Usufruct

Usufruct is a registered property right that gives its holder the right to use and benefit from a property owned by someone else — to live in it, lease it out and collect rent — for a defined long term, without owning the underlying title. It is one of the recognised real rights under the UAE Civil Code, and in Dubai long-term usufruct over property in designated areas can be granted to foreign nationals for extended periods, commonly structured for up to 99 years. Usufruct matters in practice as a freehold alternative: it appears in long-term investment structures, in arrangements where a landowner wants to retain ultimate title while granting an investor full economic use, and in some family and corporate planning. Because the usufructuary's rights and the bare owner's rights coexist, the deed terms — duration, permitted use, transferability, mortgageability and what happens on expiry — must be precise, and the right must be registered with the land department to bind third parties.