Two things share the name, and the confusion costs buyers time. Oqood is the Dubai Land Department’s online portal through which developers register off-plan sales. Behind that portal sits the thing that matters legally: the Interim Property Register, created by Law No. 13 of 2008.
This guide is about the register — what it does, who files it, how to check it, and how it eventually becomes a title deed. The money side of an off-plan purchase lives on a separate page, and we point you there rather than repeat it.
What Oqood actually is
Law No. 13 of 2008, as amended by Law No. 9 of 2009, defines the interim register as the documents maintained by the Department in written or electronic format in an electronic record, in which sale contracts, off-plan sales and other off-plan legal dispositions of real property are registered prior to inclusion in the Property Register. In other words: a holding register for units that do not yet exist in finished form, from which they graduate to the main register once built.
Article 3(1) of that law is the sentence to read twice. Any disposition of an off-plan unit will be entered in the Interim Property Register, and any sale or other legal disposition that transfers or restricts ownership or any ancillary rights will be void unless entered in that register. A signed sale and purchase agreement that never reaches the interim register is not a weaker form of ownership. On the face of the statute it is not a disposition at all.
An entry is only as sound as the project underneath it, and Dubai front-loads that check: a developer must have registered the project with the Land Department and opened an escrow account before units may be sold, and the implementing bylaw declares a sale null and void if it is made before the competent entities approve commencement and the project is registered. Article 12 of the same bylaw requires brokers to pay sale proceeds straight into the project escrow account rather than holding them personally.
The project-registration gate — the ownership deed, the 30% test, the AED 150,000 fee and what to ask a sales team for — is set out in the off-plan buying process. This page picks up once there is a contract to register.
Who files your registration, and by when
You do not file your own Oqood. The Land Department’s request to register the initial sale service is explicitly a developer service — it allows a real estate developer to register units sold off-plan, or land plots whose value has not been fully paid, at the provisional register — and the applicant on the service sheet is a company.
Your part is to hand over what the developer needs: a copy of the sale and purchase contract, a valid Emirates ID, and a valid passport copy if you are not resident. Companies buying in their own name need the trade licence, the licence holder’s identification and, depending on the entity, a power of attorney, a translated memorandum of association, a shareholder certificate or a free-zone no-objection letter.
The Land Department’s own service conditions state that the sale and purchase contract shall be registered in the provisional register within 90 days from the date of signing. Note where that requirement comes from: it is a condition on the DLD service page. The statute itself carries only a transitional 60-day rule for dispositions made before the law came into force, so we describe the 90 days as the department’s service condition rather than as a statutory deadline.
Service delivery is quoted as one business day, which means the elapsed time is almost entirely the developer’s file preparation rather than the department’s processing.
On late filing, be careful with a figure that circulates confidently. Article 3 of the 2010 implementing bylaw provides that where an application arrives after the deadline the department must still register the disposition and impose a fine of AED 10,000 on the developer — but the bylaw expresses that deadline by reference to the transitional time limit in Article 3(2) of the law, so whether the fine reaches an ordinary late filing today is an inference rather than something we can confirm from the text. What is certain either way: the fine falls on the developer, not on you, and a developer who has not filed after three months is telling you something about how the project is run.
The fee line, and where the rest of the money story lives
The published fee for the initial sale registration is 2% of the sale value from the seller and 2% from the purchaser, plus AED 10 knowledge and AED 10 innovation fees, plus an AED 1,000 self-registration fee charged to developers registering through the Oqood portal.
Article 9 of the 2010 bylaw sets the default on who bears it: unless otherwise agreed, the developer and the purchaser each pay their respective share of the fees prescribed by the applicable legislation. Your contract can and often does say otherwise, which is why the number most buyers actually experience is a combined 4% — but that is a contractual outcome, not the published legal position, and it is worth settling in writing before you sign.
That is as far as this guide goes on money. Payment-plan structures, escrow mechanics under Law No. 8 of 2007, default and refund percentages, and the bill that lands at handover are all covered elsewhere on this site. Read that one for the cash flow; read this one for the register.
The full money picture is in payment plans, escrow and the fees nobody mentions, and the transaction-cost arithmetic at current catalogue prices is in what an off-plan purchase actually costs.
