Handover timeline

Every milestone is placed relative to the first month of the handover quarter you choose, using the usual lead or lag for that step: the completion notice a quarter or so before, the snagging window in the last month, the title deed and the first service charge invoice in the three months after. The dates are indicative months, not appointments — the sale and purchase agreement fixes the anticipated completion date and the grace period beyond it, and delays of a quarter or two are common.

The instalments

Choosing a plan structure adds the construction-linked instalments as generic percentage points, spaced evenly between booking and roughly three months before handover. The shares are the usual shape of each structure — the booking amount, the cumulative share paid during construction, and what falls at or after handover — never a developer’s figure:

• 80/20. About 20% at booking, 80% paid by the last construction milestone, 20% at handover.
• 60/40. About 10% at booking, 60% paid by the last construction milestone, 40% at handover.
• 50/50. About 10% at booking, 50% paid by the last construction milestone, 50% at handover.
• Post-handover plan. About 10% at booking, 60% paid by the last construction milestone, 40% in instalments after handover.

Without a structure, the instalments are shown as one window instead. The real schedule — the amounts, the dates and which construction stages they are tied to — exists only against a specific unit; we send you the developer’s own on request.

The steps

• Construction-linked instalments. Instalments fall due against booking and construction milestones on the developer's schedule, paid into the project's RERA-regulated escrow. The share paid before handover depends on the plan structure; the amounts and dates come from the developer against your unit.
• Completion notice. The developer notifies buyers that the completion certificate has been or is about to be issued, and sets out the final instalment, the handover fees and the inspection appointment.
• Inspection and snagging window. You or an independent snagging surveyor inspect the unit and record defects for the developer to correct. Do it before furniture arrives and before any tenant moves in.
• Handover and final instalment. The final instalment (or the first post-handover instalment) is paid, keys and access cards are issued, and utilities are connected in your name with a DEWA deposit.
• Title deed replaces the Oqood registration. The Land Department issues the title deed in your name once the developer completes the transfer; on post-handover plans the deed may carry a note of the outstanding amount until it is settled.
• First service charge invoice. Service charges start from handover, usually invoiced quarterly or annually in advance against the RERA-approved budget. Budget for this and the district cooling connection from day one.
• Tenancy contract and Ejari registration. If you let the property, the tenancy is registered on Ejari — required for it to be enforceable and for the tenant's utilities. Allow a month or two from handover to a registered tenant.
• Post-handover instalments. On a post-handover plan, the remaining share is paid in instalments after you take the keys, on the developer's schedule. The window shown uses the years you entered.
• Defects liability period ends. Developers are currently responsible for defects for one year from handover and for structural defects for ten. Report anything outstanding in writing before the first anniversary.

The window

The timeline runs from this month to 6 months after the handover quarter opens, which covers the keys, the title deed, the utilities and the first invoices. Steps that fall later — the end of the defects liability period, the tail of a post-handover plan — are listed under it rather than drawn. If the quarter you choose is imminent, the steps that would normally have happened already are shown from now, and the tool says so.