Senior Manager - Legal - Dubai Holding Land Estates

About Dubai Holding Land Estates:

Dubai Holding Land Estates oversees a diverse land portfolio strategically located across Dubai’s most sought-after areas. With convenient access to major highways, nearby amenities, and flexible land use options, investors are presented with unique opportunities for development and growth.

Through the centralization of Dubai Holding’s land bank, Dubai Holding Land Estates focuses on large-scale master plans, ensuring alignment with the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan, whilst also supporting the business’s commitment to sustainable urban development and strategic land portfolio management.

About the Role

Headline role:

• Providing legal support to various parts of the business on real estate matters, with a focus on transactional work including plot disposals and ancillary real estate agreements.

Reporting:

• Providing regular briefings and updates to the Director – Legal and Head of Legal on current legal real estate matters affecting the business. Contributing to business reporting functions (including the ExCom and EMC, as applicable).

Policies, procedures and processes:

• On-going development and streamlining of all real estate precedent documents, which include: Plot SPAs, Raw Land SPAs, Plot re-sale agreements, Plot Termination & Settlement Agreements, Amendment Agreements.
• On-going review of any policies in place to identify streamlining/ improvements to processes.

Strategic:

• Supporting the provision of strategic input and advice on "legacy" matters, including contributing to documents presented to DH senior management and attending calls with DH senior management to advise on legal queries relating to such matters.

Pre-contractual:

• Key involvement in negotiation of legal documents for various real estate transactions (in particular, disposals of raw land plots), including meeting with and taking instructions from key personnel involved in the negotiation of the commercial deal whilst ensuring that the business is aware of legal risks arising out of such negotiations and that any key legal risk issues are either mitigated in the documents and/or flagged to the business as applicable.

Contractual:

• Review/ drafting/ amendment of various agreements proposed to be entered into by the business, including NOCs, temporary license, Cost Share Agreements. Review of documents to be entered into with various Government authorities, including the RTA, DEWA, OM, DOA, Empower, Etisalat/DU. Reviewing letters to be issued by the business relating to plot sales, project registration, project cancellation.

Internal Governance:

• Providing information to the various Governance and Audit functions within the business regarding ongoing and/or historic legal matters. Ensuring that the business is directed to liaise with Governance on relevant matters.
• Legal and regulatory updates:
• Reviewing and being alert to legal developments in Dubai and the UAE and providing updates to the business on such developments, including input as to any required amendments to standard practices/procedures.

Other Roles:

• Legal input on the entire plot sales process, including: drafting, reviewing and negotiating Plot SPAs, Raw Land SPAs, MoUs, Option Agreements, Development Agreements and co-development arrangements; advising on master planning, land-use changes and parcel reconfiguration; liaising with the DLD, DDA/Trakhees, Dubai Municipality and other authorities to secure land registration, zoning/land-use changes, masterplan approvals and permits; advising on purchasers' development obligations, impact fees, public realm commitments and utility interface agreements, including servitudes/easements, rights-of-way and utility corridor documentation; and liaising with DHLE’s Finance and Sales teams about issues arising post SPA execution, including late payments, SPA termination requests, amicable settlement requests, plot re-sale requests and change in purchaser details.
• DHLE Legal advises on project structuring and on the preparation and review of governance documents, including Master Community Declarations, Building Management Statements, Development Control Regulations (DCRs), ARC approval frameworks and the governance of common areas and infrastructure, and on master community documentation, remediation and restructuring required by amendments to the JOPD Law.
• Revision of Governance Documents for all projects across the entire DHLE portfolio.

About You:

• Qualified as a Solicitor in England & Wales and/or other relevant jurisdiction.
• Thorough knowledge of real estate laws and practices, with particular emphasis on Dubai and UAE real estate regulations.
• 5 – 8 years of post-qualification experience.
• Ability to work in a collaborative, multicultural and multilingual team environment.
• Strong legal writing and drafting skills.
• Business acumen with the ability to provide commercially pragmatic legal advice.
• Strategic thinking and decision-making skills.
• Ability to manage multiple matters simultaneously and prioritise competing deadlines.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to identify potential legal risks and develop strategies to mitigate them.
• Ability to conduct due diligence on real estate transactions and assess legal implications.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Familiarity with Dubai and UAE real estate regulatory frameworks, including RERA regulations.

About the

Benefits

At Dubai Holding, we're committed to nurturing the success and well-being of our colleagues. Join our dynamic and diverse team, and enjoy a comprehensive benefits package that includes competitive compensation, career development opportunities, and a collaborative work environment. We strongly believe in creating an empowered workforce that will help us build a connected city for tomorrow. We are committed to attracting the brightest minds and nurturing the most pioneering candidates who desire to make a great impact on the future of Dubai.