Dubai Property

Handing over real money for an apartment that currently exists as a rendering and a patch of sand asks a lot of anyone. The showroom is beautiful. The payment plan is comfortable. And somewhere at the back of your mind sits the obvious question: what happens to my money if this building never goes up? It is a fair question, and Dubai answered it in law almost twenty years ago. Developer payments are...

There is a rumour that refuses to die. It says foreigners in Dubai never truly own anything, that the title is really a long lease dressed up in nicer language, and that one day a local partner appears holding the keys. It gets repeated at dinner parties by people who have never bought here. It is wrong. Foreign buyers can own property outright in Dubai on a full freehold basis, in roughly 40...

Most people get serious about buying in Dubai and then stall on the same question. One friend swears the city is completely tax-free. Another says nothing is ever really tax-free and there must be a catch buried somewhere. So the plan sits in a group chat for three weeks while everybody argues. Here is the short answer, and then the detail behind it. Dubai charges no annual property tax, no personal...

Imagine this. The developer finally calls, the unit is ready. You've been waiting over a year, possibly two years, for it; watched it go up floor by floor on your phone screen, tracking each payment and readjusting travel plans for two flights at least. And then, it's finally time. You get there. The apartment is gorgeous – fresh paint, gleaming tilework, the very kitchen you imagined from the glossy...