Checking that it actually happened
The registration is the developer’s job, but the exposure is yours, so verify it rather than assume it.
The Land Department runs a property status enquiry service that allows a customer to inquire about the status of a property by entering property-related data such as the area and land number. It is open to residents and non-residents alike, the result is immediate, and it runs on both the DLD website and the Dubai REST app.
Dubai REST is also where developers issue the electronic no-objection certificates that later transactions depend on, which makes it the single most useful thing an off-plan buyer can install. For construction progress rather than registration status, the department’s own guidance is to use its project tracking pages under real estate regulation.
One expectation to set carefully. The initial sale registration service produces a provisional registration e-certificate as its output, but the department’s pages describe registration and enquiry rather than a buyer-facing document issued to you — so we would not tell you to expect a certificate in your inbox. Ask the developer for evidence of the filing, and check the register yourself.
Mortgaging and switching units on the interim register
A unit that exists only on the interim register can still carry a mortgage, and can still be moved — and each route runs through a developer no-objection e-certificate issued via Dubai REST.
Mortgages. The Land Department’s mortgage registration service covers provisional mortgages explicitly. For an off-plan unit the file must include a no-objection e-certificate from the developer of the provisional sale property, obtained through Dubai REST, along with the bank’s letter and three certified mortgage contracts. Registration is charged at 0.25% of the mortgage value plus AED 250 for the title deed and AED 10 each for knowledge and innovation. Note the trustee partner fee: AED 5,000 + VAT for a provisional (Oqood) registration against AED 4,000 + VAT for a standard one. The counter appointment itself takes 20 to 25 minutes.
Switching units with the same developer. This one is under-known and occasionally worth real money. The department operates a service to transfer registration fees where the developer and the purchaser agree to move the purchaser from one property to another within the same developer’s projects. Where the new unit costs more, fees are charged on the price increase only. It runs through the Oqood portal, takes six business days, and needs a signed settlement agreement from both parties, a new sale and purchase agreement and approval from the department’s Legal Affairs Department.
Transferring the unit to a different buyer before handover is a larger subject with its own consent, fee and timing questions — it has its own guide: assignment and resale before handover. The eligibility side of a provisional mortgage is in financing an off-plan purchase.
Deregistration: when the developer unwinds an entry
The mirror image of registration has its own service. Termination of initial registration allows a developer to apply for the deregistration of a provisional registration for investors who have breached their contractual obligations through non-payment of instalments due under the off-plan sales contract. It costs AED 600 plus the two AED 10 fees, and the department quotes a service time of eight hours and thirty minutes.
It runs in two phases. The first produces a deregistration notice and requires the contract pages showing the parties, the property and the payment schedule, the developer’s warning letter with proof of receipt, identification, a technical report for villas and multi-building units, and — where the investor has paid more than 40% of contract value — the registration fee payment receipt. The second phase requires the notice from Legal Affairs, proof it was dispatched and received, publication in the official gazette in Arabic and English, and a no-objection letter from Legal Affairs.
The conditions constrain the developer in ways worth knowing: the sale must precede project completion, a minimum one-month warning period applies, the amounts claimed must match the department’s notice, and the warning cannot include fines or additional administrative fees.
What the developer may retain, and by when the balance must be refunded, is set by Article 11 of Law No. 13 of 2008 as amended — the stage-by-stage arithmetic is in the off-plan buying process.
From the interim register to a title deed
The interim register is a waiting room, and Article 8 of Law No. 13 of 2008 says when the door opens: developers must register completed projects once they receive the completion certificate from the competent entities, with units registered in purchasers’ names on fulfilment of their contractual obligations.
The mechanism is the department’s request to complete the initial procedures data service, which allows parties compliant with their contractual obligations to issue a certificate of title. It is filed through the Oqood developer portal, takes six business days, and — the page is explicit that this applies where the registration fee has previously been collected — carries AED 250 for the title deed, AED 250 for the map of a unit or villa (AED 100 for a land plot map outside Dubai Municipality, AED 225 where unified with Dubai Municipality), and AED 10 each for knowledge and innovation.
If you later need a fresh copy of the deed itself, that is a separate five-minute service at the department’s main branch: AED 250 for the certificate, AED 120 for map issuance, and AED 10 each for knowledge and innovation.
