Sale and Purchase Agreements in Dubai

Yes, but its purpose changes from redrafting to informed commitment. You find out what you are actually committing to, including where it differs from what you were told verbally; the genuinely unusual terms are separated from the ones that are standard across the market, so you can judge whether to proceed; the specific risks get managed elsewhere, by timing a payment differently or getting a point confirmed in writing before signing; and you know in advance where a dispute would go. Occasionally the form does move on a defined point raised early.

An off-plan agreement is not a completed-property agreement with a later date. Registration is different — under Article 3 of Dubai Law No. 13 of 2008 the disposition is void unless recorded in the Interim Real Property Register. Payment is different — Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007 requires payments in registered projects to go into the project escrow account. It also needs provisions a completed-property contract does not: the payment plan and whether it is milestone-linked or date-linked, what happens on delay, the developer's right to vary the unit, and whether you can assign before completion.

In practice, the completion date and how it is qualified. An anticipated date with a broad extension provision is a fundamentally different promise from a fixed one, and buyers routinely read the first as the second. Close behind it are the default and forfeiture provisions — what the seller may keep if you do not complete, on what notice, and whether the same applies in reverse, which in standard forms it frequently does not.

It should address what happens if your finance offer is withdrawn or delayed — without a mortgage condition, a buyer whose lender pulls out is simply in default. The lender's own timetable and requirements also have to fit the contractual dates rather than the other way round. If the seller also has a mortgage, the mechanics of discharging it from the sale proceeds have to be set out rather than assumed; that is one of the most common causes of a transfer appointment being aborted.

The sale does not end the tenancy. You step into the landlord's position and take the property subject to the lease and to Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008. The agreement should record the tenancy contract and Ejari registration, the term and rent, whether any notice has already been served and by what method, who holds the deposit, rent paid in advance including post-dated cheques, arrears and any pending RDC case. If you intend to occupy the property yourself, the statutory route requires twelve months' notice by Notary Public or registered mail under Article 25(2), and Article 26 restricts re-letting afterwards — plan for that before exchange.

The Department publishes it as 2% of the sale value from the seller and 2% from the buyer. How it is actually borne between the parties is a matter for the sale contract, and local practice commonly places the whole amount on the buyer. Whatever is agreed should be written into the agreement rather than assumed — it is a frequent and entirely avoidable source of argument at the transfer appointment. Published fees change, so confirm the current position at the time of your transaction.

That depends on what the agreement says and on what has happened. The starting points are whether any condition has failed, whether the other side is in breach, and what the termination and forfeiture provisions actually provide. What we would not advise is stopping payments or simply walking away to force the issue, because that generally puts you in default and changes your position rather than protecting it. Take advice on the specific wording before doing anything that could be characterised as a breach.

The answer is in the property description and variation provisions: area tolerances, any right the seller or developer has to change layout, specification or common areas, and whether a material change gives you a right to exit or a remedy. This is why marketing material, brochures and floor plans relied on at purchase should be kept — where the delivered property departs from what was contracted for, those documents and the agreement together are the evidence.

It should, and it should be consistent with any linked agreement in the same transaction. A clause pointing to arbitration in one document and to the courts in another causes more trouble than no clause at all, and the resulting jurisdiction argument is usually fought before anyone reaches the merits. Whether arbitration suits your transaction depends on its scale — for a straightforward residential purchase, a clause requiring a three-member tribunal can make a modest dispute uneconomic to pursue.

Yes, and the work is similar in outline: check the description against the Dubai Land Department record rather than the copy supplied; draft or read against the transaction you actually described rather than against a precedent; identify what is missing, which is usually more consequential than what is badly worded; check consistency with the booking form, any side letter, the financing documents and, for off-plan, the payment plan; and report in plain terms, separating what stops the deal from what you are simply accepting knowingly.

Before. An agreement is a commitment about a property, and reviewing the commitment without verifying the property is half an exercise. Ownership, the register position, encumbrances, service charge arrears and the tenancy position should all be established before signing, and for off-plan the project registration and escrow account should be verified before any reservation amount is paid. Where due diligence has not been done, we would do it alongside the review rather than report on a contract about a property nobody has checked.

We quote after seeing the documents, and we do not publish rates. A short private-sale agreement with clear title is a different piece of work from a developer's standard form for an off-plan unit in a project with a payment plan and linked financing documents. What we will say is that review is faster and cheaper than most people expect, and that it is the last point at which the position can be changed at all.