Buying property in Dubai

Dubai splits residential ownership into two registers. In the designated freehold areas a buyer of any nationality can hold the title absolutely, in their own name, with the ownership recorded by the Dubai Land Department. Outside those areas the right on offer is usually leasehold: a registered right to occupy and use for a fixed period, after which the property reverts to the freeholder. Both are real, enforceable rights. They are not the same asset, they do not trade the same way, and they are not financed on the same terms.

Every Sobha Realty project marketed on this site sits in the freehold register. The developer states on its own FAQ page that it sells freehold property to UAE residents and to overseas investors alike, and that nationality is not a barrier in the freehold market. It also states that no residence permit is needed in order to buy — residency can follow a purchase, but it is never a condition of one. That is the developer's published position and it matches how the freehold market has worked for years, but it is the Land Department's register, not the developer's, that ultimately determines what you own.

If you are looking at a property that is not on this site, ask one question before anything else: is this freehold or leasehold, and where is that recorded. A leasehold term is written into the registered contract and its remaining length drives both the resale price and the willingness of a bank to lend against it. There is no standard term that applies across the emirate, so nobody — including this page — can tell you what yours would be. Read the contract, and have a lawyer read it too.

Freehold

Full ownership of the unit and, on a villa or plot, of the land under it, registered to you at the Dubai Land Department and available in the designated freehold areas to buyers of any nationality. This is what the projects on this site are.

Leasehold

A registered right to hold and use a property for a fixed term set out in the contract, after which it returns to the freeholder. The term varies from property to property and is not something this page can generalise — check the registered document.

Residency is not a requirement

The developer's FAQ page states that a buyer need not hold a UAE residence permit, or live in the country, in order to purchase in the freehold market. Buying and residing are separate questions, decided by different bodies.

Companies and joint owners

Property can be held jointly or through a corporate vehicle, and the Land Department records each owner's share. Joint ownership has consequences for the residency routes in section six, where the threshold is measured against each owner's share rather than the whole price.

• Sobha Realty states that it sells freehold property to residents and to international investorsDeveloper's position on freehold salesSobha Realty — FAQs page
• Sobha Realty states that a buyer of any nationality, resident or overseas, may purchase in the freehold market and needs no residence permit to do soDeveloper's position on nationality and residencySobha Realty — FAQs page

Designated freehold areas are set by Dubai government regulation and can be amended. Confirm the register a specific property sits in before you reserve it.

Two things in that sequence protect you more than anything else in this guide. The first is the escrow requirement, which is a Dubai Land Department rule rather than a courtesy from a developer, and which is the reason instalments on a legitimate project never route through a brokerage. The second is registration — Oqood first, then the title deed — because that is what makes the unit legally yours rather than merely promised to you.

If a construction milestone slips, the schedule moves with it. The developer's FAQ states that payment due dates are reset on confirmation from its project management team and that owners are notified in advance of the new date. In practice this means a delay does not quietly trigger a default, but it does mean the completion quarter you were quoted is an estimate rather than a promise, and it should be read as one.

Owners are given the developer's own portal for the file: statements of account, payment, and construction updates under the properties tab. The developer's FAQ also points owners to the Land Department's own app for progress based on its inspections, which is a useful second opinion on how a project is really tracking.

1. 1

   1. Reservation

   You choose a unit and sign the developer's reservation form, which holds it while the contract is prepared and records the price and the payment plan. A booking amount is payable at this point. Its size is set per project and stated on the form. Read the cancellation clause before you transfer anything: that form, not this page and not a conversation, governs whether the money comes back.

2. 2

   2. Sale and purchase agreement

   The contract is between you and the developer — Sobha Realty Development LLC — never between you and Wincasa. It carries the unit, the price, the payment schedule, the specification and the anticipated completion. This is the document to read slowly, or better, to have a Dubai lawyer read. Wincasa prepares the file, checks it against what you were quoted and attends the signing, but is not a party to the sale.

3. 3

   3. Oqood registration

   Off-plan sales are recorded on the Dubai Land Department's interim register, known as Oqood, which is what puts your name against that unit before a title deed can exist. The developer's FAQ states that registration with the Land Department is applied for through the developer, and lists the identity documents it needs from you and any co-owner. Ask for the confirmation once it is issued and keep it.

