Dubai property portals urged to crack down on misleading verified listings

Dubai: A growing concern over misleading “verified” property listings has sparked calls for tighter checks on Dubai’s online real estate portals, with industry experts warning that advertisements carrying verification badges should accurately reflect the official permit details attached to the properties they promote.

Prominent Dubai realtor Salman Bin Ali said the issue is no longer limited to fake property listings appearing online. The greater concern, he argued, is that some advertisements may appear to be verified even though the permit information allegedly corresponds to a different property, potentially misleading buyers, tenants and investors who rely on verification badges when making property decisions.

“Verified property listings must actually match the official permit details. The issue is not only fake listings – it is fake listings appearing verified to the public,” Bin Ali added.

In Dubai’s highly digital real estate market, online portals are often the first point of contact between buyers and sellers. Verification badges are intended to reassure consumers that a listing complies with regulatory requirements and represents a genuine property.

However, Bin Ali believed verification should go beyond confirming that a permit exists. Instead, platforms should ensure the permit belongs to the exact property being advertised.

He said he had reviewed cases where apartment listings allegedly referenced permit information linked to land or plot records with substantially different classifications and sizes.

“If a permit shows land, a plot or a completely different size, it should not be used to verify an apartment listing,” he said.

According to Bin Ali, such discrepancies could give buyers false confidence that a property has passed compliance checks when the underlying permit does not correspond to the advertised unit.

Bin Ali said property portals should strengthen their automated verification systems by cross-checking official permit information against listing details before advertisements go live.

He said the verification process should compare key information including property type, size, location, building name, project, unit details, permit validity and transaction type.

He also suggested that once permit information is retrieved, brokers should not be able to manually alter critical listing details, reducing the risk of valid permits being used to support unrelated advertisements.

“In my view, permit data should be tied to the actual property being marketed, not used as a general compliance reference,” he said.

Bin Ali noted that inaccurate verified listings not only expose buyers to potential misinformation but also disadvantage brokers who comply with advertising regulations.

He said misleading listings can attract enquiries and online visibility despite not accurately reflecting the properties being marketed.

“Consumers rely on verified listings to make serious property decisions,” he said. “When a listing is approved with permit details that do not match the advertised property, it damages trust, misleads buyers and gives non-compliant brokers an unfair advantage.”

Bin Ali also called for stronger penalties for agencies or brokers that repeatedly misuse permit information, arguing that simply removing misleading advertisements is insufficient if similar listings quickly reappear.

He proposed a system of escalating enforcement, including warnings, temporary suspension of listing privileges, broker-level sanctions and referrals to the relevant authorities in cases of repeated violations.

Dubai has already tightened oversight of property advertising. In 2024, the Dubai Land Department and the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) introduced stricter rules requiring brokers to obtain advertising permits before listing properties online and limiting the number of agents permitted to market the same property. The reforms significantly reduced duplicate listings across major property portals.

Bin Ali said the next step is ensuring that verification systems confirm not only the existence of a valid permit but also that it accurately matches the property being advertised.