Dubai routes stalled and cancelled real estate projects to a dedicated judicial body — the Special Tribunal for Unfinished and Cancelled Real Property Projects, established by Decree No. 33 of 2020. Ordinary courts may not hear such cases and must refer them there, the DIFC Courts included. The Tribunal's awards are definitive and not subject to ordinary appeal, and claims within its jurisdiction are exempt from judicial fees. Jurisdiction, powers and the cancellation procedure, read from the official text.
Verified against official sources on 2026-09-15: the texts of Decree No. 33 of 2020 and Executive Council Resolution No. 6 of 2010 come from the Dubai Legislation Portal (dlp.dubai.gov.ae). Source links sit next to each rule and again at the end. The portal notes that the English version is a translation and that the Arabic text prevails in case of conflict. This is not legal advice: a specific project and a specific contract are judged on their own documents.
"Which court do I go to" has a counter-intuitive answer for an off-plan buyer: if the project is stalled or cancelled, an ordinary court will not take the case. The emirate routes this category to a dedicated judicial body, and that exclusivity is written down explicitly.
The document is Decree No. (33) of 2020 Concerning the Special Tribunal for Unfinished and Cancelled Real Property Projects in the Emirate of Dubai, issued on 24 November 2020. It supersedes Decree No. 21 of 2013 (Article 16) and renames the earlier tribunal: the phrase "for Liquidation of Cancelled Real Property Projects and Settlement of Associated Rights" is replaced with "for Unfinished and Cancelled Real Property Projects" wherever it appears in local legislation (Article 2).
Two definitions that decide everything
Article 1 defines both categories, and both are broader than commonly assumed:
| Term | Definition under Article 1 |
|---|---|
| Unfinished project | a project whose construction has commenced but was suspended for reasons attributable to the developer or purchaser, or for any other reason whatsoever |
| Cancelled project | a project cancelled on any ground warranting cancellation under legislation in force in the emirate, or referred to the Tribunal but not yet liquidated |
The decisive part of the second definition is its second half: a project enters the category not only after cancellation, but from the moment it is referred to the Tribunal.
Article 4 draws the boundary: the decree applies to projects located within the emirate that are proven unfinished or in respect of which a cancellation decision is issued under Law No. 13 of 2008 and its implementing bylaw, and it does not apply to projects within the boundaries of the Dubai International Financial Centre. The Tribunal's head office is located at the DLD (Article 3).
What the Tribunal hears
Article 6 lists ten heads of jurisdiction. Those that matter most to a buyer:
- claims, applications and appeals not finally determined by the earlier 2013 tribunal;
- claims, applications and orders whose subject matter or cause is an unfinished project;
- the same for a cancelled project or its liquidation;
- unfinished projects referred to the Tribunal by RERA, and decisions assigning completion to another developer;
- grievances by developers against RERA where the agency cancelled a project;
- the rights and obligations of a developer from whom a project is withdrawn and of the one who will complete it;
- liquidation of projects with a final cancellation decision and settlement of related rights after deduction of liquidation expenses;
- the rights of investors and purchasers in unfinished projects;
- all execution proceedings, grievances and objections concerning such projects.
Article 7 provides the instruments: issuing interim and preliminary orders, including orders obliging a person to perform or desist from a specific act; proposing mediation and conciliation; appointing auditors at the developer's expense to audit the financial position of a cancelled project — what purchasers paid, what reached the escrow account and what has been spent; and issuing orders to the escrow agent or the developer on liquidation matters, including the refund of amounts. What a project escrow account is and why it exists is covered separately.
Exclusivity: why an ordinary court will not take the case
Article 10 is drafted as a prohibition addressed to the courts themselves:
«All courts and judicial entities in the Emirate, including the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts, may not consider any applications, claims, or appeals that fall within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal and are filed with them after the effective date of this Decree.» — Decree No. (33) of 2020, Article 10
Cases filed before that date must cease to be considered and be referred to the Tribunal; execution departments must transfer the matching execution files as well.
This exclusivity leaves traces in other instruments. The decree on the Probate Court, for example, expressly excludes from that court's jurisdiction matters assigned to special tribunals — so an inheritance file that runs into a cancelled project is split between two different bodies.
Finality and fees
Two provisions change a buyer's calculus more than any other:
«The awards, orders, and decisions issued by the Tribunal will be definitive and not subject to ordinary appeal procedures. They will be executed by the Execution Court at Dubai Courts.» — Decree No. (33) of 2020, Article 11
«The applications, orders, claims, and appeals that fall within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal pursuant to this Decree are hereby exempted from the judicial fees prescribed by law.» — Decree No. (33) of 2020, Article 13
Exemption from judicial fees is a rare rule, and it changes the economics of small claims sharply: filing costs the owner of a single apartment no percentage of the claim. Finality, though, cuts both ways: there will be no ordinary appeal against the award.
