Oqood
Oqood is the Dubai Land Department's interim register for off-plan sales: it records the buyer's rights during construction, before a title deed can be issued.
What Oqood means for a buyer
Oqood (Arabic for "contracts") is the system through which every off-plan sale in Dubai is entered in the Dubai Land Department's interim register, as required by Law No. 13 of 2008. The developer registers your SPA through the Oqood portal and you receive an Oqood certificate, sometimes called an initial contract of sale. It names you as the purchaser of a specific unit in a registered project.
Registration matters because it is what protects you against the unit being sold twice, and it is the document a bank, a later buyer or the immigration authorities will ask for while the building is under construction. When the project completes and you have paid in full, the entry moves to the main register and a title deed is issued.
The cost is the DLD's 4% transfer fee, paid at the start rather than at handover, plus an administration fee. The admin fee is quoted inconsistently because developers set their own charge on top of the DLD's, so ask for it in writing. Some developers pay part or all of the 4% as a sales incentive.
Do not treat a reservation form or a developer's receipt as proof of registration. Ask for the Oqood certificate itself and check it on the Dubai REST app. If you later sell before completion, the assignment is also recorded in Oqood.
Guides that use this term
Where Oqood comes up in practice, with the costs, rules and steps around it.
Questions about the buying process?
An adviser can explain how this applies to the property you're considering.
- Current price list and availability, direct from the developer
- No fee to you on off-plan purchases: the developer pays us
- One salaried adviser, not on commission, from first call to handover
