Buying off-plan in Dubai: what the payment plan actually commits you to

A 70/30 plan is a schedule of dated obligations, not a description of when the money leaves your account. The headline number tells you almost nothing about the first year, which is where most off-plan buyers get the arithmetic wrong.

The headline numbers are marketing, the schedule is the contract

Two developments can both advertise 70/30 and ask for materially different amounts in the first ninety days. The binding document is the payment schedule annexed to the sale and purchase agreement, and it is the only place the dates appear. Read that annexe before you read the brochure.

Ask for the annexe before you reserve, not after. It is a schedule of dates and amounts, and a developer who will not show it before a booking amount is telling you something worth hearing. Read it beside the brochure and note every place the two disagree.

60/40, 70/30, 80/20 and post-handover, in year one

An 80/20 construction-linked plan front-loads the money: Creek Waters, for example, asks 10% on booking, 10% at six months and 10% at twelve, so 30% is gone inside a year before any construction milestone is reached. A 60/40 on the same price leaves more with you until completion, which matters if you intend to mortgage at handover rather than pay cash.

The useful comparison is cash out in the first twelve months. Convert every plan to that one number and structures that looked similar stop being similar. Two developments advertising the same headline can differ by ten points on it.

The day-one total is not the deposit

Budget the deposit plus the 4% registration charge plus the developer’s admin and registration fees, all payable at booking. Ellington’s standard structure is 20% on booking plus those fees, which lands at roughly 24.5% on day one against a plan the brochure calls 70/30.

Ask for the day-one figure in writing. Deposit, registration charge, developer admin, and any documentation or registration fee, added together. It is a single question, and it removes the most common surprise in off-plan buying.

Construction-linked versus date-linked instalments

A date-linked instalment falls due whether or not the building has moved. A construction-linked one falls due when a certified milestone is reached, which protects you if the programme slips and costs you nothing if it does not. Most current Emaar plans are construction-linked. Check which yours is.

One clause decides which you have. Look at whether each instalment is tied to a certified milestone or to a calendar date, and read what happens when a milestone is late. A mixed plan is common, and the mix is where the risk sits.

What happens if you miss a payment

The agreement sets a cure period, then a termination-and-forfeiture schedule under the regulator’s rules, tiered by how far construction has progressed. The tier you would fall into is knowable today. Find out before you need it, not after.

Two dates matter more than the percentages. When the cure period starts, and how notice is served. A notice sent to an address you have left is still a notice, so keep the developer's records current for the whole build.

When a bank will finance an off-plan unit

Most UAE banks will not lend on an off-plan unit before roughly 50% construction completion, and then against the lower of the agreement price and the current valuation, at a maximum 50% loan-to-value for non-residents. Plan the first years as cash and the mortgage for handover.

Speak to a lender before the first instalment, not before the last. Ask which developments they currently lend on, at what stage of completion, and against which valuation. Those three answers change more often than the headline rate does.

Selling before handover

Assignment is permitted once a minimum share of the price has been paid—Emaar typically 30 to 40%—subject to a no-objection certificate and a transfer fee. You pay the 4% registration charge and the developer’s fees, and your buyer pays them again. Model both sides before you treat an early exit as a plan.

Price both sets of costs into the exit. You pay the registration charge and the developer's fees, and so does your buyer, which narrows the price a buyer will accept. An assignment is a sale into a thinner market and it should be planned rather than assumed.

Delay, the grace period and where to find both

Most agreements allow a grace period, commonly twelve months, before any delay compensation applies. It is usually clause 8 and it varies by release. A marketing handover date four years out is a range; the grace period and the compensation schedule are the numbers that matter.

Find the clause number and read it once, slowly. It sets the grace period, what counts as an excusable delay, and what compensation follows if any does. A handover date quoted without that clause beside it is marketing rather than a commitment.

Three plans compared

Creek Waters runs 80/20 construction-linked to a Q4 2028 handover. The Cove Phase 3 runs 60/40 to Q3 2028. Palm Jebel Ali’s Beach Collection runs 20/50/30 with nine instalments from February 2027 to October 2029 and handover in January 2030. Same city, three completely different commitments.

Lay the schedules side by side on one page. Dates down the left, one column for each development, totals at the foot. It takes twenty minutes and it settles arguments that otherwise run for weeks.

Two questions to ask before you reserve

First: what is the total cash requirement in the next twelve months, including registration and admin fees? Second: how much unsold developer inventory will remain in this phase when I want to resell? Neither question is unwelcome, and the answers change decisions.

There is a third question and it is about you. What would I do if the handover moved a year to the right? If the answer is uncomfortable, the plan is too heavy or the development is too early for this buyer.