4. 4

   4. Instalments into the project escrow account

   Every instalment goes to the project's escrow account, held at an approved bank and registered with the Dubai Land Department, where funds are released to the developer against certified construction progress rather than on request. Wincasa gives you those account details in writing. Pay that account and nothing else: never an individual, never a broker, never an account whose name does not match the project.

5. 5

   5. Handover

   The developer issues a handover notice, the final instalment falls due on the date that notice carries, and the key appointment follows once the payment has cleared. Where a mortgage is involved the developer's FAQ notes that the appointment also waits on the bank confirming the final manager's cheque is ready. Between notice and keys sits the inspection stage covered in section eight.

6. 6

   6. Title deed

   The title deed is the freehold record in your name. The developer's FAQ sets out what has to be true before it issues: the price paid in full, the title deed fee settled, any financed balance confirmed clear by the lender, and the unit handed over. Chase it. An unregistered handover is an unfinished purchase.

• Passport copies for the owner and any co-owner; Emirates ID and visa for UAE residents; a national identity document from the country of residence for overseas buyersDocuments the developer needs to register the property with the DLDSobha Realty — FAQs page
• Due dates are updated on the developer's project management confirmation, with notice issued to the owner ahead of the revised dateEffect of a construction delay on the payment scheduleSobha Realty — FAQs page
• Payment complete, title deed fee paid, any outstanding financed amount confirmed clear, and the unit handed overConditions the developer states for issuing the title deedSobha Realty — FAQs page

Escrow is a Dubai Land Department requirement on off-plan development in Dubai. No instalment on a Sobha Realty project is ever payable to Wincasa, to a consultant, or to any account other than the registered project escrow account.

The developer's off-plan financing page sets out conventional and Sharia-compliant products offered through UAE banking partners, and it attaches the same eligibility gate to each of them: finance opens only after half the price has been settled and the build has passed thirty per cent complete. That is the developer's stated condition and it is worth planning around, because it means an off-plan buyer funds the early part of the plan from their own resources whatever a bank might say in principle. The same page quotes tenures reaching twenty-five years on its Sharia-compliant option and describes pre-approval, flexible structures and named mortgage advisers as features of the products. Those are the developer's and the banks' claims about their own offerings, reproduced here as such.

The developer's handover financing page addresses the other end of the timeline: a mortgage on a completed Sobha Realty home. It describes a comparison service that puts a single application in front of a network of UAE lenders, alongside conventional products with digital pre-approval and Sharia-compliant home finance for eligible completed properties. Again, these are the developer's descriptions of its partners' services. No rate, no loan-to-value limit and no arrangement fee appears on either page, and none is stated here.

For a non-resident buyer, the practical position is that UAE banks do lend to overseas buyers, that the panel of banks willing to do so is narrower than for residents, and that every material term — how much, over what period, at what rate, on what proof of income — is the lender's decision on your specific file. Anyone who quotes you a loan-to-value percentage or an interest rate before seeing your documents is guessing. Wincasa is a brokerage and not a mortgage adviser: we will introduce you to the developer's published financing routes or to an independent broker, and we will not put a number on what you can borrow.

One structural point that catches buyers out. A mortgage is registered against the title, and where a financed balance is outstanding the developer's FAQ makes the title deed conditional on the lender confirming that position is clear. If you intend to finance at handover, start the application well before the handover notice arrives rather than after it, because the key appointment waits on the bank as well as on you.

• The same condition is attached to each product listed: 50% of the price settled, and the build 30% completeEligibility gate the developer states for off-plan financingSobha Realty — Off-plan Financing page
• Up to 25 years, quoted on the Sharia-compliant off-plan optionLongest tenure quoted on the developer's pageSobha Realty — Off-plan Financing page
• Conventional and Sharia-compliant financing through UAE banking partners, with pre-approval and dedicated mortgage advisers described as featuresProduct types the developer listsSobha Realty — Off-plan Financing page
• A single application compared across a network of UAE lenders, plus conventional and Sharia-compliant home finance for eligible completed propertiesHandover financing as the developer describes itSobha Realty — Handover Financing page
• Not published by the developer — ask for it in writing before you commitInterest rates, loan-to-value limits, income multiples and feesSet by the lender on your own file; no figure published on the developer's pages

