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Glossary

DLD valuation certificate

A DLD valuation certificate is the Real Estate Evaluation e-Certificate the Dubai Land Department issues through its Property Valuation service. It costs AED 4,000 for an apartment or villa, is issued instantly for residential units, and is one of two documents a Golden Visa file can use to prove value. Which one you need depends on which government page you read.

What it is, and what DLD calls it

The service is titled plainly "Property Valuation" on DLD's site. It "allows customers to apply for the valuation of various types of properties", and the list is wide: vacant land, residential units, villas, agricultural land, commercial and industrial buildings, hotel buildings with their land, and land set aside for a major project. The document it issues is the "Real Estate Evaluation e-Certificate".

The Arabic-derived name causes confusion because DLD itself spells it two ways. The certificate-checking service is titled "Verify Taqyimee Certificate" and its own body copy calls the document a "Taqeemi" certificate. The spelling "Taqyeem", the one most brokers use, does not appear on DLD's domain at all. If you see "Taqyeem" on a form, it's the same thing; if you see it on a government site, check you're not on the labour ministry's unrelated service of the same name.

What it costs, and how long it takes

The AED 20 is the knowledge and innovation dirhams, AED 10 each. Fees from DLD's Property Valuation page, read 26 September 2026.

Service time, in DLD's words: "Residential Units and Attached Villas: Instant / Other Types: 7 Working Days". Channels are the Real Estate Services Trustee centres, the Dubai REST app and the Dubai Now app. The core documents are the valuation request form, a letter from the owner with a passport or Emirates ID copy, the municipality or planning map (the map is "valid for one year"), and recent photographs of the property. Built property adds the built-up area, expense statements and the Ejari contract if let.

Who is allowed to value

Valuation in Dubai is a licensed profession under Executive Council Resolution No. (37) of 2015, issued 17 August 2015. Article 4 sets the wall: "No natural person may practise the Profession in the Emirate without being registered on the Roll. No private legal person may practise the Profession in the Emirate without being so authorised by the RERA. No Firm, bank, or financial institution in the Emirate may employ or hire a person who is not registered on the Roll as a Valuer." Article 15 fixes what a valuation is: "the market value of the Real Property calculated in accordance with the standards stipulated in the Real Property Valuation Book".

So there are two routes to a certificate: DLD's own service above, or a private valuation company on RERA's accredited list. DLD publishes that list as a free lookup, "Accredited real estate valuation companies", on its website and in Dubai REST, and a second free service, "Verify Taqyimee Certificate", confirms that a certificate you've been handed "is issued by the real estate evaluation companies licensed by the Dubai Land Department". Both are immediate. Use the second one before you rely on a valuation a seller or broker produced.

The Golden Visa question: which certificate

This is where buyers get lost, and the reason is that the two authorities describe the proof differently. GDRFA Dubai's Golden Residence service card says: "The property value must be certified by a property status statement certificate issued by the Dubai Land Department." Two lines later: "A property valuation certificate may be accepted through offices licensed by the Dubai Land Department." So GDRFA's primary document is the status statement, the DLD certificate that records what the register holds, and a valuation is the accepted alternative.

DLD's own Golden Visa page frames the threshold differently again: the service is for an investor "owning a property the purchase value of which is equal to or more than 2 million AED at the time of purchase". A valuation, by the 2015 resolution's definition, is market value today, which can sit above or below what you paid. GDRFA's wording admits a valuation; DLD's wording tests the purchase price. We keep both quotes, dated, rather than choose. Our revaluation page covers the case where a property bought under AED 2 million has since risen, and the AED 2 million rule page sets out DLD's other self-contradiction on "paid amount".

One more wrinkle. The Arabic copy of a partner service centre's Golden Visa page states that a valuation "is not accepted" for the ten-year route. That page is run by a private operator, not by DLD, so it doesn't outrank GDRFA's card, but it tells you what the counter may say. If your file depends on a valuation rather than purchase price, get GDRFA's position in writing before you pay for the certificate.

Land, and other things people search for

There is no separate "land valuation certificate". DLD's full service catalogue lists Property Valuation, the accredited-companies lookup, certificate verification, the Service Charge Index and the Rental Index as distinct services, and land is simply one of the property types the first of them covers, with its own fee tiers above. A "DLD certificate" on its own usually means the title deed or the property status statement, not this document.

Where this comes up

Revaluation for the Golden Visa · The AED 2 million rule · Title deed

Frequently Asked Questions

This entry is part of the Home Guide Dubai glossary - the vocabulary a Dubai buyer or Golden Visa applicant actually meets, defined in plain English and kept consistent with our verified guides.