Dubai Off-Plan Payment Plans: Fees, Escrow, Resale and Missed Payments

Published 15 October 2026 · satisofisi.com Editorial Desk

When you buy a flat off-plan in Dubai, every instalment must go into an escrow account opened in the project's name, and the sale must be entered on the Land Department's interim register, known as Oqood. The 4% Dubai Land Department fee is split on the official schedule as 2% from the buyer and 2% from the seller. You can sell before completion with the developer's no-objection certificate. If you stop paying, the developer can cancel and keep up to 25% or 40% of the contract value, depending on how far the building has got. Once it is more than 80% complete, it can instead hold you to the full price.

The rules below were checked against Dubai's laws and the Land Department's own pages on 15 October 2026.

What does an 80/20 payment plan mean?

The two numbers show how the price is split between what you pay while the building goes up and what is left for handover. On an 80/20 plan, instalments during construction add up to 80% of the price and the last 20% is due on completion. No law fixes the split. What binds you is the schedule in your contract.

Dubai law expects payments to follow the building work. Under the 2010 bylaw to Dubai's interim register law, a buyer can ask the court to end the contract if the developer refuses to link payments to the construction milestones proposed by RERA, the Real Estate Regulatory Agency. UK government guidance on buying in the UAE makes the same practical point: know how much you will be expected to pay and when.

Before you sign, compare the payment schedule with how far the building has actually got. The Land Department's Project Status Enquiry shows a project's completion percentage by project name or number. A plan that asks for most of the price while the site is at an early stage leaves more of your money exposed if the work stops. Ask the developer to show which milestone triggers each instalment.

What is the 4% DLD fee, and who pays it?

It is the Dubai Land Department (DLD) registration fee, 4% of the sale value. The official fee pages for both off-plan (Oqood) registration and the sale of a completed property list it as 2% payable by the seller and 2% by the buyer, plus small fixed charges. On an off-plan sale from the developer, the seller is the developer.

The 2010 bylaw says each side pays its share of registration fees "unless otherwise agreed", so a contract can move the seller's 2% onto you. Read the fee clause before you pay a booking deposit, and ask for the Oqood fee receipt once the sale is registered.

What is Oqood, and why does registration matter?

Oqood is the Land Department's interim property register for homes sold before completion. The developer must register your signed contract on it within 90 days of signing, and you receive a provisional registration certificate by email. Under Dubai Law 13 of 2008, any sale of an off-plan unit that is not entered on this register is void.

The same law bars developers from selling off-plan before they hold the land and the approvals they need, and makes a contract in an unapproved project null and void. A developer that wants to sell off-plan must also be on the Land Department's register of developers and open an escrow account first.

When the building has its completion certificate and you have met your obligations under the contract, the developer must register the unit in your name on the main property register, together with any car park allocated to it. If the developer refuses, you can ask the Land Department to do it.

How does escrow protect your payments?

Dubai Law 8 of 2007 requires every off-plan project to have its own escrow account, opened in the project's name with an escrow agent approved by the Land Department, which lists them as escrow trustees. Buyers' payments go into it, the money may only be spent on building that project, and the developer's creditors cannot seize it.

A broker selling for the developer must pay your money into the escrow account and may not take commission out of it first. You may see and copy the account records for your own payments. When the building gets its completion certificate, 5% of the account stays with the escrow agent until a year after the units are registered in the buyers' names.

The protection covers money paid into the project account, so a transfer to a salesperson's or agency's own account falls outside it. Escrow controls how your money is spent; it does nothing to protect the flat's value. The Land Department publishes lists of approved developers and escrow agents, and the account details should appear in your contract.

Can you sell an off-plan flat before completion?

Yes. Dubai law allows a unit on the interim register to be sold or mortgaged before completion, and the Land Department's own answer is that resale is possible once the developer issues a no-objection certificate (NOC). The new buyer's purchase must then be entered on the interim register, or the sale is void.

The developer may not charge you for a resale beyond the administrative costs the Land Department has approved. What the developer may require before issuing the NOC, such as a minimum share of the price already paid, is not set out on the official pages, so ask for those conditions in writing before you sign the original contract.

What happens if you cannot keep up the instalments?

The developer has to report the missed payments to the Land Department, which gives you 30 days' written notice to pay and may try to broker a settlement. If neither happens, the Land Department issues a document confirming the project's completion percentage, and the developer's options depend on that figure, under Article 11 of Law 13 of 2008 as amended in 2020.