One point of orientation before you file anything: what the interim register gives you is a recorded interest in a unit that is not yet built, not a freehold title. What kind of title you end up with, and where in the UAE foreigners can hold it, is a separate question.
Title forms and designated areas are covered in where foreigners can own UAE property. If the purchase is being made with residency in mind, the registered value is the figure that matters — our Golden Visa guide covers how the land department reads it. We did not verify on a DLD or ICP page that Oqood registration is itself a precondition of eligibility, so we point you there rather than restate the rule here.
Questions buyers ask
What happens if my off-plan sale is never registered on Oqood?+
Article 3 of Dubai Law No. 13 of 2008 states that a sale or other disposition transferring or restricting ownership will be void unless entered in the Interim Property Register. That is the statutory position on the face of the law. Registration is filed by the developer rather than by you, so if three months have passed since signing, ask the developer for the record and check the property status yourself through the DLD website or the Dubai REST app.
Who is supposed to register it — me or the developer?+
The developer. The Land Department’s initial sale registration service is a developer service, filed through the real estate developers portal, and the applicant is a company. Your role is to supply the sale and purchase contract, your Emirates ID and, if you are non-resident, your passport copy. The department’s service conditions require registration in the provisional register within 90 days of the contract being signed.
Is there a penalty for registering late?+
Article 3 of the 2010 implementing bylaw provides that where an application is submitted after the deadline the department must still register the disposition and impose a fine of AED 10,000 on the developer. One caveat we would rather state than hide: the bylaw expresses that deadline by reference to the transitional time limit in the law, so whether the fine reaches an ordinary late filing today is an inference rather than a reading we can confirm. Either way the fine falls on the developer, and late registration is still registration.
Can I take a mortgage on a unit that only has an Oqood entry?+
Yes — the Land Department registers provisional mortgages. The file needs the bank’s letter, three certified mortgage contracts and a developer no-objection e-certificate issued via the Dubai REST app. Registration is 0.25% of the mortgage value plus AED 250 for the title deed and AED 10 each for knowledge and innovation, and the trustee partner fee for a provisional registration is AED 5,000 + VAT against AED 4,000 + VAT for a standard one. What you can borrow is a separate question, covered in our financing guide.
Can I switch to a different unit without paying the registration fee twice?+
There is a Land Department service for exactly this, provided the swap is agreed with the developer and stays within that developer’s own projects. Registration fees transfer across, and where the new unit is more expensive, fees are charged on the price increase only. It runs through the Oqood portal, takes six business days, and needs a signed settlement agreement, a new sale and purchase agreement and approval from the department’s Legal Affairs Department.
How do I turn my interim registration into a title deed at handover?+
Law No. 13 of 2008 requires the developer to register the completed project once the completion certificate is issued, with units registered in the names of purchasers who have met their obligations. The filing is the department’s request to complete the initial procedures data, submitted through the Oqood portal and taking six business days. Where the registration fee was already collected, the charges are AED 250 for the title deed, AED 250 for a unit or villa map and AED 10 each for knowledge and innovation. There is no second registration percentage.
Sources
- · Dubai Land Department — request to register the initial sale
- · Dubai Law No. 13 of 2008 — regulating the Interim Property Register
- · Dubai Law No. 9 of 2009 — amending Law No. 13 of 2008 (register definition)
- · Executive Council Resolution No. 6 of 2010 — implementing bylaw of Law No. 13 of 2008
- · Dubai Law No. 19 of 2020 — amending Article 11 of Law No. 13 of 2008
- · Dubai Land Department — register project (escrow, 30% test, AED 150,000)
- · Dubai Land Department — request for termination of initial registration
- · Dubai Land Department — request to complete the initial procedures data (title deed)
- · Dubai Land Department — issue title deed
- · Dubai Land Department — mortgage registration application
- · Dubai Land Department — property sale registration (developer e-NOC)
- · Dubai Land Department — transfer of registration fees from one property to another
- · Dubai Land Department — property status enquiry (and Dubai REST)
- · Dubai Land Department — frequently asked questions (escrow, project tracking)
This guide is general information, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Rules change — verify current requirements with the relevant authority or a licensed advisor before acting. Last reviewed 8 September 2026.