From Fair Market Value to Full Replacement Protection: A Structured Assessment of Property-Owner Safeguards in UAE Expropriation Law

HRMARS - This study evaluates the adequacy of legal safeguards protecting property owners and lawful occupiers in expropriation procedures in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It moves beyond a general description of expropriation law by applying a structured doctrinal and legal-content analysis to the UAE Constitution, Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 Promulgating the Civil Transactions Law, Abu Dhabi Law No. 19 of 2005, Dubai Law No. 2 of 2022, and Dubai Resolution No. 6 of 2024. Fifteen safeguard dimensions were coded according to whether protection was absent, partial, or express and operational. The legal analysis was supplemented with official Dubai Land Department and Central Bank of the UAE market data to test whether compensation fixed at a particular valuation date can preserve an owner’s practical ability to obtain an equivalent replacement property. The findings show a strong constitutional entitlement to public-purpose acquisition, legality, and fair compensation, together with detailed notification, valuation, objection, and occupier-protection procedures in Dubai. Nevertheless, important limitations remain. Dubai law restricts judicial reconsideration of the compensation amount, challenges do not automatically suspend execution, and the selected instruments do not expressly establish property-segment indexation, comprehensive replacement costs, livelihood restoration, or a general rule for indirect or regulatory expropriation. Official data further reveal substantial divergence across property classes and between general valuation assumptions and rapidly changing residential prices. The study argues that compensation adequacy should be assessed through a full replacement-protection model combining market value, transaction and relocation costs, business interruption where applicable, and revaluation or indexation when payment is delayed. The proposed framework offers a more transparent basis for legislative reform and future empirical examination of expropriation outcomes in the UAE.