Legal drafting
Contract drafting and notarization in Dubai, including supplementary agreements
If you need to notarize contracts in Dubai, the notary will check who is signing and read the agreement out to them. Whether the agreement protects you is decided earlier, when it is written. We draft new contracts, vet contracts you have been given, and prepare supplementary agreements and addenda, in English and Arabic, then book the signing before the notary.
People usually come to us with one of three things: a deal agreed on WhatsApp that now needs to be put in writing, a contract from the other side that they are not sure about, or an existing contract that needs changing. Each needs a different kind of drafting. This page covers all three, and what the notary charges for the signing.
Which contracts people notarise in Dubai
Most contracts are valid without a notary. People notarise them because someone else will rely on the document: a bank, a buyer, a free zone, a court years later, or a party who does not trust a signature alone. The contracts we prepare for notarisation most often are:
- Business agreements. Partnership, cooperation, service and agency agreements between individuals or small companies, and settlement agreements that close a dispute. Share transfer agreement notarization goes more smoothly when the agreement is drafted together with the MOA addendum that records the new share split, so the two documents say the same thing.
- Personal agreements. Loans between family members or friends, agreements on the sale of a car or other goods, and agreements between spouses on shared property.
- Real estate related agreements. Agreements between co-owners, private arrangements between a buyer and seller alongside the official property forms, and addenda to leases.
- Supplementary agreements and addenda to any of the above.
For a lease in Dubai, the official step is registration of the tenancy contract rather than notarisation. A notarized lease agreement is sometimes asked for when the lease will be used abroad, for example as proof of address. We prepare lease agreement notarization and lease addenda in English and Arabic. For a rental dispute, we also prepare the RDC support documents a landlord or tenant files with the Rental Dispute Center in Dubai, such as a translated lease, a lease addendum or a notice, and we tell you when you need an advocate.
The wording
What a contract we draft contains
A notary reads the contract out; a court later reads every word. So we write for the second reader.
Checklist
Contract drafting
1
Parties Full names as in the passport or trade licence, ID or licence numbers, addresses, and who signs for a company and on what authority.
2
Background Two or three lines on why the parties are contracting. This helps anyone reading the contract later understand its purpose.
3
Definitions Key terms defined once and used the same way throughout, in both languages.
4
Obligations Who does what, by when, to what standard.
5
Price and payment Amount in figures and words, currency, payment dates, and what happens if a payment is late.
6
Conditions What must happen before an obligation starts, such as a permit or a transfer.
7
Term and termination How long the contract lasts, how either side can end it, and what survives the end.
8
Governing law and disputes Which law applies and which courts decide. Choosing between onshore Dubai courts and the DIFC Courts is a real choice with consequences, and it should be deliberate.
9
Language Which version prevails if the English and Arabic differ.
10
Notices Where formal notices must be sent.
11
Signatures Name, capacity and ID of each signatory, and a list of annexes.
Contract vetting and drafting: reviewing the other side's contract
If someone else wrote the contract, we vet it before you sign. We read it against what you told us the deal is, and mark:
- obligations that fall only on you;
- payment terms with no consequence for the other side paying late;
- termination rights that only the other side has;
- a governing law or court you did not expect, or a foreign one;
- an English text and an Arabic text that do not match;
- blanks, missing annexes, or references to documents you have not seen.
You receive a marked copy and a short note in plain English. What you then negotiate is up to you. If the other side will not change anything and the risk is serious, a lawyer who handles disputes is the right person to advise on whether to sign at all.
Step by step
Supplementary agreement drafting and notarization
A supplementary agreement, sometimes called an addendum, changes a contract that already exists. It is short, and it is where mistakes cost the most, because it has to fit into a document someone else may have written.
A supplementary agreement we draft:
01
identifies the original contract by title, date and parties, and says it supplements that contract;
02
lists each change by clause number, with the old wording replaced by the new wording, not by a general description;
03
states the effective date of the changes;
04
confirms that everything else stays the same;
05
is signed by the same parties, or by people with authority to bind them, in the same capacity as the original.
