Law No. 13 of 2008 created the Interim Real Property Register; the implementing bylaw to it — Executive Council Resolution No. 6 of 2010 — spells out the prohibitions and duties. An off-plan sale made before the project is approved and registered is null and void. Handover cannot be withheld over unrelated debts. Excess area is not payable; a shortfall beyond 5% must be compensated. A broker may not deduct commission before the price reaches the escrow account. Read from the official text.
Verified against official sources on 2026-09-15: the text of Executive Council Resolution No. 6 of 2010 comes from the Dubai Legislation Portal (dlp.dubai.gov.ae). Source links sit next to each rule and again at the end. The portal itself notes that the English version is a translation and that the Arabic text prevails in case of conflict; we quote the portal's English edition and say so plainly. This is not legal advice: a specific contract is judged on its own facts.
People read the law and almost never read the bylaw. Yet the prohibitions that actually touch an off-plan buyer live in the bylaw: Law No. 13 of 2008 created the interim register, and the implementing instrument set out what a developer may not do, what he must do, and by when.
The document is Executive Council Resolution No. (6) of 2010 Approving the Implementing Bylaw of Law No. (13) of 2008 Regulating the Interim Real Property Register in the Emirate of Dubai, issued on 14 February 2010.
Before the first sale: three conditions, and nullity
Article 4 bars both building and selling until three conditions are met together:
- the developer has taken possession of the land and received the demarcation certificate;
- he has actual control of the land on which the project is to be constructed;
- he has obtained from the competent entities the approvals required to commence the project.
What happens if this is breached is stated in Article 11, with no intermediate degrees:
«Any legal disposition made by a Master Developer, Sub-developer, or Broker which involves the Off-plan Sale of any Real Property or Real Property Unit prior to approval of the commencement of the project by the Competent Entities and its registration with the DLD will be deemed null and void.» — Executive Council Resolution No. (6) of 2010, Article 11
Note the third party on that list: the broker is named alongside the developers. The separate prerequisites for launching a project are covered in our analysis of the developer's preconditions.
When a broker is selling
Article 10 imposes three requirements on the developer, and a buyer can check them exactly as the regulator does: the project must be registered with the DLD; an agreement must be concluded with the broker, who must be approved and licensed under Bylaw No. 85 of 2006 on the brokers register; and the project marketing agreement itself must be registered with the DLD.
Broker licences can be checked publicly — how, exactly, is set out in our piece on Trakheesi.
Article 12 closes the most sensitive loop — the money:
«The Real Property Broker may not deposit the price into his own account or deduct his commission from that price before depositing it into the Escrow Account. Any agreement to the contrary of the provisions of this Article will be null and void.» — Executive Council Resolution No. (6) of 2010, Article 12
The second sentence matters more than the first: a buyer's signature under a "pay the broker, he will transfer it on" arrangement does not save that arrangement. Why the escrow account exists and how it works is covered separately.
Registration: the deadline sits on filing, not on the outcome
Article 2 removes a risk the developer cannot control: if the application to register a disposition is filed within the time limit under paragraph 2 of Article 3 of the Law, the time limit is treated as met — even if the DLD itself does not complete the procedure within it.
Article 3 covers late filing, and it has two halves that should not be conflated:
| What the DLD does | Provision |
|---|---|
| registers the disposition in the Interim Real Property Register anyway | Article 3(1) |
| imposes a fine of AED 10,000 on the developer | Article 3(2) |
So a developer's delay does not push the buyer out of the register: the entry is made, and the liability falls on whoever was late. What the entry gives during construction, and how it differs from a title deed, is covered in Oqood versus Title Deed.
Handover: what it may not be made conditional on
The most practical rule in the whole instrument is Article 7. Once the project is completed and its completion certificate obtained, the developer may not refuse to hand over a unit or to register it in the purchaser's name, provided the purchaser has fulfilled all his contractual obligations. And then comes the sentence worth memorising:
«This applies even if the purchaser owes the Developer any financial dues other than in connection with the sale agreement of the Real Property Unit.» — Executive Council Resolution No. (6) of 2010, Article 7
Two further paragraphs follow. The developer must register in the purchaser's name not only the unit but all facilities allocated to it — car parks are named expressly. And if the developer still refuses to register while the purchaser has performed, the DLD may register the unit in the purchaser's name itself, on the purchaser's request or on its own initiative.
Article 8 finishes the payments topic: a developer may not, for any reason whatsoever, charge purchasers any amounts other than those approved by the DLD for any legal disposition of their units. Article 9 leaves the ordinary split of registration fees between the parties as prescribed by the applicable legislation, unless they agree otherwise.
