Dubai Land Department (DLD), through its Registration and Real Estate Services sector, was able to demonstrate the effectiveness of its advanced infrastructure during the exceptional circumstances resulting from the outbreak of COVID-19, after it provided many solutions to maintain its communication with its customers and provide them with services, including the e-mortgage registration service.

The process of registering e-mortgages is carried out via either banks or real estate registration trustee offices that provide all real estate transaction services.The mortgage service helps support DLD’s commitment to the precautionary measures and guidelines issued by health authorities to maintain the health and safety of its employees and customers, as well as contribute to reducing the spread of COVID-19, to reach zero in the UAE.

Humaid Omran Al Shamsi, Director of the Real Estate Registration Services department at DLD, commented: “In light of the global outbreak of COVID-19, we at DLD took initiative, in response to the government’s directives, and showed our readiness to activate many of our applications to work remotely. The benefits of the solutions that we developed during the past years appeared in these critical circumstances, and thanks to them, DLD continued to provide its services remotely with high efficiency, including the easy-to-use and integrated e-mortgage registration system. By following a number of steps, customers can obtain their desired resultsin the shortest possible time and with precision. We will continue to reap the benefits of these solutions and applications beyondthe current crisis to reduce the number of customer visits and have them accustomed to using innovative technologies.”

The main objective of applying the mortgage service is to reduce the percentage of customer visits and the procedures to one step through one platform under the current circumstances. Moreover, providing the service in an electronic format enhances customer convenience in obtaining the best possible services at any time and from anywhere, which helps ensure customer and investor happiness as well as provide an experience that surpasses their expectations.

Since registering a mortgage starts and ends at a bank, there is no need for customers or investors to visit DLD, especially since the need to visit a trustee has been eliminated, making the bank fully responsible for undertaking the mortgage procedure. DLD’s electronic system can then be accessed to request an approval or accreditationafter the transaction would have been checked by the relevant departments at DLD through the system itself.

Owners or their representative are legally permitted to perform the mortgage, provided that the current owner is the owner of the mortgaged property or unitand they have the full capacity to transact them. On the other hand, the mortgagor has no right to transact the mortgaged property or unit without obtaining the approval of the mortgagee (bank), which leads to transferring the responsibility of paying the mortgage to the assignee. The mortgagor must maintain the integrity of the mortgaged property.

The law permits the mortgagor to manage the mortgaged property or unit and receive its revenue. In the event that the current mortgagor does not comply with the payment due, the property is seized and then sold at a public auction, based on a decision issued by the competent court.

Real estate projects can be mortgaged to obtain a loan from banks or finance companies approved by the law, provided that the value of the mortgage is deposited in the project’s escrow account to ensure that the amounts deposited, according to the law, are properly utilised, with both the bank and the developer committing to ensuring that buyers who have fulfilled their contractual obligations to the developer obtain their title deed upon completion of the real estate project.