Services · Off-plan and pre-construction
In off-plan, the contract matters more than the plan
Buying off-plan means buying a contractual promise, not a property. What determines the risk is not the model or the render: it is the developer's solidity, the mechanism protecting the payments, the penalties for delay, and what the contract allows you to do if what is delivered differs from what was promised.
That is why our analysis begins with the documents rather than with a visit to the show apartment. The show apartment is always good. It is the contract that varies.
What you are actually buying
You are buying the right to receive, at a future date, an asset described in writing. Anything not described in writing is not being bought: the orientation promised verbally, the finish of the show apartment, the area the plan implies and the date the sales agent gives all exist only if they are in the contract.
The render is marketing material, and it is legitimate for it to be. What is not legitimate is for it to stand in for the specification. When we ask for the schedule of finishes and receive images instead, that is itself a data point about the developer.
A scale model has no clauses. The real price of the risk is in the clauses.
What we verify before recommending an entry
Five checks common to all three markets, before any payment is made. The sixth, specific to Dubai, follows below.
| What we verify | Why it matters | What we look for |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Developer record | Delivery risk is, in practice, developer risk. A well-designed scheme by a developer who does not finish buildings is an unfinished building. | Completed and handed-over schemes, documented average delay against the contractual date, live litigation, and which company actually signs the contract. |
| 02 Protection of the payments | It determines what happens to your money if construction stops. It is the difference between a delay and a loss. | A project escrow account, who controls it, registration of the unit with the competent authority, and the exact conditions for releasing funds. |
| 03 Payment schedule against construction | Paying against the calendar rather than against construction progress transfers the whole of the risk to the buyer. | Each instalment tied to a verifiable construction milestone rather than to a date. Who certifies the milestone, and how often. |
| 04 Area and specification variation | The area tolerance and the equivalent-materials clause are the two points at which the delivered product moves away from the contracted one. | The permitted variation, the method of measurement, and whether ‘equivalent’ is defined by brand, by standard or by price. |
| 05 Delay, default and exit | A contract with no penalty for delay is a contract in which delay is free for one of the parties. | The contractual delivery date, the grace period, the penalty per day or per month, the excluded causes, and the termination mechanism with repayment. |
In Dubai: Oqood, RERA and the project account
The emirate has its own register for units under construction. Three checks, made with the authorities rather than with the developer.
| Check | What we confirm |
|---|---|
| Oqood registration of the unit | That the specific unit is registered in the Oqood system with the Dubai Land Department (DLD), with the buyer identified and the contract attached. |
| RERA approval of the project | That the scheme is approved by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), the emirate's property regulator, and that the developer is registered to market it. |
| Status of the project account | That a dedicated project escrow account exists and what state it is in, since it governs every release of funds through construction. |
Off-plan and the ten-year residence visa
A property with registered value at or above the threshold below gives access to the ten-year Golden Visa. In 2026 the rules became more accessible: the advance-payment requirement was eased and more than one property may now be aggregated to reach the threshold. In off-plan, what counts is the registered value — which is why the state of the registration is one of the checks rather than a later formality.
AED 2,000,000 of registered value at the Dubai Land Department
The questions we put to the developer
In writing, with the reply attached to the file. A question left unanswered is also an answer.
- 01What is the contractual delivery date, and what grace period applies?
- 02What penalty applies for each month of delay beyond that period?
- 03What percentage of area variation is permitted, and how is area measured?
- 04Where are the payments held until handover, and who authorises each release?
- 05Which instalment attaches to which construction milestone, and who certifies it?
- 06What happens to the contract if the scheme is altered after signature?
- 07On what terms may I assign the contract before handover?
- 08What warranty covers defects after handover, for how long, and against whom is it enforced?
When we say no
An off-plan entry can be a sound decision. It can also be the same decision taken without information. In these cases we recommend against proceeding, and we say so in writing.
- Where neither the escrow account nor the unit registration can be confirmed
- Where the payment schedule is indexed to dates rather than to construction progress
- Where the contract sets no penalty for delay, or sets one only against the buyer
- Where the schedule of finishes exists only as an image
- Where the developer supplies no verifiable delivery record
Before the deposit, the contract
Send us the scheme you are considering, or tell us what you are looking for. We read the contract, check the developer, and report what we found — including when what we found argues for stopping.