Delayed handover
Your handover date passed. What happens now?
Delay is the single most common reason a Dubai off-plan purchaser contacts us. It is also the issue where assumptions cause the most damage. Purchasers routinely assume either that a missed date ends the contract, or that nothing can be done until the developer decides to finish. Both assumptions are usually wrong, and both lead to the wrong first move. The useful question is narrower: what did the contract actually commit the developer to, what has the developer done since, and what does that leave you able to ask for?
The delay itself is rarely the whole story
Whether a delayed handover gives rise to a remedy, and which remedy, can depend on all of the following:
- The wording of the SPA
- The contractual completion date
- Any permitted grace period
- Extension provisions
- Force majeure provisions
- Notices issued by the developer
- Actual construction progress
- Purchaser payment compliance
- The reason for the delay
- Applicable Dubai / UAE law
- The remedy being sought
What to do before you write to the developer
Fix the original date. Not the date in the brochure or the one the sales agent mentioned — the date the SPA commits to, and how the SPA defines it. These are often different, and the difference matters. Collect every notice. Check your own compliance. Preserve the evidence. Be careful what you sign. Purchasers are sometimes offered an addendum, revised payment plan or settlement in exchange for accepting a new date. Have one reviewed before signing it, not after.
Delay does not have one remedy
Purchasers facing the same delay often want completely different things, and the strategy should follow the objective rather than the other way round. Some want the property finished. Some want compensation. Some want out entirely. Some want to stop paying further instalments while the position is unclear — which is usually the most dangerous instinct of the four, because unilateral non-payment can hand the developer a default argument. Tell us which of those you want. It changes the first letter.
Questions on this page
Possibly, but delay alone should not automatically be presented as creating a right to terminate. The SPA, applicable extension provisions, the circumstances of the delay, purchaser compliance and applicable law all need to be considered.