Escrow, DLD fees, Oqood, what you really pay on top
The one everybody knows
The Dubai Land Department fee is 4% of the purchase price. It is the largest single cost on top of the price and it applies to off plan and ready purchases alike. On a 1,500,000 AED unit that is 60,000 AED.
Oqood, the off plan register
An off plan purchase is recorded in the Oqood register, the interim register of off plan sales, before the title deed exists. Registration is handled through the developer and carries an administrative charge in addition to the 4%.
Escrow, what it protects and what it does not
Your instalments are paid into an escrow account tied to that specific project, and the developer draws from it against construction progress. That is real protection against the money being spent elsewhere. It is not protection against the project being late, and it is not a guarantee of the final quality.
The costs that continue
- Service charges, billed per square foot per year, set by the building, they vary enormously and they are the number most buyers underestimate
- Chiller charges, separate from service charges in many towers
- Agency and administrative fees, on a resale rather than an off plan launch
How to check before you sign
Ask for the service charge per square foot for the building, in writing. On a studio yielding 7% gross, a service charge of 20 AED per square foot against 14 moves the net return by more than half a point. It is the difference between two investments that look identical on paper.
Fee structures and administrative amounts are set by the authorities and by each developer and can change. The 4% Dubai Land Department fee is the stable element, confirm every other amount before you pay.
Independent comparison of Dubai off plan projects and developers. Cashback paid when you buy a listed project through Property Radar.
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