Off-plan, RERA, escrow, and construction disputes — advised from both sides of the table, by someone who has built projects and litigated them.
The mandate
Real estate is where my two careers meet. I advise developers, investors, owners' associations and asset managers on the full life-cycle of a Dubai project — from off-plan sale and escrow through delivery, handover and dispute — with an engineer's grasp of how buildings actually get built.
The framework I work in
Dubai's off-plan regime is an interlocking machine. Law No. 8 of 2007 ring-fences buyer money in project escrow, released against certified construction progress. Law No. 13 of 2008 makes registration on the interim register (Oqood) constitutive — an unregistered sale has no legal effect. Law No. 19 of 2017 replaced ad hoc forfeiture with a graduated default scale tied to completion percentage, capping what a developer may retain. When a project fails, the special tribunal under Decree No. 33 of 2020 supervises cancellation and the refund waterfall, and Law No. 6 of 2019 governs jointly owned property after handover.
Most off-plan disputes are not really about the building. They are about who kept the better record.
What I handle
- Off-plan sale, escrow and RERA / DLD compliance
- Developer–investor disputes, delay and cancellation
- Construction contracts, variations, and defect and delay claims
- Jointly owned property, service charges and owners' associations
- Sale-and-purchase, property management and asset recovery
The builder's-eye view
Having run contracts and commercial management on high-value engineering and construction projects, I read a programme, a variation claim and a defects schedule as an engineer — and then argue them as a lawyer. That fluency is rare at the bar, and decisive in a construction dispute.
References: Law No. 8 of 2007 (Escrow); Law No. 13 of 2008 (Interim Register); Law No. 19 of 2017 (developer remedies); Decree No. 33 of 2020 (Special Tribunal); Law No. 6 of 2019 (Jointly Owned Property). General information, not legal advice.