A client called me last month, worried. She'd seen a news story about a stalled Dubai project and wanted to know if her own off-plan deposit was safe. I asked her one question: "Is your unit registered on Oqood?" She didn't know what that meant. That gap — between paying a developer and actually being protected — is exactly what this article closes.
Off-plan property makes up the majority of Dubai transactions right now, which means most buyers reading this are handing over money for something that doesn't exist yet. RERA and the Oqood system are the two mechanisms doing the actual work of protecting that money. Here's what they really do, not the marketing-brochure version.
What Oqood Actually Is
Oqood (Arabic for "contracts") is the Dubai Land Department's digital registration system for off-plan property. When you sign a Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) for a unit that hasn't been built yet, the developer registers that agreement on Oqood. This creates an official record, in your name, of your interest in that specific unit — years before a physical title deed can exist.
This isn't a nice-to-have. Under Law No. 13 of 2008 Regulating the Interim Real Property Register in the Emirate of Dubai (amended several times since, most recently by Law No. 19 of 2020), any off-plan sale that isn't entered into this register is legally void. If a developer sells you a unit off the books and never registers it, you don't have a weak claim — under Dubai law, you may not have a legal claim to the unit at all. Registration is what turns a payment into a right.
At handover, the Oqood entry converts into a full title deed (Tasjeel) once the DLD confirms the building has been completed and handed over. Until then, Oqood is your proof of ownership.
What Actually Happens When You Sign
Two things get triggered the moment you sign the SPA: the DLD's 4% registration fee becomes payable, and the developer takes on a legal obligation to register your contract on Oqood. Most established developers do this within days to a couple of weeks. Your SPA will state a specific registration window — read that clause, and if the registration hasn't happened by the date it promises, follow up with the developer in writing. Don't assume it happened just because you paid.
You can check this yourself. The Dubai REST app — the DLD's own free app — lets you look up a project or unit and see its official registration status, escrow account details, and construction completion percentage, pulled directly from DLD records rather than from the developer's own marketing.
What RERA Requires Before a Developer Can Even Sell You a Unit
This is the part most buyers never see, because it happens before the sales office opens. RERA — the Real Estate Regulatory Agency, the arm of DLD that oversees this — won't let a developer market or sell an off-plan unit until several things are in place:
- The developer is licensed and listed on DLD's official register of real estate developers.
- The developer can prove it owns the land, or holds a valid right to develop it.
- The project has its planning and building approvals.
- A project-specific escrow account has been opened with a RERA-approved bank — this is a separate law (No. 8 of 2007) with its own detailed rules, worth understanding on its own terms.
- The developer has shown real financial commitment to the build, commonly cited as depositing around 20% of construction cost in cash or a bank guarantee, before marketing begins.
In plain terms: a developer can't just rent a sales office and start taking deposits. There's a gate in front of them, and RERA is the one holding it. That doesn't make every project safe — it makes every project that clears the gate provably further along than a promise on a brochure.
If a Project Stalls or Gets Cancelled
This is the honest part nobody puts on the sales deck. Off-plan carries real delivery risk, and RERA protection is not a guarantee nothing goes wrong — it's a framework for what happens if it does.
If a project is formally cancelled by a reasoned RERA decision, the developer is required to refund payments made by buyers. Dubai also set up a special judicial committee specifically to handle the liquidation of cancelled projects, under a 2013 decree, so buyers aren't left arguing in a general court queue. For projects that are simply delayed rather than cancelled, your SPA will typically define a grace period — commonly 6 to 12 months past the promised completion date — before you can formally pursue compensation, contract termination, or a refund from the escrow account.
The honest caveat: these processes exist and they do work, but they take time, and a refund from escrow depends on how much of that money the developer had already legitimately drawn down for verified construction milestones. Protection under this system is real, but it isn't instant, and it isn't the same as the unit simply getting built on time.
Reselling Before Handover
If you want to sell an off-plan unit before it's finished, the developer typically requires you to have paid 30-40% of the contract value before they'll issue a No Objection Certificate (NOC) allowing the resale — the exact figure is set in your SPA, not by a general rule. When the resale happens, it's registered as an Oqood-to-Oqood transfer, and the DLD's 4% fee is charged again on the new sale price, on top of whatever developer NOC or transfer fee applies. It's worth pricing all of that into your exit math before you buy, not after.
The Golden Visa Connection
Worth flagging for anyone reading this with residency in mind, alongside what I've written on the Golden Visa's property pathway: off-plan property now counts toward the AED 2 million Golden Visa threshold based on the full purchase price registered on Oqood — not just the amount you've physically paid so far. That means a payment plan purchase can qualify you for the visa application before you've paid the unit off in full, as long as the total contract value clears the threshold and the developer is RERA-approved. This is a relatively recent change, so if this is part of your reason for buying, confirm the current rule directly with a visa-authorized typing centre or your developer's PRO before relying on it.
How to Check Before You Buy
- Confirm the developer is on DLD's registered developer list — not just active on Instagram or at a property expo.
- Ask for the project's escrow account details and check them against the Dubai REST app, not just the developer's word.
- Get the Oqood registration timeline written into your SPA, and follow up in writing if it's missed.
- Ask what percentage of the project is actually built today — the REST app shows this, independent of the sales team's answer.
- If freehold status or Golden Visa eligibility matters to your decision, confirm both are actually what's being registered on your specific unit — see my freehold vs leasehold breakdown for how that status is decided property by property, not by area reputation.
Oqood and RERA don't make off-plan risk-free — nothing does. What they do is turn "trust the developer" into "verify the record." That's the whole point of the system, and it only works for you if you actually use it before you sign, not after something's gone wrong.
Have a question about this? Message me directly — no forms, no gatekeeping.
Chat on WhatsAppDisclaimer
This article explains how the Oqood registration system and RERA's developer-gatekeeping rules generally work under Law No. 13 of 2008 (as amended) and related Dubai Land Department regulations, based on official legislation and reputable industry reporting at the time of writing. Specific figures — registration timelines, resale payment thresholds, developer capital deposits — are commonly cited industry norms and can vary by project or change by regulation; always confirm the exact terms in your own SPA and directly with the Dubai Land Department or a licensed conveyancer before relying on them. Nothing here is legal or financial advice.