Land Department registration does not make a developer reliable: eight questions first

Every developer selling property under construction in Dubai has a Land Department registration and an escrow account. That is not an achievement — it is the condition of being allowed to sell at all. The problem is that buyers routinely read those two facts as a guarantee of reliability.

What registration and escrow actually guarantee

That the project exists on the register, that buyer money goes into a dedicated account, and that its release is tied to verified construction stages. Those are meaningful protections and they are the reason this market is safer than it was fifteen years ago.

What they do not guarantee: that the project completes, that it completes on time, that the specification is delivered, or that the developer is solvent enough to absorb a cost overrun.

Eight questions to ask before the deposit

• How many projects has this company delivered, and where can I walk through one?
• What was the actual delay on those against the contracted dates?
• Who is the contractor, and what have they built?
• Is the company public, and if so what does the reporting show about debt and contracted revenue?
• What is the construction progress on this project in the regulator's register today?
• How much of the scheme is sold, and how much stock does the developer still hold?
• What is the contractual handover date and the grace period after it?
• What happens if I need to exit — from what percentage paid is assignment permitted, and at what fee?

Why this matters more now

The market has attracted a large number of new entrants, including companies building their first project in the emirate. A first-time developer is not automatically a bad developer — but the risk profile is different, and it is not visible from a registration number, which they have exactly as the established names do.

The asymmetry is worth stating plainly: the questions above cost you an afternoon. Getting them wrong costs years.