The RERA exam and broker licence, step by step

Every person who brokers property in Dubai needs a broker card from the Dubai Land Department. The card carries your Broker Registration Number, the BRN that must appear on every listing you publish. Getting it runs through one exam and one online system, and the real costs are far lower than most websites claim.

We checked the fee schedule on the DLD’s own service page before writing this, because the numbers circulating on training-institute blogs range from AED 3,200 to over AED 15,000 for the exam. The official figure is AED 700. When a page quotes you something wildly higher, it is usually bundling its own course fees into the government’s.

The five steps

1. Hold UAE residency. The card application runs on your Emirates ID. If you are moving to Dubai for this career, the brokerage you join typically sponsors the employment visa, which is why choosing the brokerage comes before the paperwork, not after. Our guide on becoming an agent in Dubai covers that order in detail.

2. Complete the qualification course. The DLD’s educational arm runs the certified training for brokers: Dubai real estate law, the regulatory framework, ethics, and the forms you will actually use. Course fees depend on provider and format; the DLD has quoted AED 2,500 for the brokers’ training course in its own announcements. Verify the current price when you book, and book through the official channel rather than a reseller.

3. Pass the broker exam. Registration costs AED 700, plus AED 10 knowledge fee and AED 10 innovation fee, per the official schedule. The exam tests the course material. Prepare from the course itself rather than from “questions PDF” downloads: the question banks circulating online are unofficial, often outdated, and passing on memorised answers leaves you exposed in your first real transaction.

4. Apply through Trakheesi. The DLD’s licensing system takes the application online: personal photo, Emirates ID copy, and your documents. The official process is five steps from account to printed card, and the service time listed by the DLD is minutes, not weeks, once your documents are in order.

5. Pay for the card. Issuing a real estate broker card costs AED 500, plus the AED 10/10 knowledge and innovation fees and an ERES fee of AED 50 plus VAT.

What it costs, from the official schedule

Source: DLD service page, retrieved 28 August 2026. Fees change; the linked page is the authority, not this table.

Renewal: the part nobody plans for

The licence is not a one-time event. Renewal is annual and tied to a test: the DLD requires brokers to register for it about a month before the card expires. Miss that window and the shortcut disappears; you are back to taking the course before you can renew. Put the expiry date in your calendar the day the card is issued.

Frequently asked questions

How difficult is the RERA exam? It is a course-material exam, not a bar exam. People who attend the training and read the laws it references pass it routinely. People who rely on leaked question sets fail it more often than the sellers of those sets admit.

How long does the whole process take? With residency in place and documents ready, the course, exam and card typically fit inside a few weeks. The visa, where you need one, is the long pole, and its timing depends on your nationality and the sponsoring brokerage.

Can I work while my application is in progress? Advertising and brokering without a valid card is a violation. Do the paperwork first; the market will still be there.

Is the licence valid outside Dubai? No. The BRN is a Dubai registration under the DLD. Abu Dhabi and the other emirates run their own regimes.

The step after the licence

The card makes you legal. It does not make you productive. What determines whether the first year works is the brokerage behind you: the split, the fees, the leads, and the training. We publish our two models with every number on the table, including what we take and when, on our careers page. Compare them against any offer you receive, ours included.