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The matters around the purchase.
The purchase itself is the easier part: freehold ownership is open to foreign buyers, residence permit or not, and payment can be made from abroad. The work lies alongside it — an account on the ground, the residence permit, succession arrangements and an independent handover inspection. For these four matters I work with specialist partners: I coordinate, the work is done by professionals.
A bank account in the Emirates
Without a local account every payment becomes friction — and opening one takes longer than most people expect.
A UAE account is not strictly required for the purchase itself — payments can run to the project escrow account from abroad. But as soon as running costs, rental income or a later sale come into play, a local account becomes a practical necessity.
Requirements differ considerably between banks: some require a residence permit, others do not. Some open only restricted accounts for non-residents. Processing times range from a few days to several weeks, and incomplete evidence of the source of funds sends the process back to the start.
What we settle on this
- Do you need an account at all — or is settling from abroad sufficient?
- As a private individual or through a company?
- Which source-of-funds documents are already to hand?
- Is an appointment in person required?
Visas and residency
A residence permit is not the same as tax residency. Confusing the two is the most common error of reasoning.
Above certain investment amounts there are investor and golden visa options running for several years, in some cases with the possibility of including family members. The thresholds and conditions have been adjusted repeatedly in the past — figures from older articles are often out of date.
More important than the threshold is the question behind it: what do you expect the permit to do? A right of residence is, first of all, exactly that — a right of residence. Whether it becomes tax residency depends on quite different conditions, in particular actual presence and giving up your previous residence.
Anyone considering the purchase primarily for the visa should settle this question first. It decides whether the investment can serve its purpose at all.
What we settle on this
- What exactly is the residence permit meant to achieve?
- What thresholds and conditions apply at present?
- Can borrowed funds be counted towards the threshold?
- Are family members to be included?
Wills and succession
The point almost everyone postpones. Without provision, the succession law of your country of residence does not automatically govern your assets in the UAE.
For assets located in the Emirates, local law may govern — with a distribution that can differ considerably from your intentions. In practice something else often weighs more heavily: until jurisdiction is settled, accounts can be frozen and dealings with the property blocked.
For non-Muslim owners there are registration options that settle exactly this question bindingly. The effort is modest, the difference when it matters is considerable.
What is decisive is alignment: a will for the UAE does not replace a will in your country of residence — and the two must not contradict each other. That is exactly where mistakes arise when both documents are drawn up independently.
What we settle on this
- Is there already a will in your country of residence?
- Who should have access to accounts and documents if the worst happens?
- Are minor children affected?
- How will the two documents be aligned?
Independent snagging
Handover is the moment with the greatest leverage — and the one most often underestimated.
When a newly built apartment is accepted, an independent defects inspection — known as snagging — documents every deviation and defect before signature. That report is the basis for the developer to put things right.
Anyone accepting without an inspection report negotiates afterwards from a markedly weaker position: what has once been accepted counts as accepted. Longer statutory warranty periods apply to the structure than to the building services.
As a partner of PropertyCheck I have properties inspected independently before handover — independently meaning: not by the developer, and not by me.
What we settle on this
- Is an independent defects inspection scheduled before acceptance?
- What warranty periods does the purchase contract state?
- How is the remediation process governed?
- Who accepts the property if you cannot be there on the day?
These points belong before the purchase
Not after it. In an introductory call we go through which of them are relevant to your plans at all — and which you can spare yourself.