The authority registry
Every approval authority in Dubai. One dossier per regime.
Your unit’s address decides which of these owns your permit. Each dossier covers when approval is required, the documents, the process, indicative fees, rejection reasons and timelines — as we run them daily.
15 authorities on file · Reviewed July 2026
Building-control regimes
Exactly one of these owns your permit
Dubai runs parallel building-control regimes — mainland, free zones and the PCFC territories. Your address places you under precisely one of them, and its rules, portal and reviewers are yours for the whole project.

Dubai Municipality
Mainland (onshore) Dubai — commercial, residential and industrial buildings outside free zones
Read the dossier
Dubai Development Authority
TECOM Group free zones — Internet City, Media City, d3, Studio City, Science Park, Knowledge Park and others
Read the dossier
Trakhees
PCFC jurisdictions — Palm Jumeirah, Dubai World communities, Dragon Mart, National Industries Park and select waterfront districts
Read the dossier
DMCC / Concordia
Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) — the DMCC free zone, administered day-to-day through Concordia
Read the dossier
DIFC
Dubai International Financial Centre — the DIFC free zone's own building-control regime
Read the dossier
JAFZA
Jebel Ali Free Zone — offices, warehouses, industrial and logistics facilities
Read the dossier
Dubai South
Dubai South free zone — Business Park, Logistics District, Aviation District and residential districts around Al Maktoum International
Read the dossier
Dubai Silicon Oasis
Dubai Silicon Oasis — part of the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ)
Read the dossier
Dubai Healthcare City
Dubai Healthcare City free zone — clinical and healthcare-support facilities under DHCA regulation
Read the dossierEmirate-wide authorities
These stack on top, wherever you are
They don't replace your building-control regime — they review alongside it. Civil Defence for anything touching fire and life safety, DEWA for power and water, RTA for roads and access, DHA for healthcare layouts.

Dubai Civil Defence
All of Dubai — every emirate-wide project that alters fire and life-safety systems
Read the dossier
DEWA
All of Dubai — electricity and water connections, loads and meters
Read the dossier
RTA
All of Dubai — anything touching roads, access, parking, right-of-way or transport infrastructure
Read the dossier
Dubai Health Authority
All of Dubai (outside DHCC) — healthcare facility layouts and licensing
Read the dossierMaster-developer NOCs
The private consent before the public one
In master communities the developer's no-objection certificate comes first — authorities won't open a review without it. It's the landlord layer of the approval stack, and it has its own checklists, deposits and clocks.

Nakheel
Nakheel master communities — Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Village, Discovery Gardens, Jumeirah Islands, Al Furjan and more
Read the dossier
Emaar
Emaar master communities — Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina (Emaar assets), Dubai Hills Estate, Arabian Ranches, Emirates Living and more
Read the dossierLocate your regime
Know the address, not the authority?
Pick your area of Dubai and the registry opens to the right page — the regime that owns your permit, plus the authorities that usually review alongside it.
Select your area
Your permit authority
Dubai Municipality
Mainland (onshore) Dubai — commercial, residential and industrial buildings outside free zones
Dubai Municipality (DM) is the permitting authority for most onshore buildings in Dubai. If your office, shop, restaurant, clinic or warehouse sits on mainland land — not inside a free zone or a master developer's private jurisdiction — your fit-out permit is issued by DM through the Dubai Building Permit System (Dubai BPS).

Questions
Asked before every submission
The questions that decide an approval strategy — answered plainly here, and in depth inside each dossier.
It depends entirely on your unit's address: Dubai Municipality for mainland, DDA for TECOM districts, DMCC/Concordia for JLT, Trakhees for Palm Jumeirah and PCFC areas, DIFC for the financial centre, and each free zone (JAFZA, Dubai South, DSO, DHCC) for its own territory. Master communities like Emaar's and Nakheel's add a developer NOC on top. Our free Approval Finder tool answers this in under a minute.
Yes — DCD drawings, submissions, registered specialist-contractor coordination, and inspection management including our standard pre-walk before every official visit. Fire and life safety is a track we never subcontract away.
No. Starting before the permit is issued exposes you to fines, stop-work orders and complications that resurface at completion stage and beyond. The reliable way to protect an opening date is submitting early and clean — not building early.
Almost always. Regularisation involves as-built documentation, structural verification where needed, and retrospective submissions to the developer and authority. It's slower than doing it right the first time but clears titles, unblocks transactions and restores insurance validity. We handle it discreetly and constantly.
Start with a free permit check
Not sure which of the fifteen applies? That's the free part.
Send the unit location and intended works — we'll return the exact authority map for your project, the documents each one wants, and a fixed quote. Usually within one business day.
+971 55 969 3009 · hello@fitoutpermits.ae · Al Quoz, Dubai

