Before you pay a booking amount, you should know who the developer is, whether the project's records are in order and what the contract commits you to. We run those checks with you on official Dubai Land Department services and explain what we find in plain terms.
We confirm the developer's legal name and licence, and the name of the project as it appears in DLD records.
We look up the project status and escrow details, and compare them with what the sales material says.
We go through the payment schedule, handover date, delay terms, area tolerance and default terms, and list the questions to raise with the developer or a lawyer.
You receive a short summary of what we checked, what we found and what is still open, so you can decide with the facts in front of you.
We tell you where our role ends, so you know when to bring in a lawyer, a lender or a tax adviser.
Some points always deserve a second question. A request to pay into any account other than the project escrow account is one. Brokers must pay off-plan buyer money straight into the project escrow account, without deducting commission. An advert without a permit is another. Every real estate advert needs a Trakheesi permit, and the permit number and QR code must appear on the advert. You can check a permit on the DLD ad permit service.
In the contract, look at what happens if the unit is smaller than agreed. Under the Dubai interim register bylaw, the developer must compensate you if the unit is more than 5% smaller than the net area in the contract. Promises about future returns or rent are a warning sign, not a feature. Our guide to what to check in an off-plan sales agreement covers the main clauses.
No. We advise across developers. We work with 40+ developer partners, and we also advise on projects by Emaar, Sobha, Nakheel, Meraas and Aldar, which are not partners. We run the same checks whoever the developer is.
Yes, and we encourage it. Project status and escrow details are on DLD's Project Status Enquiry (Mashrooi) on the DLD website and in the Dubai REST app, and licensed developers and brokers are listed on the Dubai Land Department website. We show you where to look and how to read what you find.
Yes. The checks use online DLD services, and we can go through the results and the contract with you by phone or WhatsApp in any of our 7 languages: English, Arabic, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam and Punjabi.
Official sources used on this page. Each was checked on the date shown.
8 min read
In Dubai, buyers' payments for off-plan property go into a separate escrow account for each project, held by a bank or financial institution accredited by DLD. The money can be used only for building that project, is released as construction stages are verified, and cannot be attached by the developer's creditors. Escrow lowers the risk of losing your payments, but it does not protect against delay, design changes or a fall in value.
8 min read
To evaluate a Dubai developer, start with DLD's official registers, then look at evidence of how it delivers. Confirm the developer is licensed and the project is registered, with an escrow account, in DLD's project status service. Then look at the developer's delivery record in DLD's project data, the build quality of finished communities, the fairness of its contract terms and how its buildings are managed after handover. Unregistered projects, payments outside escrow and pressure to pay quickly are red flags.
4 min read
You can check an off-plan project, its developer, the broker and the advert yourself on the Dubai Land Department's official services. Search the project in DLD's Project Status Enquiry (Mashrooi), confirm the developer and brokerage are licensed, check the broker in the licensed broker list, and look for the advertising permit number and QR code. This guide shows each check, what to do if something does not match, and how to verify us.
Every consultation is free, with no obligation. Our team speaks 7 languages.