CRESCO RESEARCH
Dubai rules say the permit number must be displayed on the ad, and that buyers deposit only into the project escrow account. Most Americans are never told either rule. Here are ten checks, with the official source for each.
Two Dubai rules do most of the work in protecting a buyer, and most Americans are told neither. The first is that a broker must obtain a permit for any real estate advertisement through the Trakheesi system, and the permit number must be displayed on the ad. The second is that a broker must instruct buyers to only deposit amounts towards properties in their respective escrow accounts. Both come from the Dubai Land Department own brokerage practice guide.
Those two rules turn into checks you can run in about fifteen minutes, from a laptop in the United States, before you have committed to anything. Eight more follow from Dubai property law. Not one of them requires you to trust anyone.
They matter most on off plan, which is most of the market. In the September 2026 Dubai sales register, 6,868 of 9,608 residential unit sales were off plan. That is 71.5 per cent. Checks five, six and seven below only bite on off plan purchases, and they apply to roughly seven in ten registered sales.
This page does not rank agencies and does not tell you who to hire. It gives you the checks and the official source behind each one, so you can run them on us or on anybody else. If you want the same checks applied to this firm specifically, that is a separate page: how to verify Cresco Real Estate.
| Check | What you are verifying | Official basis |
|---|---|---|
| Brokerage ORN | The firm is on the licensed brokerage list | DLD licensed brokerage companies |
| Broker BRN | The individual card is current | DLD validate e-card |
| Permit number on the ad | The listing is a legal advertisement | Brokerage guide, section 7 |
| Project registration | The project is licensed and registered | Brokerage guide, section 10 |
| Escrow destination | Your money goes to the project account | Law No. 8 of 2007 |
| Escrow limits | What escrow does and does not promise | Law No. 8 of 2007, articles 14 and 15 |
| Interim register entry | The off plan sale is not void | Law No. 13 of 2008, article 3 |
| Official contracts | Forms A, B and F, electronically | Brokerage guide, sections 5 and 12 |
| Dispute route | Trakheesi settlement, then the courts | Brokerage guide, section 11 |
| Fee in writing | The rate, the payer and the timing | No rate is set by the DLD |
Official basis as cited in each section below. The register figure is computed from the Dubai Land Department sales register for September 2026.
Search the company name on the Dubai Land Department list of licensed real estate brokerage companies. The list carries the office registration number, the ORN. A brokerage that is trading legally is on that list.
What a bad answer looks like. A firm that sends you a screenshot of its own certificate instead of appearing on the list.
Source: Dubai Land Department, licensed real estate brokerage companies.
Each individual broker holds a card with a broker registration number, the BRN. The Dubai Land Department e-card validation service confirms whether a card is current. The brokerage licence and the individual card are two different things, and both can lapse.
What a bad answer looks like. A BRN given verbally that you are asked to take on trust, or a card image with the expiry cropped out.
Source: Dubai Land Department, validate e-card.
This is the check almost nobody runs. The Dubai Land Department rule is that a broker must obtain a permit for any real estate advertisement or marketing material through the Trakheesi system, and that the permit number must be displayed on the ad. A listing with no permit number is not a legal advertisement in Dubai, whatever the photography looks like.
What a bad answer looks like. A unit shown only in a message thread, a brochure or a social post with no permit number anywhere.
Source: Dubai Land Department, Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide, section 7.
For anything not yet built, the broker is required to confirm the project is licensed and registered with the agency, and verification runs through the Dubai REST app. You can ask to be shown that screen rather than told about it.
What a bad answer looks like. An answer about the developer's reputation when you asked about the project's registration.
Source: Dubai Land Department, Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide, section 10.
Dubai law requires a developer selling off plan to apply to open an escrow account, and that account receives the payments made by off plan purchasers. The brokerage guide puts the duty on the broker in plain words: instruct buyers to only deposit amounts towards properties in their respective escrow accounts. The account is dedicated exclusively to the construction of that project. So the correct destination is the project escrow account at a bank, in the project's name. Not the broker. Not an agent. Not a personal account anywhere.
What a bad answer looks like. Any request to pay a brokerage, an individual, an exchange house or an account in another country. Treat it as the end of the conversation.
Source: Law No. 8 of 2007, articles 6, 7 and 9.
Escrow is real protection, and it is narrower than most buyers assume. The escrow agent must retain five per cent of the total value of each escrow account, and that retained amount is released to the developer one year from the registration of units in the name of purchasers. If a project is not completed, the agent's duty is to ensure the project is completed, or depositors are refunded their payments.
What a bad answer looks like. A broker who describes escrow as a guarantee of delivery on a given date. It is not that.