The percentages are of the unit's contract value, not of what you have paid. A buyer who has paid 30% of the price on a building that is 70% complete could therefore lose all of it. Any refund due must be paid within a year of cancellation, or within 60 days of the unit being resold, whichever is sooner. The amended article sets no figure for a project that has not started through the developer's own fault.

The developer needs no court order for this, though you can still take the matter to court or arbitration yourself. For the Land Department to remove your registration, the developer's warning letter may claim only unpaid instalments of the price, not fines, registration fees or service charges. The 2020 amendment replaced an older rule that let developers keep up to 30% when work had not started, so check the date of any summary you read.

What if the developer does not finish the building?

If a project stalls, the escrow agent must work with the Land Department either to get it finished or to refund buyers. If RERA cancels the project, money in the escrow account is to be paid back within 14 days, and anything the account cannot cover must be refunded by the developer within 60 days, unless RERA extends that period.

The Land Department cannot cancel your contract at your request; if you want to get out while the project is still going ahead, you will need to go to the real estate court. The bylaw lets a buyer ask the court to end the contract when the developer refuses to hand over the final sale contract, departs materially from the agreed specification, or delivers a unit unfit for use because of serious construction defects.

Units are registered by net area, and a shortfall of more than 5% entitles you to compensation (see the questions below). UK government guidance, last updated in January 2020, notes that the British Embassy cannot take part in private legal disputes and that only a local lawyer can represent you in the UAE.

What should you check before signing?

You can do several of these checks on the Land Department's website or app; the rest are questions for the developer and your own lawyer. Do them before you pay a booking deposit. Once the building is handed over you will also pay an annual service charge; Dubai service charges explained covers how it is set.

• The developer is on the Land Department's list of approved developers, and the project appears in Project Status Enquiry with a completion percentage.
• The contract names the project's escrow account and its approved escrow agent as the place for every payment, including the deposit.
• Each instalment is tied to a construction milestone, not only to a calendar date.
• The fee clause says who pays each 2% share of the Land Department fee.
• You have the developer's written conditions for a resale NOC, and any administrative fee for it.
• The unit's net area, and any car park number, are written into the contract.
• A local lawyer has read the default and cancellation clauses against Article 11 of Law 13 of 2008.

Frequently asked questions

Can I pay the deposit to the agent?

Not into the agent's own account. Payments for an off-plan unit belong in the project's escrow account, and a broker who collects money must pay it in there without deducting commission first.

What if the finished flat is smaller than the plan?

Units are registered by net area. If the actual area is more than 5% below the net area in your contract, the developer must compensate you, based on the agreed price.

Does escrow mean I cannot lose money?

No. It protects money paid into the project account from being spent elsewhere or seized by the developer's creditors. It does not cover a fall in value, and it does not stop the developer keeping part of the price if you default.

How do I check how far a building has got?

Use the Land Department's Project Status Enquiry on its website, the Dubai REST app or WhatsApp, searching by plot number, project number or project name.

Unit checks, finance and residence are in our checklist for buying a Dubai flat from the UK. If you plan to borrow, how much a bank will lend on an off-plan flat, and when its money is paid out, is covered in Getting a Mortgage in Dubai from the UK.

Residence rules and mortgage limits in three countries are compared in North Cyprus, Dubai or Greece. If you are also looking at North Cyprus, where the rules on stage payments are different, see North Cyprus off-plan risks. When a project on our Dubai new-build projects page interests you, look it up in Project Status Enquiry and ask the developer for a draft contract with the payment schedule, so your lawyer can read it before any money moves.

Sources

We checked the rules against the official texts below on 15 October 2026. English versions of Dubai legislation are unofficial translations; the Arabic text prevails.

• Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007 concerning escrow accounts for real estate development: Dubai Legislation Portal, Articles 3 to 17.
• Dubai Law No. 13 of 2008 regulating the interim property register: Dubai Legislation Portal, with Law No. 9 of 2009 and Law No. 19 of 2020 (Article 11).
• Executive Council Resolution No. 6 of 2010, implementing bylaw of Law No. 13 of 2008: Dubai Legislation Portal.
• Dubai Land Department: Oqood initial sale registration, property sale registration, termination of initial registration, Project Status Enquiry and frequently asked questions.
• UK government: How to buy, rent or let property in the UAE, last updated 26 January 2020.