How to buy off-plan property in Dubai, step by step

Buying off-plan means you buy a home from the developer before it is built. You pay in stages, and you get the keys and the title deed when the building is finished. This guide walks through each step, from the first deposit to the title deed, and the checks to make before you pay anything. The rules are as the official pages state them on 5 November 2026.

This is general information, not financial or legal advice.

New to the idea? Start with what off-plan property is, or compare it with buying a finished home in off-plan vs ready.

The steps at a glance

Step	What you sign or get	What you pay
1. Expression of interest (some launches)	A receipt	A fixed deposit, usually refundable
2. Reservation	Reservation form	Booking amount, often 10% or 20%
3. Sale agreement	SPA signed by you and the developer	Nothing extra, or the rest of the down payment
4. Oqood registration	Provisional registration certificate	The 4% DLD fee and admin fees
5. Construction	Receipts for each instalment	Instalments into the escrow account
6. Completion and handover	Handover letter, keys	Final payment, title deed fees, service charges
7. Title deed	Title deed in your name	Included above

1. Choose the project and the unit

Pick the project first, then the unit. The "from" price is usually the smallest unit on a low floor. Ask for the floor plan, the exact size in square feet, the view and the floor of the unit you would actually buy. Read the developer's record on its page here, for example Emaar, Sobha Realty or Azizi. If you are not sure where to buy, see the best areas to buy off-plan, or search projects.

2. Expression of interest and booking

For a new launch, some developers take an "expression of interest" (EOI) before sales open. It holds your place in the queue. It is not a purchase. Ask in writing whether it is refundable if you do not get a unit you want.

When you choose a unit, you sign a reservation form and pay the booking amount. On the 991 projects on our site, the median booking amount is 10% of the price. 487 ask for 10% or less and 401 ask for 20% or more. Read the reservation form before you pay. It often says the booking amount is lost if you do not sign the SPA in time.

3. Sign the sale and purchase agreement (SPA)

The SPA is the contract that matters. Check these points before you sign:

• The unit: number, floor, size, and what happens if the final size is different.
• The payment schedule: dates or construction milestones for each instalment. See payment plans explained.
• The escrow account: the bank and the account number for the project.
• The completion date and any grace period the developer has.
• Delay: what you get if the developer is late, and what happens if you pay late.
• Resale: whether you can sell before handover, and after what share paid. See selling off-plan before handover.

If you live abroad, you can usually sign the SPA electronically. See buying off-plan from abroad.

4. Oqood registration and certificate

Oqood is the Dubai Land Department (DLD) system for the interim register, where off-plan sales are recorded. Under Law No. 13 of 2008, an off-plan sale that is not entered in this register is void (Dubai Legal Portal, Article 3).

• Who registers: the developer, through the Oqood portal. You do not go to the DLD yourself.
• The time limit: the DLD says the SPA must be registered within 90 days of the date it was signed (DLD, checked 5 November 2026).
• The fees: the DLD page lists 2% of the price for the seller and 2% for the buyer, plus AED 10 knowledge and AED 10 innovation fees, and an AED 1,000 fee for the developer. In practice, developers pass the full 4% to the buyer: all 991 projects on our site list a 4% DLD fee for you to pay. See the costs on top of the price.
• What you get: a provisional registration e-certificate, sent to you by email. Buyers and brokers call it the Oqood certificate. It is your proof of the purchase until the title deed. You need it to sell or mortgage the unit before handover.

If you have not received the certificate within a few weeks of signing, ask the developer for it in writing.

5. Pay the instalments and follow the build

Pay every instalment into the project's escrow account, never into a personal account or a broker's account. Under Law No. 8 of 2007, payments for off-plan homes go into an escrow account for that project. Keep every receipt.

The Dubai REST app, from the DLD, shows the project's status, the escrow bank and the reported completion percentage. Check it before each payment. If the percentage has not moved for months, ask the developer why.

6. Completion, snagging and handover

When the building is finished, the authorities issue a completion certificate. The developer then sends you a handover notice with the final amount due. This usually includes:

• the last instalment of the price,
• the first service charges (see service charges in Dubai),
• the title deed fees,
• utility connection.

Before you take the keys, inspect the home. This is snagging: you list every defect (cracks, uneven tiles, doors that do not close, leaks, air conditioning) and the developer fixes them. Many buyers hire a snagging company. Do it before you sign the handover documents. Under Dubai Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly owned property, the developer stays liable for structural defects for 10 years and for defects in installations such as electrics and plumbing for one year (Afridi & Angell, text of the law). Law firms disagree on whether the one year starts at the completion certificate or at handover, so report defects early.