Source: Law No. 8 of 2007, articles 14 and 15.
For an off plan unit the registration is not a formality. Dubai law says any disposition that occurs in respect of any real property unit sold off plan will be entered in the interim property register, and that a sale will be void unless entered in that register. Ask when your purchase will be entered and ask to see it afterwards.
What a bad answer looks like. A broker who treats registration as something handled later, with no date and no document.
Source: Law No. 13 of 2008, article 3.
Dubai uses a set of standard contracts. Contract A is the agreement between the seller and the brokerage to market a property. Contract B is the buyer's agreement with the broker. Contract F is the sale agreement between seller and buyer. Brokers are mandated to use electronic contracts to record real estate sales transactions. If you are handed a brokerage's own one page agreement instead, ask why.
What a bad answer looks like. A bespoke contract on company letterhead presented as the standard one.
Source: Dubai Land Department, Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide, sections 5 and 12.
There is a defined path. For a dispute on Contract F the parties may apply through Trakheesi for an amicable settlement, and if that fails the parties must resort to the judicial authorities. A broker who cannot describe that path has not read the guide they work under.
What a bad answer looks like. Assurances that disputes never happen, offered in place of the procedure.
Source: Dubai Land Department, Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide, section 11.
The Dubai Land Department brokerage guide sets out the broker's obligations and the contracts to use. It does not set a commission rate. That means the rate is a commercial term between you and the brokerage, so it belongs in writing, with who pays it and when, before you are emotionally committed to a unit.
What a bad answer looks like. A rate mentioned once in conversation and never written down.
Source: Dubai Land Department, Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide.
Vetting the broker is one of four separate jobs. The project and the developer get checked on their own terms, which is a different exercise with different documents: how to check a Dubai developer before you buy. The order of operations for a purchase run from the United States is set out in the remote buyer checklist. The ownership question itself is answered in can Americans buy property in Dubai. Every other guide we hold for United States buyers is indexed on the US to Dubai bridge.
On the off plan share quoted above, the number moves for reasons that have little to do with demand for off plan. That is unpacked in what the 71% off plan figure actually measures.
What the official sources are. Every rule quoted on this page comes from one of four documents: the Dubai Land Department Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide, Law No. 8 of 2007 concerning escrow accounts for real estate development in Dubai, Law No. 13 of 2008 regulating the interim real estate register, and the two Dubai Land Department verification services linked above. Each section names its own source. Nothing here is sourced to a news report or to another brokerage.
The register figure. The off plan share is computed from the Dubai Land Department sales register for September 2026, exported on 12 October 2026. The basis is the standard used across this site: transaction group Sales, usage Residential, property type Unit, with sales below AED 500 per square foot removed as non market. That screen removed 13 of 9,621 rows, which is 0.14 per cent. The result is 9,608 sales, of which 6,868 are recorded as off plan and 2,740 as ready.
What we could not update. The Dubai Land Department had published no register month later than September 2026 that we could verify when this page was written on 5 November 2026. The share above is therefore September, not October.
What these checks cannot do. They confirm licences, permits, registration and the destination of money. They cannot tell you whether a firm is any good, whether a building will be delivered on time, or whether a price is fair. A licensed broker can still sell you a bad unit at a bad price. The checks remove the category of problem that ends with your money gone, which is not the same as removing risk.
Not legal advice. This is general information about published Dubai rules, not legal advice on your purchase. Dubai rules change, and the primary sources linked here are the versions that govern.
Search the company name on the Dubai Land Department list of licensed real estate brokerage companies, which carries the office registration number, the ORN. Then check the individual broker's card separately on the Dubai Land Department e-card validation service. A current brokerage licence does not mean the person in front of you holds a current card.
Yes. The Dubai Land Department brokerage guide requires a broker to obtain a permit for any real estate advertisement or marketing material through the Trakheesi system, and states that the permit number must be displayed on the ad. A listing with no permit number is the easiest red flag to spot and the one most buyers miss.
The project escrow account. Dubai law requires a developer selling off plan to open an escrow account that receives purchaser payments and is dedicated exclusively to that project's construction. The brokerage guide tells brokers to instruct buyers to deposit only into the respective escrow account. A request to pay a brokerage or an individual is a reason to stop.
No. The register tells you a firm and a person are licensed to operate. It says nothing about whether they negotiate well, answer their phone after the deal, or know the United States side of your tax position. Licensing is the floor, not the recommendation.
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Price is only part of what you need in the bank. We worked out the full cash requirement, including the Land Department transfer fee, the service partner fee and the Central Bank deposit caps, in how much money you need to buy property in Dubai.