Article 12 names the sources the Tribunal applies: legislation in force in the emirate, the provisions of Islamic Sharia, custom that does not contradict legislation, public order or public morals, and the principles of natural justice, truth and fairness. Article 8 adds jurisdiction over annulment and ratification of arbitration awards in disputes within its remit — including claims filed with the DIFC Courts that relate to projects outside the DIFC boundaries.
How a project gets cancelled in the first place
The decision is taken not by the Tribunal but by RERA, on a reasoned technical report. The grounds are listed in Article 23 of the 2010 bylaw: the developer fails without valid justification to commence works despite holding all approvals; commits one of the offences under Article 16 of the escrow accounts law; is shown to have no genuine intention to implement the project; the land is withdrawn because a sub-developer failed his obligations towards the master developer; the land is completely affected by planning projects; the project fails through gross negligence; the developer states an intention not to implement it for reasons acceptable to RERA; the developer is declared bankrupt; or any other reason determined by RERA.
Then the clocks are short:
| Step | Deadline | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| developer's grievance against the cancellation decision | 7 working days from notification | Article 24 of the 2010 bylaw |
| RERA's decision on the grievance | 7 working days from submission | Article 24 of the 2010 bylaw |
| refund of escrow funds after cancellation | no later than 14 days | Article 25 of the 2010 bylaw |
| refund by the developer where the account is short | no later than 60 days | Article 26 of the 2010 bylaw |
On cancellation RERA prepares a technical report stating the reasons, notifies the developer in writing, and appoints a certified auditor at the developer's expense to audit the project's financial position. If the grievance is rejected, that decision is final and cancellation proceeds. If the developer does not refund within the deadline, RERA must take all necessary actions to preserve purchasers' rights, including referral to the competent judicial authorities. The remaining duties and prohibitions of the same bylaw are covered in a separate piece.
Cancellation is not the only outcome
Article 9 of the decree describes a mechanism rarely discussed: before liquidation is completed, RERA may ask the Tribunal to suspend it in order to reconsider the project — whether it can be completed and its disputes settled. For such projects the agency files a detailed report with the Tribunal. For unfinished projects RERA's report covers the project's current situation, the solutions proposed — including which developers will complete it and verification of their ability to do so — and the actions the agency has already taken.
In other words, the design aims not at liquidation as such but at completion where completion is possible: assigning the build to another developer is a separate head of the Tribunal's jurisdiction.
What we do NOT claim here
- The Tribunal's current composition and rules of procedure. Article 5 assigns these to a resolution of the Chairman of the Judicial Council; we quote no such resolution.
- The contents of Resolution No. 12 of 2018. It is mentioned in Article 6 of the decree among the liquidation grounds; we have not read its own text and do not paraphrase it.
- Lists of specific projects. There is no project name in this piece and there cannot be: the status of a given project is checked with the regulator.
- How long the Tribunal takes. The decree sets no such deadlines, and we do not invent any.
- The interaction with federal insolvency proceedings. Bankruptcy is named as a ground for cancellation, but how the two procedures interact is not described in these instruments.
Sources
- Decree No. (33) of 2020 Concerning the Special Tribunal for Unfinished and Cancelled Real Property Projects in the Emirate of Dubai — Dubai Legislation Portal: Article 1 (definitions of unfinished and cancelled projects), Article 2 (renaming of the 2013 tribunal), Article 3 (head office at the DLD), Article 4 (scope and the DIFC exclusion), Article 5 (chairman and members appointed by the Chairman of the Judicial Council), Article 6 (ten heads of jurisdiction), Article 7 (powers: interim orders, mediation, auditors at the developer's expense, orders to the escrow agent), Article 8 (arbitration awards), Article 9 (RERA reports and suspension of liquidation), Article 10 (prohibition on other courts, DIFC Courts included, and referral of cases), Article 11 (finality and execution by the Execution Court at Dubai Courts), Article 12 (sources of law), Article 13 (exemption from judicial fees), Article 16 (supersession of Decree No. 21 of 2013). Issued on 24 November 2020.
- 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 23 (nine grounds for cancellation by RERA), Article 24 (grievance: 7 working days to file, 7 working days to decide; finality of rejection), Article 25 (technical report, notification, auditor at the developer's expense, refund within 14 days), Article 26 (60 days for the developer to refund where the account is short), Article 27 (RERA's actions on non-payment). Issued on 14 February 2010.