If the original contract was notarised, the supplementary agreement is usually notarised too, so both carry the same weight. For company documents that change an MOA, see our board resolution and MOA drafting service.
Business contract notarization in Dubai: the signing
For commercial contract notarization in Dubai, every signatory brings the original of their ID on the day. For a company, the signatory also brings the trade licence and the document that authorises them to sign, such as a board resolution or a power of attorney. The notary verifies each signatory's identity, checks capacity and consent, reads the contract out, and applies the seal. If a signatory does not understand Arabic, an interpreter from the Ministry's register interprets at the signing.
Prices
What it costs to notarize contracts in Dubai
Under the federal schedule in Cabinet Resolution No. 19 of 2024, the notary fee follows the value of the instrument:
| Contract value | Federal notary fee |
|---|---|
| Unspecified value | AED 200 per party (signature authentication) |
| Under AED 50,000 | AED 200 per party |
| AED 50,000 to 100,000 | AED 300 per signature |
| Above AED 100,000 | 0.5 percent of the value, maximum AED 15,000 for execution or AED 30,000 for notarisation |
A private notary may add up to 30 percent of the prescribed fee as a professional fee under the same resolution. Dubai private notaries charge under a separate Dubai Courts decision: AED 100 per party for registration and AED 100 per signature, according to the Dubai Media Office.
All service prices are starting prices and are negotiable. Government fees are paid on top, at cost, exactly as the authority charges them. We confirm your final price before you pay.
Prices
Our prices
| Service | Our service price |
|---|---|
| Commercial documents (general notarisation) | From AED 500 |
| Drafting or typing (add-on) | From AED 200 |
| Translation coordination (add-on) | From AED 350 |
All service prices are starting prices and are negotiable. Government fees are paid on top, at cost, exactly as the authority charges them. We confirm your final price before you pay.
More on the legal document fees page.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
If your question is not here, ask it on WhatsApp. Tell us what the document is for and who will sign it.
Does a contract have to be notarised to be valid in Dubai?
Most private contracts are valid when signed by the parties. Notarisation adds an official check of who signed, which some banks, authorities and foreign offices ask for.
Can you notarize business agreements in Dubai if one party is abroad?
The party abroad can sign before an accredited UAE consul or a local notary followed by attestation, and the other party signs in Dubai. The contract should say that it may be signed in counterparts.
Can you check a contract that is only in Arabic?
Yes. We translate it into English so you know what it says, and vet it against the deal you agreed.
What is the difference between an addendum and a new contract?
An addendum changes some clauses and keeps the rest. A new contract replaces the old one entirely. If most of the terms are changing, a new contract is often cleaner.
What happens if the other side breaks the contract?
That is a dispute, and it needs an advocate. A well drafted contract makes that advocate's job easier, which is one reason to get the drafting right.
Can you prepare a property sale agreement for attestation?
Yes, for the private agreement between a buyer and seller that sits beside the official property forms. We draft it in English and Arabic and book the notary. If it will be used abroad, real estate contract attestation follows: MOFAIC attests the notarised agreement, then the embassy or consulate of the destination country in the UAE. Property sale agreement attestation does not replace the official property transfer.
Send us your contract
Call or WhatsApp +971 52 484 1790, or email support@notariolawyersuae.com with the deal in a few lines, or the contract you have been given. For other documents, see our document drafting and notarization service and our legal translation page.
Legal drafting
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Legal drafting
Document drafting and notarization in Dubai: we write the clauses, prepare the Arabic text and book the notary, so your document is ready to sign.
Sources for this page
- Cabinet Resolution No. 19 of 2024, fee table items 1 to 8 and Article 2: https://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/2491/download
- Dubai private notary fees, Dubai Media Office: https://mediaoffice.ae/en/news/2025/december/29-12/dubai-courts-is-preparing-to-implement-the-decision-regulating-the-fees-of-the-private-notary-public
- Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2022 on the regulation of the notary profession, Articles 7 and 8: https://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/1563