Off-Plan Villas in Dubai Hills Estate

Emaar was founded in 1997, is listed on the Dubai Financial Market and developed Burj Khalifa and The Dubai Mall. In Dubai Hills Estate it releases villas in named collections around the golf course and parks, including Palm Hills, Address Villas Hillcrest, Golf Place and Sidra Villas. Wellington Developments' listings here are single villas named after their streets, such as Fairways and Park Way, so each is a one-off home rather than part of a cluster.

Emaar describes Dubai Hills Estate as a 2,700-acre development covering more than 11 million square metres, built around an 18-hole championship golf course. It lists 1,450,000 square metres of parks and open space, including the 180,000 square metre Dubai Hills Park, a 54 km bicycle route, three schools and the 282,000 square metre Dubai Hills Mall. For healthcare, Emaar names King's College Hospital London, Dubai, open 24 hours, and the American Hospital Dubai Hills Clinic inside the mall.

By Emaar's estimate, Downtown Dubai and Dubai Marina are each about 15 minutes away by car and Dubai International Airport about 20 minutes, though times vary across the estate. Check school places with the KHDA and your commute on the RTA journey planner before you choose a cluster.

With an off-plan villa, you pay in instalments set by the developer for that release, usually tied to the build, with the rest due at handover. Under Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007 those payments go into the project's escrow account and can only be used to build that project. If a developer offers to spread payments after handover, make sure the full schedule is written into the sale contract you register.

If you need a villa you can move into now, look at homes for sale in Dubai Hills Estate instead. A ready villa is normally paid for in full at transfer, with a mortgage if you need one, rather than through a developer's instalment plan.

Under Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007, a developer who wants to sell homes off-plan must apply to the Dubai Land Department to open an escrow account for the project, buyers' payments are deposited into that account, and the money is reserved for building that project alone. Law No. 13 of 2008 set up the Interim Property Register, and a sale of an off-plan unit is void unless it is entered in it. The Dubai Land Department runs this register through its Oqood system. In practice:

1. Pay only into the escrow account. The account details belong in your sale contract. Do not send money to any other account.
2. Get the sale registered. Ask for proof that your contract has been entered in the Interim Property Register before you treat the purchase as done.
3. Check the developer. Emaar has many finished villa clusters in the estate, so you can walk around completed streets to judge the finish. For a one-off villa, ask the developer for its completed projects and read our guide on how to check a developer before buying off-plan.
4. Look up the service charges. The Dubai Land Department Service Charge Index shows the approved service fees for a project by year, on its website and the Dubai REST app. A new tower may have no approved figure yet, so ask the developer for its estimate in writing. Villa clusters and apartment buildings carry different charges. Our guide on checking service charges before you buy walks through it.

One more protection is worth knowing: once the completion certificate is issued, the law requires the escrow agent to hold back 5% of the account, and that sum is only released to the developer one year after the homes are registered in the buyers' names.

For more on the community, read our Dubai Hills Estate area guide and our guide to buying a villa in Dubai.