Law No. 8 of 2007chapter by chapter

Article 4

No Developer may conduct Real Property Development activity unless recorded in the DLD's Real Property Developers Register and licensed by the Competent Entities.

Article 5

A Developer may not advertise (locally or internationally) or participate in exhibitions to promote off-plan Unit sales without a written DLD permit.

Article 6

A Developer wishing to sell Units off-plan must submit a request to the DLD to open an Escrow Account, accompanied by: Chamber of Commerce membership certificate, commercial licence, title deed, master/sub-developer contract copy, approved architectural/engineering plans, auditor-approved financial statement of estimated costs/revenues, a construction-commencement undertaking, and a sale contract template.

Article 7

An Escrow Account must be opened via a written agreement between the Developer and the Escrow Agent (prescribing management terms and parties' rights/obligations), with a copy of the agreement deposited with the DLD.

Article 9

Each Real Property project must have its own dedicated Escrow Account (no attachment by the Developer's creditors permitted); a Developer running multiple projects must maintain a separate Escrow Account per project.

Article 10

The DLD maintains an Escrow Agents Register; an Escrow Agent must be competent to manage Escrow Accounts and be recorded in that register.

Article 11

An Escrow Agent must provide the DLD with periodic statements of Escrow Account revenues/expenditures and any other information the DLD requests; the DLD may audit these statements. Where a violation is found, the DLD must notify the Escrow Agent in writing and grant a remedy period.

Article 12

Depositors (purchasers) or their representatives, and representatives of official authorities, may access Escrow Account accounting records and request copies.

Article 13

Where a Developer mortgages a project to obtain a loan, the lending institution/company must deposit the loan amount into the relevant Escrow Account for management under this Law.

Article 14

The Escrow Agent must retain 5% of the total Escrow Account value after the Developer obtains the completion certificate; this retained amount is released to the Developer only after one year from the registration of Units in purchasers' names.

Article 15

In an emergency resulting in project non-completion, the Escrow Agent must, upon consultation with the DLD, take necessary measures to preserve depositors' rights, including ensuring project completion or refunding depositor payments.

Article 16

Imprisonment and/or a fine of not less than AED 100,000 applies to: conducting Real Property Development without a licence; submitting false documents/information to obtain a licence; knowingly offering fraudulent projects for sale; embezzling/misappropriating project payments; an auditor issuing a false financial report or omitting essential facts; a consultant knowingly certifying false project documents; or a Developer dealing with a broker not registered on the Real Property Brokers Register

Article 17

A Developer is struck off the Register if: declared bankrupt; fails without valid reason to commence construction within 6 months of off-plan sale approval; the Competent Entity licence is revoked; commits any Article 16(2)-(5) violation; or violates any other Real Property Development legislation.

Article 18

All Developers existing at the Law's effective date were required to comply with its provisions within 6 months of publication (extendable at the DLD's discretion).