Off-plan means buying a home from the developer's plans before it is built, or before it is finished. You sign a sale agreement, pay a deposit and usually more installments during construction, and receive the finished home at handover. The same idea has other names: "presale" in British Columbia, "pre-construction" in Ontario and the United States, "off the plan" in Australia, and "off-plan" in the UAE and the UK.
Dubai's own law defines an off-plan sale as the sale of property units "off-plan or of those which are unfinished" (Law No. 13 of 2008, Article 2).
What it is called where you live
| Where | What people say | A rule for buyers |
|---|---|---|
| UAE | Off-plan | Registration and escrow |
| United Kingdom | Off-plan, new-build | Consumer guidance |
| British Columbia | Presale | 7 days to rescind |
| Ontario | Pre-construction | 10-day cooling-off |
| United States | Pre-construction | Set by each state |
| Australia | Off the plan | Cooling-off, sunset clauses |
| Philippines | Pre-selling | License to sell |
Where each rule comes from:
- UAE: Dubai registers every off-plan sale (Law No. 13 of 2008) and keeps buyers' payments in a project escrow account (Law No. 8 of 2007).
- United Kingdom: buying off-plan means reserving a new-build home before it is built (Which?).
- British Columbia: a buyer may rescind within 7 days under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act.
- Ontario: a 10-day cooling-off period for new condos (Condominium Authority of Ontario).
- United States: the states set the rules; Florida lets a buyer cancel a developer's condo contract within 15 days (Florida Statutes 718.503), and CNBC reported a 50% non-refundable deposit for pre-construction sales at one Miami project.
- Australia: 10 business days to cool off in New South Wales, and a developer needs the buyer's consent to end a contract under a sunset clause (NSW Government).
- Philippines: developers selling in the pre-selling market need a license to sell (The Freeman).
So if you are in Toronto and you search for "pre-construction condos in Dubai", or in Vancouver and you search for "Dubai presales", what you will find here is called off-plan. It is the same purchase.
How off-plan works in Dubai
- You choose a unit and pay a booking amount. The developer's payment plan says how much and when. Our payment plan guide explains how to compare plans.
- The sale is registered. Every off-plan sale goes into the Dubai Land Department's Interim Property Register (Law No. 13 of 2008). The registration fee is 4% of the contract value, shared equally by seller and buyer unless they agree otherwise (Executive Council Resolution No. 30 of 2013); a sale agreement can put all of it on the buyer, so check yours.
- Your payments go into escrow. A developer must open an escrow account in the project's name before selling off-plan, buyers' payments are deposited there, and the account is "dedicated exclusively to the construction" of that project (Law No. 8 of 2007, Articles 6, 7 and 9).
- You keep paying during construction. If a buyer stops paying, Article 11 of the 2008 law, as rewritten by Law No. 19 of 2020, sets what the developer may do. We explain it in what if you miss off-plan payments in Dubai.
- Handover. Once the building has its completion certificate, the developer enters the finished project in the Land Department's Property Register (Law No. 13 of 2008, Article 8), and you inspect the home and take the keys. See what happens at handover in Dubai.
The full eight steps, from choosing to handover, are in the buying process.
How common is it?
Very. Khaleej Times reported that off-plan sales were 70% of Dubai's sales transactions in the first quarter of 2026, citing figures from Dubai Land Department data. Emirates 24/7, citing the Land Department, reported AED 139.75 billion of off-plan sales in 58,840 transactions in the first half of 2026.
What to watch for, wherever you buy
Government consumer pages in Australia list the same risks a buyer faces anywhere (Consumer Affairs Victoria, NSW Government):
- The date can move. A project may be finished much later than expected. Your sale agreement says what happens if it is.
- The finished home can differ. Finishes and plans can change from what you saw at the launch.
- The value at handover can be lower than your price. That matters most if you need a mortgage at completion.
In Dubai, also check that the project is registered and its escrow account is open before you pay: the Land Department's project status service shows a registered project's progress. This is a summary to help you prepare, not legal advice.
See it in practice
- Launches: projects about to go on sale, with a clock counting down to each launch, and those just launched.
- Off-plan projects in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah.
- Can foreigners buy off-plan property in Dubai?
- The encyclopedia entry Off-plan property on Heartipedia covers the term's history and the law in each country in more depth.