Oqood: how off-plan property is registered in Dubai

Oqood is the Dubai Land Department's register for off-plan property. When you buy a unit that has not been built, you do not receive a title deed. You receive an Oqood registration, and that entry is what records your interest in the unit while the building goes up.

It is also, in practical terms, the thing that separates a protected off-plan purchase from an unprotected one.

What Oqood actually does

Off-plan sales in Dubai are governed by a framework the Dubai Land Department built after 2008 to stop buyers paying developers for projects that never completed. Two mechanisms carry most of the weight.

The first is the escrow account. A developer selling off-plan has to hold buyer payments in a project specific escrow account regulated by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency, and can only draw against it as construction milestones are certified. Your money is not general working capital.

The second is Oqood. Every off-plan sale is registered on it, in your name, against a specific unit in a specific registered project. That registration is what gives you a recorded position with the Dubai Land Department before there is anything to hold a deed over.

How registration happens

The developer initiates it. After you sign the sale and purchase agreement and make the first payment, the developer submits the sale to Oqood and pays the registration fee, which is customarily passed to the buyer. It is 4 per cent of the purchase price, mirroring the transfer fee on a completed property, plus an administrative charge.

You should receive an Oqood certificate showing your name, the unit, the project and the registered price. If you have paid a deposit and several months later still have no certificate, that is a question worth asking loudly.

What to check before you sign

• Is the project registered with the Dubai Land Department? An unregistered project cannot register your purchase. Ask for the project registration number.
• Is there a project escrow account, and are you paying into it? Payments should go to the escrow account, not to a developer's general account and never to an individual.
• Does the sale and purchase agreement match what you were sold? Unit number, size, floor, view, specification, handover date, payment schedule.
• What is the developer's completion record? Established names such as Emaar, Sobha, Ellington, Nakheel's Palm Jumeirah entity and DAMAC have long delivery histories you can check. Newer developers may be perfectly sound but deserve more questions. Our guide to choosing a property developer in Dubai sets out what to look at.
• What happens if handover is late? The agreement should say. Read the clause rather than the sales pitch.

Selling before handover

You can resell an off-plan unit before completion, and many investors do. Two conditions usually apply. The developer normally requires a minimum percentage of the price to have been paid, commonly between 30 and 50 per cent, and the developer has to consent and issue a no objection certificate for the assignment. The Oqood entry is then transferred to the new buyer.

Developers charge an administrative fee for this and some restrict it entirely in the first phase of a launch. Check the clause before you buy if resale before handover is part of your plan. Our comparison of off-plan or ready to move works through the trade off.

From Oqood to title deed

At handover the sequence changes. The developer completes the building, obtains its completion certificate, and hands over the unit. Your Oqood registration is then converted to a title deed in your name at the Dubai Land Department. You inspect before you accept, which is what our guide to snagging and handover is for, and from that point the property is registered as a completed asset with all the rights that carries, including the ability to mortgage or sell it normally. Our note on the Dubai title deed covers what to check on the new document.

Where off-plan buyers get caught

The pattern is consistent. A buyer pays a reservation fee before reading the sale and purchase agreement, pays into an account that is not the project escrow, never chases the Oqood certificate, and only discovers the gap when they try to sell two years later. None of that is exotic. All of it is avoidable in one afternoon of checking.

If you are looking at launches now, our off-plan projects page shows what is currently selling and who is building it, and you can browse by developer to see delivery history in one place. If you want a second opinion on a specific unit, talk to us.

Frequently asked questions

What is Oqood in Dubai?

Oqood is the Dubai Land Department's registration system for off-plan property sales. It records a buyer's interest in a specific unit in a specific registered project before the building is complete, which is the period during which no title deed exists. It is the off-plan equivalent of being on the register.

How much does Oqood registration cost?

The registration fee is 4 per cent of the purchase price plus an administrative charge, which mirrors the transfer fee on a completed property. The developer submits the registration, and the fee is customarily passed on to the buyer as part of the purchase costs rather than absorbed by the developer.

Is my money safe when buying off-plan in Dubai?

Off-plan payments must be made into a project specific escrow account regulated by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency, and the developer can only draw against it as construction milestones are certified. That protection only works if you actually pay into the escrow account, so confirm the account details against the project registration rather than accepting whatever is on an invoice.

Can I sell an off-plan property before handover?

Usually yes, once you have paid a minimum percentage of the price, commonly between 30 and 50 per cent depending on the developer, and once the developer consents and issues a no objection certificate. The Oqood entry is then assigned to the new buyer. Some developers restrict resale during the first phase of a launch, so check the clause before you commit.

When does Oqood become a title deed?

At handover. Once the developer has completed the project, obtained its completion certificate and handed the unit over, the Oqood registration is converted into a title deed in the buyer's name at the Dubai Land Department. Only from that point does the property behave like a fully completed registered asset.

What if the developer does not register my purchase on Oqood?

Ask for the certificate in writing and escalate to the developer's compliance team if it does not arrive. An unregistered off-plan sale leaves you without a recorded position with the Dubai Land Department, which is exactly the exposure the system was built to remove. If the project itself turns out not to be registered, that is a reason to stop rather than to negotiate.