How to Check a Dubai Developer: An Off-Plan Due Diligence Checklist

You can check a Dubai developer yourself, for free, in about an hour. Nearly everything you need is in official Dubai Land Department services: the developer register, project status, the escrow account and inspection data. Below is the checklist I use before every off-plan purchase, even with well-known names.

Keep in mind that you're checking a specific project as well as the company. A strong developer can still have a project that isn't registered yet, or an SPA with the wrong bank details in it.

Step 1. The developer is on the DLD register

Under Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007, no developer may carry on real estate development unless it is entered in the DLD Register of Real Estate Developers and licensed by the competent authorities (full text ↗, Article 4).

To check, use the Approved Developers ↗ service on the DLD website or in the Dubai REST app. Anyone can use it, and results come back immediately.

Then match two things:

• the legal entity named in your SPA is the one on the register;
• the same entity appears as the developer on the project card in Mashrooi (step 2).

Brand names and legal entities often differ, and that's fine. I'd worry about an SPA in the name of a company that appears neither on the register nor on the project card.

Step 2. The project is registered: Mashrooi in Dubai REST

A registered company is only half the answer, because every project is registered separately. The developer applies through the Oqood portal, has the units surveyed, opens an escrow account and receives an electronic project registration certificate (Register Project service ↗).

You can look the project up in the Dubai REST ↗ app under Project Status (Mashrooi), or on the Project Status Enquiry ↗ page, by project name or number.

These are the fields I look at on the project card:

The same search shows Completed projects, which gives you the developer's track record.

I go into completion percentages and inspection data in more depth in how to check construction progress.

Step 3. Money goes to the escrow account only

For me this is the most important step. The escrow account is opened in the project's name and can only be used to build that project. The developer's creditors can't attach the funds in it. A developer with several projects must keep a separate escrow account for each one (Law No. 8 of 2007 ↗, Article 9).

The DLD FAQ ↗ adds a few details:

• escrow payments go mainly to the project's contractors and consultants, and marketing may take only 5% of total sales;
• money is released by construction milestone, once the escrow bank's engineer has checked the site;
• 5% of the amount paid into escrow is held back for one year after completion as security for fixing defects.

RERA also instructs brokers to tell buyers to pay only into the project's escrow account (Brokerage Practice Guide 2024 ↗, off-plan marketing section).

In practice, the bank details in the SPA and on every invoice must match the escrow details in Mashrooi. If you're asked to send a booking fee "to the company account", to a salesperson's personal account, or in cash, stop and ask for an explanation in writing.

There's more in the Dubai escrow account explained.

Step 4. The project has a financial cushion

To register a project, the developer has to provide a 30% guarantee in one of three ways (Register Project terms ↗):

• 30% of construction already completed;
• a bank guarantee covering 30% of construction;
• a cash deposit equivalent to 30%.

The land also has to be in a freehold or long-term lease area, with a title deed in place. You don't have to verify any of this yourself: if Mashrooi shows the project as registered, DLD has already checked it. It's what separates a registered project from a rumoured "pre-launch".

Step 5. The marketing is authorised

By law, a developer may not advertise off-plan units or promote them at exhibitions without written authorisation from DLD (Law No. 8 of 2007 ↗, Article 5).

Brokers need a Trakheesi permit for any property advertisement, and the permit number has to appear on the ad (Brokerage Practice Guide 2024 ↗). Since April 2023 every permit has come with a Madmoun QR code. When you scan it, you see the approved ad details and who the advertiser is (DLD announcement ↗).

If there's no permit and no QR code, I'd have doubts about the seller and possibly about the project. To check the broker, see how to verify a broker and a listing.

Step 6. Your contract will be registered in Oqood

After the SPA is signed, the developer registers the sale in DLD's interim register through the Oqood portal. DLD's service terms give 90 days from signing to do this, and the buyer receives a provisional registration e-certificate by email (Request to register the initial sale ↗).

If a developer refuses or drags its feet, the buyer can apply to DLD directly with supporting documents (DLD FAQ ↗).

I explain why this registration matters in what Oqood is.

Step 7. Read the SPA, not the brochure

A brochure sells. The contract is what protects you, if it's written well. In every SPA I read:

• the payment plan: amounts, dates, links to construction milestones, anything due after handover;
• the late payment penalties, how they accrue and from which day;
• the completion date and permitted delay, meaning what counts as late and what you get if it is;
• resale before handover, including if a NOC is needed and at what percentage paid it is issued;
• finishes and specification, and what is left "at the developer's discretion";
• what happens if the final area differs.

If the plan includes post-handover instalments, read payment plans and post-handover pitfalls first.

Step 8. Visit finished buildings as a resident would

The register confirms that the company is legitimate. How it builds is another matter, so I:

• visit the developer's completed buildings and look at the lobby, lifts, parking and how the facade has held up after a few years;
• look up its finished projects in the Service Charge Index ↗ to see what running costs look like;
• talk to building managers and residents when I can.

From my practice. With one client we were choosing a 3BR in Peninsula Four, Business Bay, before handover, working from the floor plans. In tower A the view is partly blocked by tower B, so we searched only in tower B. A brochure won't show you that. You see it on the site plan and on site.

Red flags that make me stop a deal

• The project isn't in Mashrooi, but you're offered a "private pre-launch" with a booking fee before registration.
• The booking fee or first payment is requested anywhere other than the project escrow account.
• The legal entity in the SPA doesn't match the developer on the project card.
• Completion hasn't moved and the last inspection is old. The DLD FAQ ↗ treats a project technical report as expired three months after the last one.
• The ad has no permit number and no Madmoun QR code.
• Nobody gives a straight answer when you ask when your contract will be registered in Oqood.
• You're pushed to sign today "because the price goes up tomorrow", but nobody sends you the draft SPA.

With one flag, I ask questions in writing. With two or more, I look at another project.

If a project is cancelled

Nobody likes this scenario, but you should know how it works. According to the DLD FAQ ↗:

• after a cancellation decision, the liquidation department asks the developer to refund investors within 60 days. RERA can extend this if there are grounds, and if the developer doesn't comply, the matter goes to court;
• funds in a cancelled project's escrow account move to the DLD trust account and are distributed to beneficiaries in full or pro rata;
• DLD cannot terminate a contract at an investor's request. If a project hasn't been cancelled and you want your money back, that's for the courts.

Escrow protects the money, but you still need to do the checks. The earlier you spot a problem, the more options you have.

The short version

1. The developer is on the DLD approved list ↗.
2. The project is in Mashrooi and active.
3. Completion and the last inspection date are recent.
4. SPA bank details match the Mashrooi escrow account.
5. The ad has a permit and a Madmoun QR code.
6. The SPA will be registered in Oqood and you'll receive the certificate.
7. You have read the penalties, dates, resale terms and post-handover clauses.
8. You have seen at least one finished building by this developer.

The projects I work with are in Off-plan. If you buy off-plan direct from the developer, my service costs you nothing.

Want a second pair of eyes?

Send me the project name and the draft SPA on WhatsApp. We'll go through the checklist together, and I'll point out what to resolve before your first payment. If you plan to finance the handover payment, run the numbers in the calculator first.