• Ask the lender for the loan-to-value, term, rate basis and total cost in writing, on your own file, before you rely on any of them.
• Confirm whether the product is conventional or Sharia-compliant, and what that changes about early settlement.
• Check what proof of income a non-resident file needs in your country, and how long the bank takes to accept it.
• Budget the mortgage registration and valuation costs separately — they are not in the loan.
• Start a handover mortgage before the handover notice, not after it.

Every financing term on this page is the developer's or a lender's description of their own product, reproduced as theirs. Wincasa is not a lender, is not a mortgage adviser and receives nothing from any bank named on the developer's pages. Borrowing decisions are the bank's alone.

The identity file comes first, and the developer's FAQ sets out what it needs at two separate moments. To make a booking, an overseas buyer supplies a passport copy and a national identity document from their country of residence, which is what allows the unit to be registered with the Land Department; UAE nationals and GCC nationals have their own document sets. To register the property with the Land Department, the developer needs passport copies for the owner and every co-owner, with Emirates ID and visa copies added for buyers who are UAE residents. Get both sets ready early. Documents are the usual reason a remote purchase stalls.

If you cannot attend a signing, the instrument that solves it is a power of attorney appointing someone to act for you on the specific transaction. A power of attorney used in the UAE has to be executed in the right form for the country it is signed in — typically notarised, then legalised or apostilled, then translated into Arabic by an approved translator, and in some cases attested again in the UAE. The exact chain depends on where you are, so ask a UAE lawyer to specify it for your country before you sign anything. Keep the authority narrow: this property, these acts, this period. A broad power of attorney over your affairs is not what a property purchase needs.

On money, the developer's FAQ names the routes it accepts: manager's cheques, card payments, post-dated cheques drawn on a local bank, and bank transfers. It also allows for someone else to pay on your behalf, on an undertaking letter plus that person's Emirates ID or passport, and states that receipts are still recorded in the owner's name. That is useful for a family member settling an instalment while you are abroad, and it is worth knowing before the situation arises rather than during it. Expect the developer and the bank to ask about the source of the funds. That is a normal anti-money-laundering requirement, not suspicion.

On timing, be sceptical of anyone who gives you a confident total. The developer publishes indicative timelines for its visa applications and for its no-objection certificates, but not for reservation to contract or for a transfer. Those depend on your bank, your documents and your own legalisation chain. Wincasa will give you a working timetable for your specific file and update it, rather than quote you an average that has nothing to do with you.

• Passport copy and a local identity document from the country of residence, in order to register with the DLDBooking documents for an international buyerSobha Realty — FAQs page
• Manager's cheque; credit or debit card up to 20% of the sale value free of charge, or any amount through the developer's portal at a 1.5% charge; post-dated and current-dated cheques on a local bank; bank transfer from any accountPayment routes the developer acceptsSobha Realty — FAQs page
• Permitted on an undertaking letter, with the payer's Emirates ID or passport copy; the payment and receipt are recorded against the original owner's namePayment by a third partySobha Realty — FAQs page
• Not published by the developer — ask for it in writing before you commitReservation-to-contract and transfer timelinesNo indicative timeline published on the developer's pages for these stages

• Passport copy, plus a national identity document from your country of residence — the developer's stated requirement for an overseas booking.
• Passport copies for every co-owner, in the exact names the title should be registered in.
• Emirates ID and visa copies as well, if you are already a UAE resident.
• A power of attorney, if you will not attend: notarised, legalised or apostilled, translated into Arabic, and scoped to this transaction alone.
• Evidence of the source of your funds, ready before the first payment rather than after it.
• The project escrow account details, in writing from Wincasa, checked against the project name before any transfer leaves your account.
• A written note of who signs what, and when, so nothing waits on a signature nobody has asked for.

Requirements for executing a power of attorney abroad differ by country and change. Take UAE legal advice on the correct chain for where you are signing. Wincasa cannot advise on it and does not act under buyers' powers of attorney.