Every payment milestone on a Dubai off-plan plan is either a construction check or a calendar check. Which kind you have decides how much protection you actually bought.
A payment milestone is a defined trigger that makes a buyer’s instalment due. Two flavours dominate the market. Construction-linked milestones tie payments to certified build progress: 10% on excavation, 10% on 30% structure completion, 10% on topping out, 10% on MEP completion, 10% on handover. Calendar milestones tie payments to dates regardless of progress: 10% every six months from booking to handover. The first flavour aligns risk. The second shifts it to the buyer.
On a Business Bay project a client entered in 2024, the plan looked like a construction plan at first glance. Reading closely, six of ten milestones were calendar-based with a thin pretence of linkage. By the time the building was actually at 40% complete, the buyer had paid 60%. The exposure was real.
Insist that the term sheet identify each milestone as construction-linked or time-based, in plain writing. If the developer will not put that clarity in the document, assume the worst version and price it in.
Related: Construction-Linked Payment Plan, Construction Progress, Payment Plan, Escrow Account.
Off-plan access is a function of relationships
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