How to check an off-plan project and developer in Dubai before you buy (2026)

People often ask which developers in Dubai are the most reliable. The honest answer is that no government body publishes such a ranking. The Dubai Land Department (DLD) and its regulatory arm, RERA, register developers, register projects, supervise escrow accounts and license brokers. They do not grade developers for buyers, and any "top ten" list you find online reflects the author's view, often an author who is paid by the developers on it.

What DLD does publish is more useful than a ranking. For almost every fact that matters before you pay, there is an official record you can check yourself, free, on your phone. This guide takes you through those checks in the order you would do them, then covers the contract, the developer's track record and the points in a transaction worth clarifying before money moves.

A note on where we stand: OffPlan Insider is paid by developers, not buyers, as their marketing partner, which is why we do not give developers scores. Our methodology explains how we source and date project facts. The checks below are ones you can, and should, run yourself on any project, including ones you find on our site.

This is the single most important check, and it takes a few minutes.

1. Open the service. Install the free Dubai REST app from the App Store or Google Play and choose Project Status (Mashrooi), or use the Project Status Enquiry page on the DLD website.
2. Search by name or number. Search the project name as the developer markets it. If several phases or towers have similar names, ask the seller for the DLD project number and search that instead. The number is the cleanest way to be sure you are looking at the right building.
3. Read the record. DLD's service shows, for each project, the project number and name, its status, the number of units and area, the registration and completion dates, the location, the developer's name, contact details and website, the management company, the escrow account and bank, inspection photographs and remarks. The app also shows the percentage of completion.

What to look for:

• It exists. A project being marketed off-plan should have a DLD record. If you cannot find it, ask the seller for the project number and keep that answer in writing.
• The name matches. The project, tower and developer on DLD should match the brochure, the reservation form and the SPA.
• The dates make sense. Compare the completion date on DLD with the one in the brochure. Small differences are common because dates are updated at different times; a large gap is a question to ask.
• Progress is visible. For a project already under construction, the completion percentage and inspection photographs let you see progress without relying on marketing updates. For a newly launched project, a low or zero percentage is normal.

Our guide to buying off-plan in Dubai step by step shows where this check sits in the full purchase.

Under Article 4 of Law No. 8 of 2007, no developer may sell off-plan in Dubai unless it is recorded in DLD's developer register and licensed by the competent authorities. Article 6 then requires the developer to file a set of documents with DLD before selling, including its trade licence, the title deed of the land and a standard sale contract.

You do not need to see those documents to benefit from the check. In practice:

• Use the project record. The project's DLD entry names the registered developer with its contact details and website. Make sure the company on your reservation form and SPA is that company, not a similarly named one.
• Use Dubai REST's developer information. DLD describes the app as giving access to information about certified developers. If the developer name on your paperwork does not appear, ask why.
• Check the seller's link to the developer. If you are dealing with an agency, it should be able to show that it is authorised to market that developer's project. If you are dealing directly with the developer, the sales office and the email domain should match the website on the DLD record.

Registration tells you that a developer is permitted to sell and has filed what the law requires. It is a gate, not a grade, which is why the later checks matter too.

Every off-plan project in Dubai must have its own escrow account. Under Article 9 of Law No. 8 of 2007 that account is opened in the name of the project, is used only for that project's construction and cannot be attached by the developer's creditors. DLD describes the escrow account as the bank account into which all amounts collected from off-plan buyers are deposited.

The project's DLD record names the escrow bank and account. Treat it as the reference for every transfer:

1. Note the escrow details from DLD Project Status when you first check the project.
2. Compare them with your reservation form and SPA. The payment instructions in both should name the same bank and account.
3. Compare them again with every payment request, including the booking deposit and each instalment. Do not rely on an IBAN in a forwarded email or a chat message without checking it.
4. Keep proof of each payment: the developer's receipt and your own bank confirmation.

Some payments at the start of a purchase are not instalments of the price, such as the 4% DLD fee and the developer's administration charge, and may be paid differently. Ask the developer to set out in writing which amounts go to escrow and which do not. The full mechanics of escrow, including when funds are released and what happens if a project is cancelled, are in our off-plan buyer protection guide.

