising the grant, because the signatory’s own authority has to be established before the company can delegate it onwards.

The notary records the deed and issues it in the official format. Fees are set by the relevant judicial authority and should be checked against the current schedule, as they differ between emirates and by document type.

How do you use a power of attorney signed abroad?

This is where most delay occurs. The UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille on its own is not sufficient for use in the UAE. Documents need the full consular legalisation chain.

The usual sequence is:

• Sign the power of attorney before a notary public in the country where you are.
• Have it authenticated by the competent authority in that country, which in many jurisdictions is the foreign ministry or its designated body.
• Have it legalised by the UAE embassy or consulate in that country.
• On arrival in the UAE, have it attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Have it translated into Arabic by a translator licensed by the UAE Ministry of Justice, and where required have the translation stamped.

Each step must follow the one before it in order. A document legalised out of sequence will be sent back. Build in time: the chain regularly takes several weeks, and longer where the originating country has its own multi-stage process.

Does a power of attorney need to be in Arabic?

Arabic is the language of the courts and the official registries, so in practice yes. A UAE-notarised power of attorney is typically issued bilingually, with the Arabic controlling. A foreign document needs a legal translation by a Ministry of Justice licensed translator, and translations by anyone else are routinely rejected.

Translation is not a clerical step. The Arabic wording is what a registry or judge will read, so an ambiguity introduced in translation becomes a defect in the authority. Where the transaction is significant, have the Arabic reviewed by someone who will have to rely on it, not only by the translator who produced it.

When does a power of attorney end, and how do you revoke it?

There is no single statutory expiry date that applies to every power of attorney. A deed may state its own validity period, and many do. Separately, institutions apply their own practice: the Dubai Land Department, for example, expects property powers of attorney to be current and will not act on an old deed, so check the accepted age before relying on one for a transfer.

A power of attorney also ends by operation of law in several ways. It ends when the specific task is completed. It ends on the death of the principal or the attorney, and on loss of legal capacity. It ends where the subject matter ceases to exist, for example where the property has been sold.

Revocation is a positive act. Execute a revocation before a notary, then notify the attorney and, importantly, notify any third party who may rely on the original: the Land Department, the bank, the court registry, the counterparty. Revocation is not effective against someone who deals with the attorney in good faith without notice of it, which is why the notification step matters more than the paperwork.

What are they used for, and where do people get caught out?

The common uses are property transactions where the owner is overseas, court and enforcement representation, company management and signature authority, immigration and visa formalities, vehicle sale and registration, banking, and family matters including inheritance formalities.

The recurring problems:

• Using a general power of attorney for a sale or mortgage, and having it refused at the registry counter.
• Assuming an apostille is enough for a document signed abroad.
• Missing corporate authority, where the signatory’s own power to grant was never evidenced.
• A translation that narrows or widens the Arabic scope by accident.
• Granting a power of attorney to a broker or agent that is broader than the engagement, and never revoking it when the relationship ends.
• Forgetting that only UAE-licensed advocates may appear in court, so a power of attorney to a non-lawyer does not create a right of audience.

Before signing, read the Arabic, check the scope covers each act that has to be performed, put a validity period on it, and diarise the revocation.

This article is general information about UAE law as at September 2026 and is not legal advice. The position varies by emirate and by free zone, and it changes often. Take advice on your own facts before acting.

Legal Desire has published legal industry news and analysis since 2012. This article is part of our UAE desk, which tracks the laws, courts and regulators of the Emirates for lawyers and in-house teams.