Selling or Letting Your Property in Ras Al Khaimah

Selling and letting in Ras Al Khaimah both come down to the same two things: pricing against evidence rather than against hope, and having the paperwork ready before a buyer or tenant asks for it.

Selling

1. Price against completed deals. Asking prices on the portals tell you what sellers want. Ask instead what the same layout in your building actually sold for in the last three to six months, and how many similar units are competing with yours right now.
2. Get the property ready. Small things move the price here: working air conditioning, a clean balcony, no broken tiles and a finished handover snag list. Photograph it properly once, rather than repeatedly discounting it later.
3. Collect the documents early. Title deed, passport or Emirates ID, the service charge statement and a power of attorney if you will not be here for the transfer.
4. Agree terms in writing. A memorandum of understanding with the price, the deposit, what is included and the target transfer date. Ten per cent deposit is normal, held by the agency rather than paid to you.
5. Apply for the developer no objection certificate. The developer confirms the service charge is clear and consents to the transfer. Clear any arrears first, because this is where sales stall.
6. Transfer at the Municipality. Both parties attend, the balance is paid and the new title deed is issued. Hand over keys, access cards and the community documents on the same day.

A cash sale of a ready unit normally takes four to six weeks from signed memorandum to transfer. Allow eight to ten weeks if the buyer is borrowing.

Letting

1. Decide long let or short let. A furnished apartment on Al Marjan Island can earn more as a holiday home than as a long let, but not always, and short letting carries a permit, a Tourism Dirham and far more work. We will model both before you choose.
2. Set the rent and the cheque terms together. Twelve cheques let you ask a higher figure; one cheque usually costs you some of it. Both are normal here.
3. Present it properly. Clean, working, and photographed in daylight. An unfurnished unit lets faster with a floor plan.
4. Vet the tenant. Employment, visa status and payment history, before the keys leave your hand.
5. Register the tenancy. The contract is registered with RAK Municipality and the tenant pays the fee. Nothing gets connected until this is done.
6. Inventory and handover. Photograph everything including meter readings, and keep the record. It is the only thing that settles a deposit argument at the end.

What an agency should be doing for its fee

• Pricing from evidence, and telling you when the market has moved against you.
• Photography and a floor plan at its own cost.
• Qualifying enquiries so strangers are not walking through your home on a whim.
• Written feedback after every viewing.
• Handling the developer no objection certificate and the transfer appointment.
• For a let, the registration, the inventory and the renewal conversation a year later.

If you do not live here

Most of our landlords are overseas. A properly attested power of attorney lets us handle the transfer or the tenancy without you flying in, and property management covers the rent collection, the maintenance and the renewal after that.