DLD project status: how to check a Dubai off-plan project

What the register shows for a project

Project number

The DLD's own number for the project. Every registered off-plan project has one; a brochure or sales agreement should quote it, and it is the key to everything else on the register.

Escrow account number

The account the project's buyer payments go into. It is held at a bank under the DLD's supervision and the developer draws on it as construction progresses rather than freely. Pay into this account and no other.

Percent completed

The construction progress the DLD records for the project, as a percentage. It is the register's figure, not the developer's brochure; the DLD's open data shows it for projects registered in the current year.

Start and expected completion dates

When the project was registered as starting, and when it is expected to complete on the register. The expected date is the registered one and is not the same thing as the handover date in a sales brochure.

Unit counts

How many units the project is registered with. The register counts what it counts, which can include parking, retail or commercial units alongside homes.

How to check a project on dubailand.gov.ae

1. 1

   Ask the developer or the sales agent for the DLD project number and the escrow account number. Both should be in the sales agreement.

2. 2

   Open dubailand.gov.ae and use the project status lookup to find the project by number. The register shows the developer of record, the percent completed and the escrow account.

3. 3

   Check that the developer, the escrow account and the completion figure match what you were told. A mismatch is a question for the developer before it is a problem for you.

4. 4

   Pay into the escrow account shown on the register and no other account, personal or brokerage.

The Dubai projects we list, by status

Each with its DLD number and escrow account where we hold them, and the construction figure where the register or the developer has supplied one. Check every number on dubailand.gov.ae yourself before paying; a selection, not the whole register.

Questions about the DLD register

How do I check a DLD project status?

Take the DLD project number from the sales agreement or the developer and look it up on dubailand.gov.ae, run by the Dubai Land Department (DLD). The register shows the developer of record, the percent completed and the escrow account. Every project page here shows the number where we hold it, so it can be checked against the register directly.

What does percent completed mean on the DLD register?

It is the construction progress the register holds for the project, as a percentage, from the register's own inspections and filings rather than the developer's marketing. The DLD's open data publishes it for projects registered in the current year. Where we hold the figure it appears on the project page with the register named as its source.

What is a DLD escrow account number?

The number of the account the project's buyer payments go into, held under the Dubai Land Department (DLD)'s supervision and drawn on by the developer as construction progresses rather than freely. Ask for it, check it on dubailand.gov.ae, and pay into that account only. Our project pages show the escrow account number where we hold it.

Where are DLD transactions published?

the Dubai Land Department (DLD) publishes every registered sale through its open-data portal: the price, the size and the date. We read them each month to compute the median price per sqft buyers paid in each area (sales of homes that were not built yet) and measure every project against it; the emirate page and the monthly price-gap report show the figures.