What is Oqood? Dubai's off-plan registration explained

Oqood is the Dubai Land Department's registration system for off-plan sales. When you buy a unit that is still under construction, there is no finished building yet, so the DLD cannot issue you a title deed the way it would for a completed apartment. Oqood fills that gap: it records your sale agreement in the DLD's own register, under your name and against the specific unit, so your interest in that property is officially recognised from the moment you register, well before the tower is built.

Where Oqood sits in the purchase

The sequence runs in a fixed order. You sign the reservation form and the sale agreement, you pay your booking instalment into the project's escrow account, and then the developer takes your signed contract to the Dubai Land Department to register it through Oqood. You receive an Oqood certificate confirming the registration. This is not the title deed itself; it is the DLD's record that a specific unit, in a specific project, is sold to you, pending completion. The title deed is issued separately, in your name, once the building is finished and handed over.

Take Hilton Residences at Dubai Maritime City as an example. After you sign the sale agreement and pay the first instalment of its 20% at reservation, 40% during construction, 40% on completion plan, the developer registers that sale through Oqood. From that point, if the unit were ever sold again before handover, the Oqood record is what gets updated to reflect the new buyer, which is also why keeping that certificate is worth doing carefully.

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What Oqood costs and what it does not cover

Oqood registration carries a fixed fee, confirmed in your sale contract rather than quoted here as a flat number, since developers structure it slightly differently. It sits alongside, not instead of, the Dubai Land Department's own registration fee of 4% of the price for the underlying sale. Oqood does not replace escrow protection: your payments are still held in the project's escrow account regardless of when Oqood registration happens, and the two systems work together rather than one substituting for the other.

What an Orven adviser checks

Before you sign, we confirm the project is eligible for Oqood registration with the DLD, and after you sign, we make sure the certificate you receive matches your name, your unit number and the price in your contract exactly. If anything on that certificate looks off, this is the document to catch it on, not something to notice years later at handover.

Write to us on WhatsApp at +971 52 776 1939 or at sales@orvenproperties.com if you want to see what an Oqood certificate looks like for a project you are considering before you reserve.

FAQ

Is Oqood the same as the title deed? No. Oqood registers your off-plan sale with the Dubai Land Department while the building is under construction. The title deed is issued separately, in your name, once the unit is delivered.

Who pays for Oqood registration? It is a fixed fee confirmed in your sale contract, alongside the developer's administrative fee and the DLD's own registration fee. Your adviser gives you the exact figures for the unit you are considering.

Does Oqood protect my payments if the developer runs into trouble? Oqood registers ownership of the sale contract. Your money's protection comes separately from the escrow account structure; see what happens if the developer is late for how that works.

Frequently asked questions

Is Oqood the same as the title deed?

No. Oqood registers your off-plan sale with the Dubai Land Department while the building is under construction. The title deed is issued separately, in your name, once the unit is delivered.

Who pays for Oqood registration?

It is a fixed fee confirmed in your sale contract, alongside the developer's administrative fee and the DLD's own registration fee. Your adviser gives you the exact figures for the unit you are considering.

Does Oqood protect my payments if the developer runs into trouble?

Oqood registers ownership of the sale contract. Your money's protection comes separately from the escrow account structure; see [what happens if the developer is late](/guides/what-happens-if-the-developer-is-late-in-dubai/) for how that works.