Off-plan purchases in Dubai are registered through the DLD’s interim register under the Oqood system, which records the buyer’s contractual interest in a unit that does not yet have a title deed. The fee structure differs from a secondary-market transfer in three ways.
The 4% DLD fee is charged on off-plan purchases just as on ready property — but it is collected at the point of Oqood registration, when the sale agreement is recorded, rather than at a trustee office transfer. Developers typically collect it alongside the booking or first instalment. By market convention the buyer pays the full 4% on developer sales; some developers absorb part or all of it as a sales incentive, which is a commercial promotion rather than a change to the DLD schedule — quoted prices should be checked to confirm whether the fee is included.
Oqood registration carries an administrative fee of approximately AED 40, in place of the larger fixed charges of a ready-property transfer, and no trustee office fee applies because the developer processes the registration.
When the building completes and the unit is handed over, the Oqood registration converts to a full title deed. No second 4% is charged at this stage — the fee was paid at registration — and the conversion carries administrative charges of approximately AED 520. For what a subsequent resale of the completed unit costs, the standard fee schedule applies; details of the interim register itself are covered at oqoods.ae.
An off-plan resale before completion — an assignment of the Oqood interest — is registered through the developer and the DLD, and the 4% applies to the assignment in the same way. Assignment practice varies by developer, including transfer approval fees set by the developer, which are commercial charges outside the DLD schedule.