Step by step · Dubai

Buying off-plan from a developer

16 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 RERA · DLD.

Your agent

Confirmed

2. Trakheesi permit issuedAdvertising without it is the fine an agent actually gets. Filed through the RERA Trakheesi system.Goes through RERA · DLD.

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 / EOI formThe buyer registers interest with a booking amount, before any contract exists. Held by the developer — it is not yet a contract and does not bind the unit.Goes through RERA · DLD.

You

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 RERA · DLD.

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 RERA · DLD.

The developer

Confirmed

8. Down paymentThe first payment, into the developer's project escrow under Law No. 8 of 2007 — never to us. Typically 10–20%, and it is what actually secures the unit.

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. Oqood interim registrationInterim registration of a unit that has no title deed yet. Due within 90 days of the SPA — late registration is the commonest off-plan defect and it is the developer's move, not the buyer's. The 4% land-department registration fee is paid here, not at handover, so budget it with the down payment rather than at the end.Goes through RERA · DLD.

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 RERA · DLD.

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 RERA · DLD.

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 RERA · DLD.

You

Confirmed

15. KeysKeys, once the plan is paid and the snagging is settled.Goes through RERA · DLD.

The developer

Confirmed

16. Oqood 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 RERA · DLD.

The government office

Confirmed

Somewhere else in the UAE?