How to Assess an Off-Plan Developer in RAK: The Checklist We Use on Every Purchase

Giles Dean

Apr 6

6 min read

Updated: Oct 23

How to assess an off-plan developer in Ras Al Khaimah. Dean Property

Updated 23 October 2026. First published in April 2026. This version corrects RAK Properties' 2025 revenue and the history of escrow in Ras Al Khaimah, follows RAK's new off-plan law (Law No. 10 of 2026), and adds what has happened to RAK projects since the spring. What the new law changes, in full: RAK's new off-plan law →

The conflict that escalated from early 2026 → changed a number of things about the RAK off-plan market →. One of them is developer covenant.

The word comes from finance, where it describes how likely a borrower is to keep its promises. In an off-plan purchase it is the right word for what a developer asks of you: trust that it will build what it sold you, on the timeline it committed to, with the money to see it through. In a rising market with strong sales, few buyers examined it closely. Most developers, adequately funded, delivered. Buyers who did not check were usually fine.

That is no longer the market buyers are entering. RAK Properties, the emirate's largest listed developer, paused new launches after the March 2026 escalation. Its chief executive, Sameh Muhtadi, said: ‘We've mapped out a number of scenarios and decided that now is not the time to launch new projects.’ In 2025 the company reported revenue of AED 1.84 billion on sales of AED 3.36 billion. In the first half of 2026 its profit more than halved, to AED 77 million, while its order book reached a record AED 3.3 billion (AGBI, August 2026). Other RAK projects, among them Nobu Residences and the W hotel, have pushed back their completion dates. Covenant is now the first thing a buyer should assess.

Why construction experience helps

Building 1Rebel to a GBP 50m+ valuation meant capital-heavy construction across many sites: programmes, main contractors, fit-out subcontractors, and the direct experience of a programme that is on track and one that is drifting. That is not the same as being a developer. In some ways it is more useful. It is the view from the client's side of a contractor relationship, dependent on delivery, with every reason to learn early when things are going wrong.

Most off-plan buyers start their checks with the contract. They review the sale contract, check the payment schedule and make sure the legal protections are in order. That matters, but it is the wrong place to start. A well-drafted contract says what you are owed if a developer fails. It does not tell you whether it will. The question we bring to every purchase is different: does this developer have the money, the contractor and the record to finish what it is selling? And right now: can it keep building while sales are slower and building costs higher?

What happens when the answer is no

In 2005, Schon Properties launched Dubai Lagoon, 4,166 homes in Dubai Investments Park, sold off-plan before construction began. In October 2024, the Dubai Land Department marked the project ‘under cancellation’. Some buyers had waited nineteen years. One had paid 75% of the price for a home that was never built. A British buyer left Dubai in 2023 after sixteen years without seeing her home, Gulf News and Khaleej Times reported.

Dubai Lagoon timeline: launched 2005, buyers' money found outside escrow in 2018, marked under cancellation in October 2024

The failure was not sudden, and the warning signs could be checked. Construction stalled early against the programme. Deadlines were revised again and again. Most critically, buyers' money had not been paid into escrow as the law required. The Dubai Land Department moved to seize the company's assets in 2018.

That last point matters most. The escrow failure was the decisive one, and also the easiest to check. A buyer who asked the developer for its escrow account number and the name of the trustee bank, and then asked that bank whether the account existed and held the money, would have had an answer that changed the decision. Almost nobody made that call.

Ras Al Khaimah has required escrow for off-plan projects since 2008. The rules are now in Law No. 10 of 2026, and they are set out in our article on off-plan escrow →. But the lesson of Dubai Lagoon still holds: most delivery failures give early signals, and you can find them before you sign.

The checklist we use on every purchase

Every scheme we consider goes through the same assessment before we introduce it to a buyer. We work with the main RAK developers →, so we know how their processes run and whom to ask. This is how we approach a developer we are assessing for the first time.

The five checks on every off-plan developer: financial position, who is building it, the payment plan, completion record, escrow

1. Financial position: start with what is public

For listed developers, such as RAK Properties and Aldar on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, the annual reports, audited accounts and quarterly results are public. We read them as a credit analyst would. We look at cash against the cost of the building still to do, whether there is a construction loan from a named UAE bank or the programme depends mainly on new sales, and how fast homes are selling against the building timetable.

For private developers there is no such disclosure. So we ask. How is the programme funded? What share of the building cost does a loan cover, and what share depends on sales? What happens to the programme if sales slow for six months? RAK's new law requires a developer to fund at least 20% of the building cost itself. A developer in a sound position will answer without hesitating. Evasion is an answer too.

2. Who is actually building it

The developer does not build the project. The main contractor does. We ask who it is, what it has finished in the UAE, and whether it has worked with this developer before. A developer that has finished several projects with the same contractor, on similar timetables, is a very different risk from one starting with a new contractor on its biggest project yet. It is one of the least-asked and most useful questions in off-plan checks. How developers tend to answer such questions is in Five things developers say →.

3. The payment plan

Two things are easy to confuse here: when you pay the developer, and when the developer can draw your money. In Ras Al Khaimah, money leaves escrow only with RERA RAK's approval, and only to pay for building. When you pay is set by your contract. Most RAK plans run on calendar dates, not on construction stages. If your contract ties payments to stages, you may hold back a payment when the building has not reached the matching stage. If it does not, you pay on the date.

So we look at when the buyers' money arrives against when the developer needs it to keep building. A plan that collects most of the price well before the building has made real progress leaves you carrying more of the risk if the market turns.

4. Completion record, checked ourselves

A developer's own brochure will list its finished projects. We check them. We speak to the companies that manage finished buildings about real handover dates and how defects were dealt with. We read what owners say on community forums. We ask RERA RAK about the developer's registered projects.

Dubai delivered 59% of the homes projected for 2025, about 36,000, according to ValuStrat; RAK publishes no equivalent figure

Late delivery is common, so every claim needs checking. ValuStrat says Dubai delivered only 59% of the homes projected for 2025, about 36,000. RAK publishes no equivalent figure. A developer confident in its record will not mind you checking. One who deflects is telling you something.

5. Escrow, checked with the bank

We ask for the escrow account number and the name of the bank, then ask the bank to confirm that the account exists, belongs to this project and holds the buyers' money. It takes one call, and it is the call Dubai Lagoon's buyers never made.

The difference that matters now

Several RAK developers pass every check above. In our view, RAK Properties' published accounts, its record of finished projects and its open account of the market are the signals a well-run developer sends. Pausing launches rather than pressing on when building costs could not be priced is itself a form of covenant. The current state of the market is on our RAK property market page →.

The difference that matters now is between developers with that depth and those without it. It was always there. The conflict has made it count for more. Finding out which side a developer sits on is what these checks are for.

If you are looking at a specific RAK scheme and want our view of the developer's finances, record and contractor before you commit, use the WhatsApp button.

Thinking of buying here? Start here: Buying off-plan →

This article is published for information only and is not legal or investment advice.