A Due-Diligence Checklist for Buying in Dubai

A Dubai purchase typically moves from first viewing to signed reservation within days, and a brochure, a persuasive agent, or a developer's own sales office are not regulatory evidence of anything. Every item in this guide, by contrast, is independently checkable, mostly free, mostly through Dubai Land Department's own systems: the Dubai REST app and dubailand.gov.ae. Running the full set takes an afternoon. Skipping it exposes a commitment that, for most buyers, runs into six or seven figures.

The checklist below is organised by what you are verifying — title, money owed, the developer and project, the NOC, physical condition, and legal standing — rather than by a single linear sequence, because a ready (secondary-market) purchase and an off-plan purchase diverge at several points. Where they diverge, both paths are set out below; where the guidance is common to both, it is written once. A consolidated ready-versus-off-plan table sits near the end for quick reference.

Dubai's Property Register, held by DLD under Law No. (7) of 2006 Concerning Real Property Registration in the Emirate of Dubai, is the decisive legal record of ownership; the law gives the register's data absolute evidentiary weight against third parties unless fraud or forgery is proven. For a ready property, two free DLD services turn that register into a fast check. Title Deed Verification takes a title deed number, issue year and property type and returns one of five statuses: Valid, Mortgaged, Restrained, Blocked or Invalid. Property Status Enquiry goes further, taking an area name and plot or property number and surfacing ownership detail, any active mortgage, legal disputes and blocking reasons. Both are available on dubailand.gov.ae and through the Dubai REST app, and the standard check carries no fee.

Alongside the registry check, confirm the seller's own identity: the Emirates ID or passport presented should match the name on the title deed, and you should either meet the actual registered owner or verify a power of attorney independently before dealing with anyone signing on their behalf. See our guide to powers of attorney in Dubai property purchases for how that verification works, and our guide to avoiding property fraud in Dubai for how impersonation and duplicate-selling scams typically present. For an off-plan unit, there is no title deed yet; the equivalent check is confirming the unit's Oqood registration under Law No. (13) of 2008, covered in the developer and project section below.

Mollak, RERA's platform for owners'-association budgets and service charges, is where a ready property's payment history actually lives. Before agreeing a price, check the current balance and payment record for the specific unit: unpaid service charges reduce what a seller nets from the sale and, more importantly, will block the NOC a resale transfer needs. DLD's own Service Charge Index, accessible through dubailand.gov.ae or Dubai REST, lets you benchmark the specific project's RERA-approved rate per square foot against comparable buildings in the same community — useful both as a cost check and as a sense check on whether a quoted rate is genuinely in line with the market.

Secondary sources commonly describe Dubai service charges as ranging roughly from AED 3 to AED 30 per square foot per year depending on the building and its amenities. Treat this as an indicative range only, and confirm the specific project's approved rate directly through the Service Charge Index rather than relying on a general figure.

For an off-plan purchase, there is no service-charge history yet, since the building has not been handed over. Ask the developer for the projected or estimated rate and compare it against Mollak's published figures for comparable completed buildings in the same community, rather than accepting a marketing estimate at face value.

The same Title Deed Verification and Property Status Enquiry checks above surface this directly. A Mortgaged status means a bank holds a registered charge over the property; the seller's bank will need to issue a liability letter, and at transfer a manager's cheque clears the balance so the mortgage can be discharged before or simultaneously with registration in your name — our guide to the DLD title deed transfer process sets out that sequence in full. A Restrained or Blocked status means a court order, ownership dispute, enforcement action or similar restriction is recorded against the property; nothing should proceed until DLD confirms it has been lifted. For an off-plan unit, the equivalent is confirming through Dubai REST or DLD's project inquiry tools that no restriction is recorded against that specific Oqood interest, and, if you are buying an assignment (a resale before completion), that the developer has formally consented to the transfer.

This matters most for an off-plan purchase and least for a long-completed, fully occupied building, but it is worth a brief check either way. DLD's Licensed Real Estate Developers register and Dubai REST confirm a developer's registration status; the Real Estate Project Status Enquiry service confirms the specific project's own registration and completion percentage, because a licensed developer can still run an individual project that is unregistered. Under Law No. (8) of 2007 Concerning Escrow Accounts, off-plan payments must go into a dedicated project escrow account held by an accredited trustee bank, listed on DLD's Certified Escrow Agents register, not into a developer's general account. Under Law No. (13) of 2008, an off-plan disposition not entered in the Oqood register is void. The broker or agent selling the unit should also hold a valid licence and, for the specific listing, a Trakheesi advertising permit. Our guide to vetting a Dubai developer walks through every one of these checks, screen by screen, with the exact services to use.

For any ready-property resale, DLD requires a No Objection Certificate from the developer or the owners'-association management company, confirming service charges are settled and no violation is recorded against the unit, before it will register the transfer. Fees and processing windows vary by developer and building; our dedicated NOC guide covers current ranges and the application steps in detail. Build the NOC application into your timeline early, since a seller with an outstanding Mollak balance cannot obtain it until that balance is cleared.

Whether the unit is a newly completed off-plan handover or a recently completed resale, an independent, room-by-room inspection before you accept the keys or sign a handover acceptance form is the only reliable way to log defects while they remain the developer's contractual responsibility to fix, inside the defects liability period. Structural issues carry a longer decennial liability under Dubai law, reaffirmed under the new Civil Transactions Law. Our snagging and handover checklist sets out the full room-by-room list and the applicable timelines; the point for this checklist is simpler — never treat a handover as complete on a walkthrough alone, and get every defect recorded in writing before you sign for the keys.

Confirm who is legally entitled to sign: the buyer and seller in person with a valid Emirates ID or passport, or a verified, property-specific power of attorney, followed by the standard RERA Form F memorandum of understanding. Real estate brokers and agents in the UAE are designated non-financial businesses and professions under Cabinet Resolution No. (134) of 2025, the current executive regulation supporting Federal Decree-Law No. (10) of 2025 on Anti-Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation Financing, which took effect in December 2025 and replaced the previous 2018/2019 framework. In practice, this means your broker, and your bank if you are financing the purchase, is required to run customer due diligence and confirm the source of funds before completing a transaction.

The specific documents typically requested for source-of-funds checks are not itemised in primary legislative text here. Expect standard identity, income and fund-source documentation, and treat a counterparty who actively resists this process as a red flag in its own right, not an inconvenience.

If part of the purpose of the purchase is to support a property-based UAE residency route, confirm the current eligibility threshold and rules independently before relying on any specific property to qualify — see our guide to the minimum investment for the UAE Golden Visa rather than take a marketing claim at face value, since thresholds and qualifying conditions can change.

Treat any of the following as a reason to pause, not a detail to smooth over: a counterparty, agent or developer who resists letting you run any of the checks above independently; a title status returning Restrained or Blocked with no clear explanation; an off-plan project with no traceable escrow account or trustee bank; an NOC application met with silence about an outstanding service-charge balance; or any request to pay outside the registered escrow account, or into a personal rather than a corporate account. Our guide to avoiding property fraud in Dubai covers the specific scam patterns behind several of these signs in more depth.