7. The title deed

Once the project is complete, the developer registers it with the DLD. Units that are fully paid move from the interim register to the main property register, and the DLD issues the title deed in the owner's name (DLD FAQ; Law 13 of 2008, Article 8). The DLD lists AED 250 for the title deed, AED 250 for the unit map and AED 20 in knowledge and innovation fees, when the registration fee has already been paid (DLD). If you pay the final amount with a mortgage, the bank's mortgage is registered on the title deed at the same time.

What to check before you pay anything

1. The developer is licensed. Look the developer up in the Dubai REST app or on the DLD website.
2. The project is registered. A developer cannot sell off-plan before it holds the land and has the approvals (Law 13 of 2008, Article 4). The project should appear in Dubai REST under the same name as in your SPA.
3. The escrow account. Ask for the bank and the account number, and check that the SPA gives the same ones. In the DLD project register as of 12 June 2026, 864 of the 865 active projects had an escrow bank listed. Emirates NBD held the most (215), then ADCB (122) and First Abu Dhabi Bank (112).
4. The registered completion date and the % complete. Compare them with the date the sales team gives you. In the DLD project register as of 12 June 2026, 275 of 865 active projects (32%) were past their registered completion date. Their median reported completion was 59%. 198 of them were less than a year past the date, 48 were one to two years past, and 29 were more than two years past.

The developer record looks better than that. Of 1,436 finished projects in the same register, 1,338 (93%) were completed in or before the month of their registered date. But the register shows the current approved date, and developers can get extensions. So "on time" there can mean "on time against a later date" than the one you were sold. The overdue active projects are the better signal. More in do Dubai developers hand over on time?

What happens if you stop paying

Article 11 of Law No. 13 of 2008 sets the rules. It has been amended several times, most recently by Law No. 19 of 2020, which sets the version in force (Dubai Legal Portal).

First, the developer must tell the DLD. The DLD gives you 30 days' written notice to pay, and may try to settle the matter between you. If you still do not pay, the DLD confirms the project's completion percentage, and the developer can act without going to court:

Project completion	What the developer may do
More than 80%	Keep the contract and claim the rest of the price, ask the DLD to sell the unit at auction, or cancel and keep up to 40% of the unit's price
60% to 80%	Cancel and keep up to 40% of the unit's price
Started, under 60%	Cancel and keep up to 25% of the unit's price
Not started, without the developer's fault, or project cancelled by RERA	Refund everything you paid

Note that the limits are a share of the price of the unit, not of what you paid. If you paid 20% and the developer may keep up to 25%, you can lose all of it. The developer must refund any excess within one year of cancelling, or within 60 days of reselling the unit, whichever comes first. You can still go to court or arbitration.

If you may struggle to pay, talk to the developer before a payment is missed. Some agree a new schedule, and the DLD can record a settlement.

What happens if the developer is late

Your rights come mainly from the SPA. Read the delay clause: many give the developer a grace period after the completion date, and some offer compensation after that. If RERA cancels a project, the law requires a full refund from the escrow account (Law 19 of 2020). For a delay without cancellation, you can negotiate, complain to the DLD, or go to court. A lawyer can tell you what your SPA allows. For how escrow protects you, read escrow and RERA.

Setting a budget? See off-plan homes under AED 1 million.

Sources

• Dubai Land Department, request to register the initial sale (Oqood), site updated 3 November 2026: dubailand.gov.ae
• Dubai Land Department, request to complete the initial procedures data (title deed), site updated 3 November 2026: dubailand.gov.ae
• Dubai Land Department, frequently asked questions, checked 5 November 2026: dubailand.gov.ae
• Dubai Legal Portal, Law No. 13 of 2008 on the interim real property register: dlp.dubai.gov.ae
• Dubai Legal Portal, Law No. 9 of 2009 amending Law No. 13 of 2008: dlp.dubai.gov.ae
• Dubai Legal Portal, Law No. 19 of 2020 amending Law No. 13 of 2008, issued 24 November 2020: dlp.dubai.gov.ae
• Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly owned property in Dubai, text published by Afridi & Angell, October 2019: afridi-angell.com
• Our analysis of the DLD project register as of 12 June 2026, and of the payment plans on the 991 projects published on this site in November 2026