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The payment milestone structure
Most off-plan purchases in Dubai are paid in instalments tied to construction progress, with a deposit on booking and further payments due as the building reaches agreed stages, plus a final instalment at or near handover. The schedule is set out in your sale and purchase agreement, and it is worth reading it closely before you sign, particularly the definitions of each milestone.
What to check before each instalment
Ask the developer for dated progress photographs before paying a milestone tied to construction stage. For larger instalments, or if anything in the photographs looks inconsistent with the claimed stage, an independent site visit is a modest cost against the size of the payment it protects.
Distance does not reduce what you are entitled to check. It just means someone else has to check it for you.
Handover without flying in
When the unit is ready, you do not need to be in Dubai for the walkthrough. An inspector holding power of attorney or acting under the developer's own visitor arrangements can attend, complete the same inspection you would want done in person, and send the report back the same day. See our full guide to the handover process for what that day involves.
Not financial or legal advice
This guide covers what to check on site. It is not tax, legal or financial advice. Speak to a qualified adviser about currency, tax and ownership structure before you commit funds.
Ongoing management from the UK
Once you own the property, the same distance problem recurs at every point something needs checking: the eleven-month warranty inspection, a tenant complaint, a maintenance dispute. Building a habit of instructing an independent inspection at each of these moments, rather than relying on secondhand reports, is the most reliable way to manage a property you rarely see.
Questions we're asked
No. An inspector can attend on your behalf, collect keys where the developer allows it, complete the walkthrough and report back the same day.
Ask for dated progress photographs at each payment milestone, and consider an independent site visit before larger instalments on projects where you have any doubt.
The report itself is the record you act on. We photograph, measure and cite every defect so you can instruct your legal representative or negotiate with the developer without needing to have seen it yourself.
We are appointed by you and report to you. The correspondence with the developer stays in your name; we help you with what to send, who to send it to and how to word it.
Written by the Kensington Inspection Co team
Reviewed for technical accuracy by our technical director, a qualified surveyor. Kensington Inspection Co carries out independent property inspections in Dubai, benchmarked to British surveying standards.
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Not planning to attend handover?
We attend for you, end to end, and report back the same day.