The Article 955 Doctrine

Article 955 of the UAE Civil Code provides:

“The principal may dismiss the agent at any time unless the dismissal affects rights vested in the agent or third parties. Such dismissal must be notified to the agent; otherwise, it shall not be effective against him or third parties acting in good faith.”

The first sentence establishes the right to revoke. The second sentence establishes the operative doctrine of this page: dismissal must be notified to the agent, and effectiveness against the agent and against third parties acting in good faith depends on that notice having been given. Where the agent has used the authority in dealings with third parties, notice to those third parties is required to remove their good-faith reliance on the document.

The practical consequence is that a cancellation correctly executed and notarised, but not communicated, does not protect the principal against transactions concluded by the agent with parties unaware of the revocation.

Notice to the Agent

Notice to the agent must be formal and documented. Recognised methods include service through the notary that issued the cancellation, where the notary effects formal service of the revocation deed; service through Tableegh, the official legal notification service approved by the UAE Ministry of Justice (tableegh.ae); registered post with acknowledgement of receipt; and judicial notice through Dubai Courts or the relevant court of jurisdiction.

Even where the agent refuses to accept service or cannot be located, documented attempts at official notification through these channels are legally sufficient. The principal’s evidentiary obligation is to show that notice was properly attempted through a recognised method, not that the agent personally acknowledged receipt.

Notice to Third Parties

The category of third parties to whom notice must be given is determined by the use that the agent has made or could make of the authority. The principle is that wherever the Power of Attorney was used, presented, or could plausibly be presented, formal notification is required to remove practical reliance.

In ordinary practice this includes banks where the agent has transacted on accounts or facilities held by the principal; real estate developers, brokers, and registrars where property has been the subject of the authority; government departments and licensing authorities where the agent has filed or could file on the principal’s behalf; courts where the agent has appeared or could appear in proceedings; counterparties to contracts entered into through the agent; and auditors, accountants, and corporate registries where the agent has signed in a corporate capacity.

The form of notice to third parties typically combines the notarised cancellation deed with a covering communication identifying the original Power of Attorney and confirming its revocation.

The Good Faith Doctrine

Where a third party transacts with the agent in good faith without notice of revocation, the transaction may bind the principal. This is the practical risk that Article 955 places on the principal’s shoulders. The article’s protection of third-party good faith is not a peripheral feature of UAE agency law; it is a central element of how the system protects commercial reliance on apparent authority.

The implication is straightforward. The cost of notification, properly carried out, is small relative to the cost of being bound to a transaction concluded by an agent whose authority the principal believed had ended.

The DLD and Property Powers of Attorney

For a Power of Attorney registered with the Dubai Land Department, the DLD must be formally notified of the cancellation. Without DLD-side filing, the property record continues to reflect the agent’s authority, and transactions presented to the DLD by the agent can proceed on the strength of that record. The procedural detail for property cancellations is set out at poaforproperty.ae.

Documentation of Notice

The principal should keep evidence of every notice given: the dated notarised deed, the service receipt, the Tableegh confirmation, the registered post acknowledgement, and any recipient acknowledgement obtained. In any later dispute about whether notice was effective, this documentation is the primary record. Verbal notification, social-message communication, or informal email is not, on its own, evidence of the formal notice that Article 955 requires.

The Practical Test

The legal question of whether the principal has revoked the Power of Attorney is settled by the cancellation deed and its notarisation. The practical question of whether the cancellation is effective is settled by who has been told. The two questions are not the same. A cancellation that the world around the document does not know about is, for most practical purposes, not yet a cancellation.

Execution

Service, notification, and documentation of notice are handled operationally at poas.ae.