What is Oqood, and what does an off-plan buyer get?

Oqood is the self-registration system through which a Dubai developer registers an off-plan sale with Dubai Land Department, in what DLD calls the provisional or initial register. DLD's page for the service says the sale must be registered within 90 days of signing the contract, and that the buyer receives a provisional registration e-certificate by email (page read 12 October 2026).

Off-plan means sold before the building is finished. DLD is the Dubai Land Department.

What is initial registration?

DLD's FAQ defines initial registration as registering off-plan sale contracts and other legal actions before they are transferred to the real estate registry (FAQ read 12 October 2026). It says this covers properties bought off-plan, and ready properties for which an initial sale certificate is issued. It gives the purpose as preserving the rights of owners and investors.

The FAQ calls Oqood the self-registration system, and says transactions by developers are recorded through it.

Who registers the sale, and how?

The developer does. DLD's Request to register the initial sale page describes the service as letting a developer register units sold off-plan, or land plots not yet fully paid for, in the provisional register (page read 12 October 2026). Its steps:

1. the developer logs in to the Oqood portal and selects provisional sale registration;
2. it selects the property, fills in the details, attaches the documents and chooses a payment method;
3. it sends the application online;
4. the output is sent to the purchaser by email.

For an individual buyer, the page lists a copy of the sale and purchase contract, a copy of a valid UAE ID, and a copy of a valid passport for non-residents. Companies have longer lists.

What are the conditions?

The page's terms, read 12 October 2026:

• the sale and purchase contract is signed by the developer and the purchaser;
• where the purchaser is a minor, the guardian signs and attaches a passport or ID copy;
• the contract is registered in the provisional register within 90 days of signing.

What does it cost?

The page lists two payment methods, the Noqodi wallet and deduction from the escrow account. It does not say how a contract may split the fees between the parties.

What does the buyer receive?

The issued document on that page is a provisional registration e-certificate (page read 12 October 2026). The page says the output is sent to the purchaser by email.

What if the developer does not register the contract?

DLD's FAQ says an investor can apply to the Real Estate Registration Assurance section at DLD to register the contract, with the documents that support the application (FAQ read 12 October 2026). That answer covers a developer that refuses or delays registering the sale.

Can I resell before completion?

DLD's FAQ says a unit or deferred sale contract can be assigned to a third party before transfer to the land registry, after a no-objection certificate from the developer (FAQ read 12 October 2026).

What if I miss an instalment?

DLD's Request for Termination of Initial Registration lets a developer apply to remove the provisional registration of an investor who has not paid the instalments due (page read 12 October 2026). Its terms include:

• the sale was made before the project was completed;
• the buyer received, or refused to receive, the developer's warning at least a month earlier and has not paid;
• the amount in the developer's warning matches the amount in DLD's notice;
• the warning claims only the payments owed as the price of the unit, with no fines, registration fees, service fees or administrative fees.

The page says the notice goes to the addresses in the contract, and if it cannot be delivered there, it is published in official gazettes in Arabic and English. The fee it lists is AED 600, plus an AED 10 knowledge fee and an AED 10 innovation fee (page read 12 October 2026).

What happens when the building is finished?

DLD's FAQ says developers must register completed projects with DLD as soon as they receive a completion certificate (FAQ read 12 October 2026). Units that are fully paid for then move from the initial register to the real estate registry, and a title deed is issued to the investor.

DLD's Request to complete the initial procedures data page covers that step for parties who have met their contractual obligations. Where the registration fee was collected earlier, it lists AED 250 for the title deed and AED 250 for the map of a unit or villa, plus the AED 10 knowledge and innovation fees (page read 12 October 2026). It gives the service time as 6 business days and the output as an electronic title deed and an electronic map.

The FAQ also covers a change in size. Where a unit turns out smaller than the contract says, it says the developer must compensate the buyer for a shortfall that exceeds 5% of the unit's net area (FAQ read 12 October 2026).

Keyva's own pages

Keyva's project pages show each project's status as the developer recorded it on the Land Department's project register, with the date of that file. They do not show a buyer's own registration.

Keyva is independent and is not part of, or endorsed by, the Dubai Land Department.

Prepared 12 October 2026 from pages read that day.