Every off-plan brochure in Dubai lists a completion date. Every SPA contains a 12-month grace period on top of it. Those two facts explain most buyer frustration in the market.
The completion date is the developer’s projected date for finishing construction of a building, after which the property moves into the handover phase: final inspections, snagging, utilities activation, and key release. On the SPA, the completion date usually carries an additional grace window, commonly 12 months, during which the developer can delay without penalty. Only after the grace window expires does the buyer acquire any real recourse.
I tracked 14 off-plan projects for clients across 2023-2024. Eleven delivered within the grace period. Two delivered on or within 60 days of the stated date. One slipped 14 months past the grace period and triggered a DLD investigation.
When you evaluate an off-plan project, look at the developer’s last three delivered projects and their actual handover dates versus stated completion dates. If the pattern is six- to nine-month routine delays on top of grace period, plan your own financial timeline accordingly. The stated date is optimism, not contract.
Related: Handover Date, SPA, Construction Progress, Payment Milestone.
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