Off-plan advertising in Dubai is regulated. Article 5 of Law No. 8 of 2007 says a developer may not advertise off-plan units in local or international media without written authorisation from DLD. Advert permits are issued through Trakheesi, DLD's real estate licensing system.

Since 24 April 2023, DLD has required every real estate company to show a QR code from its Madmoun service on its print and audiovisual adverts. Scanning it lets you confirm that the advert has been approved and see the advertising company and the property's authorised details. In April 2025 DLD restated the rule for all visual and written adverts and described an AI-assisted platform that monitors listings for compliance.

How to use it:

• Look for the permit number and QR code on the listing, social media post or printed flyer.
• Scan the code and check that the advertiser, project and property details match what you are being offered.
• Use DLD's verification service if there is no code to scan. The licence and permit verification service, on the DLD website and in Dubai REST, checks licences and permits issued through Trakheesi.

An advert without a visible permit is not proof that something is wrong; it may be an informal message forwarded by someone you know. It is a reason to ask for the permitted listing and the broker's details before going further.

Most off-plan sales in Dubai go through a broker, usually paid by the developer on a primary sale. Every broker licensed by RERA has a BRN (broker registration number), and every brokerage office has an ORN (office registration number).

1. Ask for both numbers at the start. A licensed broker will expect the question.
2. Search them on DLD's Licensed Real Estate Brokers service or in Dubai REST. The service searches by broker name, office, mobile number, area and ORN.
3. Match the details. The broker's name and office should match the person you are dealing with, the company on the advert's permit and the agency named on your reservation form.

The broker's licence protects you in a practical way: it ties the person you are dealing with to a regulated office that DLD can hold responsible. If you are asked to deal with someone who cannot give a BRN, ask which licensed office they work for and check that office instead.

The sale and purchase agreement is the contract, and it is drafted by the developer. The law requires the developer to file a standard sale contract with DLD before selling, but there is no single government template that every off-plan SPA follows. Read these clauses before you sign:

• Unit and specification. Unit number, floor, area, layout and finishing specification, and what happens if the final measured area differs from the plan.
• Completion date and grace period. Read the anticipated completion date and the grace period together as one deadline. Grace periods are commonly six to twelve months but are set by each contract.
• Payment schedule. The amount and trigger for each instalment, by date or by construction milestone, and the escrow account details.
• Termination. The notice the developer must give if you miss a payment, and how the statutory limits apply. Article 11 of Law No. 19 of 2020 sets what a developer may retain on termination according to how far the project has progressed, and provides for a full refund where construction never commenced for reasons beyond the developer's control or RERA cancels the project.
• Assignment. The percentage you must pay before you may resell, and the fees for the developer's no objection certificate.
• Defects. The defects liability period for mechanical, electrical and plumbing works, which is contractual, so check it is written in.
• Service charges. The estimated rate, and whether a master community charge applies on top.

Compare the payment schedule in the SPA with the brochure and the reservation form; it is the signed documents that bind you. This guide is not legal advice. For a purchase you would struggle to walk away from, an independent property lawyer's review of the SPA costs little relative to the price. Our guide to the true cost of buying off-plan in Dubai lists the fees that sit alongside the price, so the totals in the SPA hold no surprises.

Oqood is DLD's interim real property register, created by Law No. 13 of 2008. Article 3 of that law makes any sale of an off-plan unit void unless it is entered in the register. Registration is what gives your purchase legal existence.

The developer files the registration, not you. DLD's initial sale registration service lists the signed sale contract and the buyer's Emirates ID or passport as the documents, the 4% registration fee, and a 90-day deadline from signing. The result is a provisional registration e-certificate, usually called the Oqood certificate.

Ask the developer for your certificate and check that your name, the unit and the price are correct. Keep it with your SPA and payment receipts. It is your evidence of ownership until handover, and it is what a bank or a resale buyer will ask for.

Once a project passes the official checks, the remaining question is about the developer's delivery record. This is where opinion tends to take over, so keep to evidence you can see.

