Oqood and Dubai’s Interim Register
What Registering an Off-Plan Purchase Actually Protects
Buying off-plan in Dubai means paying for something that does not exist yet. Oqood is the mechanism that turns those payments into a recorded legal interest — and under Article 3(1) of Law No. 13 of 2008, a disposition that never reaches the register is void. This is what the statute says, what registration costs, and exactly what happens if a buyer stops paying.
A Register for Property That Does Not Exist Yet
Every property register has the same basic problem with off-plan sales: you cannot issue a title deed for an apartment that is currently a hole in the ground. Dubai’s answer was to create a second, parallel register for purchases made before completion. Oqood — Arabic for contracts — is the Dubai Land Department system through which a purchase is entered on that register.
The register itself is defined in Article 2 of Law No. 13 of 2008 as documents maintained by the Department, in written or electronic format, recording sale contracts, off-plan sales and other off-plan legal dispositions. It is a real government record, not a developer’s internal ledger, and that distinction is the entire point.
Article 3(1) is where the law stops being administrative and starts being consequential. It requires that any sale, or any other legal disposition that transfers or restricts ownership of an off-plan unit, be entered in the Interim Property Register — and provides that such dispositions are void unless entered in that register. A signed sales and purchase agreement is not, on its own, a registered interest. If the entry was never made, the law does not treat the disposition as a weak claim; it treats it as no claim at all.
The law also constrains developers upstream of any sale. Article 4 prohibits a developer from commencing a project or selling units before taking possession of the land and obtaining the required approvals, which is what stops a project being marketed off a plot the developer does not control. At the other end, Article 8 requires completed projects to be registered once the completion certificate is received — the moment the interim entry converts into permanent registration and a title deed becomes possible.
Registration sits alongside, not instead of, the escrow regime. One protects where your money goes; the other protects what you get for it. Both need to be checked, and neither substitutes for the other.
Oqood at a Glance — 2026
Interim Real Property Register, Dubai
What Happens If an Off-Plan Buyer Stops Paying
This is the part of the law buyers most need and least often read. Article 11, as amended by Law No. 19 of 2017, replaces a developer’s discretion with a fixed procedure and a sliding scale tied to how far construction has actually progressed.
| Completion Status | What the Developer May Do | Maximum Retained | Refund Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Over 80% complete | Retain all sums paid and claim the balance, request sale of the unit at auction, or terminate unilaterally | Up to 40% of unit value | Within 1 year of termination, or 60 days from resale, whichever is earlier |
| 60% to 80% complete | Terminate the off-plan sale agreement unilaterally | Up to 40% of unit value | Within 1 year of termination, or 60 days from resale, whichever is earlier |
| Below 60%, work commenced | Terminate the off-plan sale agreement unilaterally | Up to 25% of unit value | Within 1 year of termination, or 60 days from resale, whichever is earlier |
| Work not commenced, for reasons beyond the developer’s control | Terminate the off-plan sale agreement | Ödenen tutarlar 30%'ye kadar | Within 60 days of termination |
| Project cancelled by RERA | No retention — the developer must refund all payments made by purchasers | Nil | Per the procedures of Law No. 8 of 2007 |
Source: Explanatory Notes on Article (11) of Law No. (19) of 2017 Amending Law No. (13) of 2008 Regulating the Interim Real Property Register in the Emirate of Dubai, Dubai Legislation Portal (dlp.dubai.gov.ae), retrieved 19 August 2026. Percentages are statutory maximums, not automatic entitlements.
What Interim Registration Does — and What It Does Not
Registration is a strong protection against one category of risk and no protection at all against another. Knowing which is which is the difference between informed confidence and misplaced comfort.
Entry on the Interim Property Register places your purchase on a government record rather than in a developer’s private files. Article 3(1) makes that entry the thing that gives the disposition legal effect at all.
Because dispositions of a unit must be entered on a single central register, the register is what makes it possible to establish that a specific unit has already been sold, rather than relying on a developer’s word.
Article 8 requires developers to register completed projects on receipt of the completion certificate. The interim entry is the bridge from an off-plan contract to permanent registration and a title deed.
Registration records who bought what. It does not promise the building will be finished, finished on time, or finished to the specification in the brochure. Those are commercial and construction risks the register does not touch.
Custody of your instalments is governed by the separate escrow regime under Law No. 8 of 2007. Check both: our guide to Dubai escrow accounts covers what that law does and does not protect.
A registered interest does not immunise a buyer who stops paying. Article 11 sets out a route to termination and de-registration — see also whether a developer can forfeit your instalments.
Considering an off-plan unit in Dubai?
Tell us the project and TruHauz will check the developer registration, the escrow arrangement and the interim register position before you sign anything.
Three Assumptions That Cost Off-Plan Buyers Money
None of these require a dishonest developer. They are ordinary gaps between what a buyer believes has happened and what has actually been recorded.
Assuming the SPA Is the Registration
Signing a sales and purchase agreement and paying a deposit feels like completing a purchase, so buyers reasonably assume the legal side is done. It is not. Article 3(1) makes entry on the Interim Property Register the step that gives the disposition legal effect. Ask for evidence of the entry, in writing, and treat its absence as an open item rather than an administrative delay to be chased later.
Treating Retention Caps as the Likely Outcome
The percentages in Article 11 are statutory ceilings on what a developer may retain, not a schedule of what a developer will retain. What actually happens is shaped by the thirty day Land Department notice period, by the settlement the Department attempts during it, and by the contract itself. Buyers who read the caps as a fixed penalty often give up on a negotiation that was still available.
Budgeting the 4% and Nothing Else
The 4% Land Department registration fee is the large, memorable number, so it becomes the whole budget. Administrative charges, certificate issuance and the standard knowledge and innovation levies sit on top of it. Published figures for those smaller items vary between sources, which is precisely why the itemised Land Department breakdown should come from the developer in writing rather than from a rounded estimate.
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The questions off-plan buyers ask most often about Oqood and Dubai’s interim property register.
Buying Off-Plan in Dubai?
TruHauz is a RERA-licensed Dubai brokerage. We check the developer registration, the project escrow arrangement and the interim register position before a client commits — and we set out the full fee picture in writing first.
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