What to Check Before You Buy Off-Plan in Dubai

Buying off-plan means committing to a property that does not yet exist, usually across a staged payment plan, with completion some distance away. Done carefully it is a perfectly sound route into the market. The care is in what you establish before you sign.

Confirm project registration and escrow

Off-plan development in Dubai is regulated, and registered projects operate through escrow arrangements designed to ensure buyer funds are applied to the development itself. Confirm the project's registration and that your payments are being made into the correct account. This is a matter of process, not trust, and it is entirely reasonable to ask for documentation.

Read the payment plan as a cash flow

Payment plans are often presented as a headline structure — a percentage on booking, a percentage during construction, a percentage on handover. Convert that into actual dates and amounts against your own circumstances. A plan with frequent instalments during construction is a very different commitment from one weighted towards handover, even if the totals match.

• What is due, and on what date
• Whether instalments are tied to construction milestones or to the calendar
• What happens to the schedule if construction is delayed
• Whether any portion falls due after handover

Understand what the specification actually promises

Renders are illustrations. The specification is the commitment. Establish what is actually included — finishes, appliances, whether the unit is delivered furnished, what is provided in the bathrooms and kitchen — and get it in writing. Where a project advertises design partnerships or branded interiors, confirm which units that applies to.

Establish the handover position

Ask for the anticipated handover date and what the contract says if it moves. Ask what the snagging process is and how defects are handled after you take possession. These questions are routine and should have clear answers.

Think about the exit before the entry

If you may want to sell before completion, establish the developer's position on resale — many set conditions on the proportion of the purchase price that must be paid before a transfer is permitted, and there are fees attached. Knowing this at the outset is far better than discovering it when you want to act.

Consider the building you will actually own into

The apartment is only part of the purchase. You are also buying into a building with a service charge, a management arrangement and a set of shared amenities that will need maintaining. Ask what the projected service charge is and what it will cover.

If you are considering an off-plan purchase and would like these points checked against a specific project, our team will go through them with you before you commit.