• Completed projects on DLD. Search the names of the developer's earlier projects on DLD Project Status. Finished projects are listed with a completed status alongside their registration and completion dates. The developer's own website usually lists its completed projects, which gives you names to search.
• Buildings you can visit. Visit one or two completed projects, preferably a few years old. Look at the common areas, lifts, landscaping and the condition of finishes. Talk to residents or the building's management office if you can. A building after five years tells you more than a show unit.
• Years active and scale. Note how long the developer has been delivering in Dubai and how many projects it has completed. A newer developer is not a weaker one, but it has less history for you to check, so the escrow and contract checks carry more weight.
• Same segment, same scale. A developer's record in villas may not tell you much about a high-rise, and the reverse. Compare like with like.
• Current projects. For a developer with several projects under construction, the completion percentages and inspection photographs on DLD Project Status show you work in progress across its portfolio.

Our developer pages list the projects we track for each developer, with handover dates sourced from the developer. Use them as a starting point for names to search, then check the records on DLD.

If you can travel, a visit is worth the time. If you cannot, ask the broker for a live video call from the site rather than recorded footage.

• The plot. For a project under construction, see whether work is visible and broadly consistent with the completion percentage on DLD. For a new launch, see the plot and its surroundings, including what is planned around it.
• The show unit. Show units are often finished to a higher specification than the standard unit or include upgraded furniture and fittings. Ask which items are included in your unit, and check them against the specification schedule in the SPA.
• The neighbourhood. Check access roads, distance to schools, shops and transport, and what is being built nearby that may affect views.

The checks above protect you best when you follow them every time. The situations below do not prove anything is wrong, but each is a reason to pause and get a clear answer in writing before money moves.

• A payment account that is not the escrow account. Ask the developer, through its official contact on the DLD record, to confirm the account in writing.
• A request to pay in cash. Off-plan instalments are normally paid by bank transfer or cheque to the escrow account. Cash also triggers reporting rules for real estate transactions under UAE anti-money laundering law.
• No permit or QR code on the advert. Ask for the permitted listing and the broker's BRN.
• A broker who cannot give a BRN or ORN, or whose details do not match the advert.
• A "pre-launch" EOI with no DLD project number. EOIs are common before a launch. Ask whether the project is registered, who holds the money and in which account, whether the amount is refundable and whether it is credited against the booking deposit.
• Pressure to decide on the spot. Launches do move quickly, but you should still have time to run the checks in this guide, which take less than an hour. A short delay to verify is reasonable at any launch.
• Paperwork that differs from the advert. A different price, payment plan, unit size or completion date on the reservation form is a question to resolve before signing.
• A seller who is not the developer or its authorised agent, such as an individual reselling a unit before handover. Resales are legitimate, but they need the developer's no objection certificate and a transfer of the Oqood registration, so ask to see the seller's Oqood certificate first.

Every project we list is checked against the developer's own material, and the facts on each project page carry the date we last checked them. We do not publish opinions about developers or give developers ratings, and lists on our site are ordered only by things we can measure, such as price, handover date or booking deposit. Our methodology sets out the rules in full.

We are paid by developers as their marketing partner, not an independent adviser, so treat our pages as a starting point and run the DLD checks in this guide on any project before you pay. If anything on a project page does not match what you see on DLD, tell us and we will check it with the developer and correct the page.

Each emirate regulates off-plan sales under its own laws, and the tools differ. The principles are the same: a registered developer, a registered project, a project escrow account and a permitted advert.

In Abu Dhabi, ask for the Madhmoun permit number on the listing and check it on ADREC's verification service, and ask the developer for the project's escrow account details. In Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, ask the developer for the project's registration and escrow details and, if you cannot confirm them independently, contact the emirate's registration authority before paying.

1. Have I found the project on DLD Project Status, and do the name, developer and completion date match the brochure?
2. Is the developer on my reservation form and SPA the developer named on the DLD record?
3. Does the escrow account on DLD match the account on my reservation form, SPA and this payment request?
4. Does the advert carry a Trakheesi permit with a Madmoun QR code, and do its details match?
5. Have I checked the broker's BRN and office ORN on DLD's register?
6. Have I read the completion date, grace period, specification, payment schedule and termination clauses in the SPA, ideally with a lawyer?
7. Have I seen at least one of the developer's completed projects, on DLD and in person or on a live call?
8. After signing, have I received my Oqood certificate with the correct name, unit and price?

When you have a shortlist, browse current projects or contact us for the latest price lists and DLD project numbers. None of this is legal or financial advice; take independent professional advice for decisions specific to your circumstances.