Step by step · Abu Dhabi

Buying off-plan from a developer

15 of 16 steps confirmed with the regulator

A home that has not been built yet. Your money goes into escrow, and the handover date is the thing to watch.

Finding it4 steps

Checks3 steps

Agreeing4 steps

Transferring4 steps

After1 step

Every step, and what proves it happened

Nobody can call a step done without the paper

16 steps

1. Developer and project on the registerThe project is registered and its escrow account exists. Buyer money goes into the DEVELOPER's project escrow under Law No. 8 of 2007 — PropDirect never holds it.Goes through DMT · ADREC.

Your agent

Confirmed

2. Madhmoun permit issuedAdvertising without it is the fine an agent actually gets. Filed through the ADREC Madhmoun system.Goes through DMT · ADREC.

Your agent

Confirmed

3. Mortgage pre-approvalOnly where there is finance. Off-plan lending is usually arranged near handover rather than at booking, so confirm early what the bank will lend and on what date — the payment plan does not wait for it.Goes through CBUAE.

You

Confirmed

4. Listing liveThe unit published with its permit number and the developer's payment plan shown. Off-plan is sold on the plan as much as on the unit, so a listing without it invites the questions the EOI is supposed to settle.

Your agent

Confirmed

5. Reservation agreed with the developerThe buyer registers interest with a booking amount, before any contract exists. Get the developer's receipt for it in writing — Abu Dhabi publishes no standard form, so their receipt is the record.Goes through DMT · ADREC.

You

Not confirmed

6. SPA — Sale & Purchase AgreementThe developer's contract, carrying the payment plan and the handover date. Everything after this hangs off its dates.Goes through DMT · ADREC.

The developer

Confirmed

7. Payment plan registeredThe instalment schedule the SPA hangs on: how many payments, what each is worth, and what construction milestone each falls due against. Ask for it in writing before the down payment, not after.Goes through DMT · ADREC.

The developer

Confirmed

8. Down paymentThe first payment, into the developer's project account — never to us. It is what actually secures the unit; ask the developer what proportion they require.

You

Confirmed

9. Buyer identity and AML checkEmirates ID or passport, source of funds, and screening. Federal, so it is the same in every emirate — and it is what stops a transfer on the day if it is left late.

You

Confirmed

10. Interim registration before handoverThe developer registers the unit on the interim register through DARI, within 21 days of the contract. Late registration adds AED 10,000, and it is the developer's move rather than the buyer's.Goes through DMT · ADREC.

The developer

Confirmed

11. Construction instalmentsPayments falling due against build progress rather than against dates. THIS STEP REPEATS — eight to twelve times over two to three years — and the journey shows the run of them as one step rather than pretending a purchase has twenty.

You

Confirmed

12. Completion noticeThe developer's formal notice that the unit is complete. It starts the clock on the final instalment and on handover, so it is the document to chase rather than wait on.Goes through DMT · ADREC.

The developer

Confirmed

13. Final instalmentThe last payment, into the project escrow — never to us. Instalments before it fall due against construction progress.Goes through DMT · ADREC.

You

Confirmed

14. Snagging inspectionThe buyer's defects list, submitted before accepting keys. Raised after handover it is a goodwill request; raised before, it is a condition of acceptance.Goes through DMT · ADREC.

You

Confirmed

15. KeysKeys, once the plan is paid and the snagging is settled.Goes through DMT · ADREC.

The developer

Confirmed

16. Registration converts to a title deedThe interim registration converts into a title deed in the buyer's name. Not a new document being issued — the existing entry changing character.Goes through DMT · ADREC.

The government office

Confirmed

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