Area: net, excess, and the 5% threshold
Article 13 turns an argument about square metres into arithmetic:
- for registration purposes the net area of the unit is adopted, calculated as determined by the DLD;
- if the actual area is larger than the net area sold, the excess is not taken into account and the developer may not claim payment for it — unless otherwise agreed;
- if the actual area is smaller than the net area by more than five percent, the developer must compensate the purchaser;
- the compensation is calculated on the price of the unit agreed in the contract between developer and purchaser;
- the basis for calculating excess or shortfall is the net area as stated in the sale agreement and the plan.
The asymmetry is not accidental and runs in the buyer's favour: no payment for extra metres, compensation for missing ones beyond the threshold.
When the buyer may go to court
Article 20 lists the grounds on which a purchaser may ask the competent court to terminate the relationship with the developer:
- the developer refuses, without a valid reason acceptable to the DLD, to deliver the final sale agreement to the purchaser;
- the developer declines to link payments to the construction milestones proposed by RERA;
- the developer materially deviates from the specifications agreed in the contract;
- after handover the unit proves unfit for use due to material construction defects;
- any other circumstances requiring termination under the general legal rules.
There is a softer step before court: Article 14 allows the DLD to undertake conciliatory efforts and propose solutions, and an amicable settlement is documented in writing — once approved by the DLD, it becomes binding on both parties.
⚠️ We do not print the percentages of Article 15 here
Articles 15 to 18 of this bylaw describe what a developer may do when a purchaser defaults, and they name specific retention shares. We do not reproduce those percentages as today's rule, and here is why: they mirror the mechanism of Article 11 of Law No. 13 of 2008 in its original form, and that article of the Law was replaced by Law No. 19 of 2020. The version in force is covered by us separately and from its own text.
Reconciling a 2010 bylaw with a law as amended in 2020 — whose provision still governs, and in what part — is not something we undertake: that is a question for a lawyer on a specific contract, not for an overview. What in Articles 15 to 17 describes procedure, and does not conflict, can be stated: written notice to the purchaser (in person before the DLD, or by registered mail or email with a copy provided to the DLD), a thirty-day grace period running from service of the notice, and confirmation of the project's completion percentage by a technical report from a RERA-approved consultant based on an on-site inspection. Article 17 adds a technical point: completion of levelling works and of the project's infrastructure is deemed commencement of implementation.
What follows for a buyer
- Check the project's registration before any deposit. A sale before approval and registration is void — that is not a fine, it is the absence of a transaction.
- Pay into the escrow account, not to the broker. An agreement to the contrary is null under Article 12.
- Unrelated debts are no ground to withhold keys. Article 7 says so literally.
- Reconcile the area against the contract and the plan. The 5% threshold and the calculation base are fixed, and extra metres are not billable.
- Parking is registered together with the apartment. It is named expressly among the facilities registered to the purchaser.
What we do NOT claim here
- How Articles 15 to 18 of the bylaw relate to the current Article 11 of the Law. We derive no combined rule and print no percentages as current.
- Current fees and approved charges. The bylaw defers to DLD decisions; we do not reproduce their current schedule.
- The contents of Bylaw No. 85 of 2006 on the brokers register. It is named in the bylaw's text; its own provisions we do not quote.
- Practice of application. How the department assesses a "valid reason" or a "material deviation" is not written in the instrument.
- Any figures other than the one stated. The only number in this piece is the AED 10,000 fine from Article 3.
Sources
- Executive Council Resolution No. (6) of 2010 Approving the Implementing Bylaw of Law No. (13) of 2008 Regulating the Interim Real Property Register in the Emirate of Dubai — Dubai Legislation Portal: Article 2 (time limit met on filing), Article 3 (registration despite delay, AED 10,000 fine), Article 4 (three conditions before construction and sales), Article 7 (no refusal of handover or registration, car parks, registration by the DLD), Article 8 (no charges other than those approved by the DLD), Article 9 (split of fees), Article 10 (three requirements when selling through a broker), Article 11 (nullity of sales before approval and registration), Article 12 (escrow account, no deduction of commission), Article 13 (net area, excess, 5% threshold), Article 14 (conciliation through the department), Articles 15–17 (notice, 30 days, RERA-approved consultant's technical report), Article 20 (grounds for termination at the purchaser's request). Issued on 14 February 2010.
- Law No. (13) of 2008 Regulating the Interim Property Register in the Emirate of Dubai — Dubai Legislation Portal: the law this bylaw implements; its Article 11 is in force as replaced by Law No. 19 of 2020.
