The time to plan a sale is before you book. This is Part 10 of my guide to The WOW Tower: the four ways out of a purchase, the rules behind each one, what a sale costs, and who your buyer would be at each stage.
The short version
- Before handover you can resell the contract once 20% of the price and the 4% DLD fee are paid, with the developer's no-objection certificate.
- Before handover, your buyer mostly needs cash: UAE banks may lend at most 50% of the value of a property bought off-plan.
- The title deed is issued at handover, but on the 50/50 plan the 50% still owed has to be paid off at a sale, or taken over by your buyer if the developer agrees.
- Once a home is finished and has a title deed, a buyer can borrow up to 80% for a first home, which widens the market.
- An office can be sold with its lease. The guarantee helps a sale most in the first half of its ten years.
Four ways out, compared
| Exit | When | Who buys | Buyer's financing | What has to be settled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resell the contract | From booking, once 24% is paid | Investors, and end users planning ahead | Mostly cash; banks may lend up to 50% on off-plan | Developer's NOC; the buyer takes over the remaining instalments |
| Sell after handover | From handover, estimated Q3 2029, when the title deed is issued | End users and investors | A mortgage on a finished unit, up to 80% for a first home | The 50% post-handover balance, paid off or taken over |
| Let, then sell | Once the plan is paid | End users and investors, with mortgages | Up to 80% for a first home up to Dh5M, 60% for an investment property | Your mortgage, if you have one |
| Office with its lease | Any time after handover | Buyers of income | Cash, or a bank's commercial terms | The lease passes to the buyer |
Reselling the contract before handover
The fact sheets say a resale is possible "once 24% is paid", which is the 20% instalment plus the 4% DLD fee, and the developer's contract says the same in general terms. The rule carries over to the October plan, and because the 20% is now paid at booking, a contract can be resold soon after you buy.
How it works:
- You agree a price with a buyer. The buyer pays you back what you have paid, plus any premium, and takes over the instalments still to come.
- The developer issues a no-objection certificate once your account is up to date, and charges a fee for it; ask for the amount in writing before you book.
- DLD records the transfer in its interim register, Oqood, and charges 4% of the sale value, 2% from each side in its fee schedule. The sale contract can move it.
The leverage works both ways. After booking on the 50/50 you have 24% of the price in the deal. On a one-bedroom at Dh1.1M, a 10% change in value is Dh110,000, which is 42% of the Dh264,000 you have paid. What a 10% or 20% move does at handover, when more of your money is in, is in Part 4.
There is a market for contracts in DLRC. In the 90 days to 7 October 2026, 70 of the 434 off-plan apartment sales in the district were resales of contracts, about one in six, and studios and one-bedrooms made up almost four in five of all off-plan sales. How resale prices compare with developers' prices is also in Part 4.
What limits this exit is the buyer's cash. Under the Central Bank's mortgage rules, a property bought off-plan can be financed at most 50%, whatever its value or the buyer's purpose. Your buyer has to pay you in cash and then keep paying the developer, so the pool is investors with money ready, not families with a mortgage approval.
Selling after handover
On the 35/65 plan the full price is paid on handover, so a sale after it is a plain resale of a finished unit. On the 50/50, at the estimated completion in Q3 2029 you will have paid 50% of the price and the DLD fee. The other 50% falls due over the 18 or 36 months after handover, and two facts shape a sale in those months:
- The title deed is issued at handover. From then on the unit is a finished property with a deed, so your buyer can use a normal mortgage.
- The balance still owed to the developer has to be settled at the sale: your buyer pays it off at the transfer, or takes over your instalments if the developer agrees. Ask which the developer allows before you book.
- Every finished building in DLRC that year is competing for the same buyers. How many homes are due in 2029 is in Part 8.
If you plan to hold through those months, the question is how far the rent covers the instalments; Part 5 models it month by month.
Letting first, selling later
A finished home with a title deed and a tenant is the easiest thing to sell in Dubai, because it opens the mortgage market. The Central Bank's caps for expatriate buyers are 80% of the value for a first home up to Dh5M, 70% above that, and 60% for a second home or an investment property, over up to 25 years.
The DLRC resale market is active: 158 ready apartments changed hands in the 90 days to 7 October 2026, about 50 a month. Most of them are in older buildings that sell at a median Dh863 a sq ft. A WOW Tower home will be compared with them. What it has to offer against older stock is the building itself, the height and the view, which is why I tell buyers to choose the unit with the next buyer in mind, not only the first tenant.
If your residence visa rests on the property, a sale affects it; Part 12 covers the visa.
Selling an office with its lease
The office lease is written to survive a sale: if you sell, the buyer takes over the lease, the income and the obligations. That makes an office with the guarantee easier to sell than an empty one, but its value to a buyer falls as the term runs down.
| Sale after handover | Guaranteed years left | Guaranteed rent still to come | As a share of a Dh2.7M price |
|---|---|---|---|
| At handover | 10 | Dh1,890,000 | 70% |
| After 3 years | 7 | Dh1,323,000 | 49% |
| After 5 years | 5 | Dh945,000 | 35% |
| After 8 years | 2 | Dh378,000 | 14% |
| After 10 years | 0 | Market rent, if the tenant renews | n/a |
Early in the term, a buyer is paying mostly for contracted income. Late in the term, the buyer is pricing the rent the office can earn on its own, which in Dubai Silicon Oasis today is a median Dh90 a sq ft against about Dh149 guaranteed. Part 8 looks at what that rent might be by year 11.
Leaving the lease instead of selling with it costs at least one year's rent; Part 7 has the conditions. And the sale of an office is a taxable supply for VAT at 5%, unlike a home. Whether you must charge it depends on your own VAT position, so take tax advice before you sell.
What a sale costs
| Cost | Amount | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| DLD registration fee | 4% of the sale value: 2% from you and 2% from the buyer in DLD's schedule, unless the contract moves it | Every sale |
| Registration trustee | Dh4,000 plus VAT on a sale of Dh500,000 or more | Sales of finished property |
| Developer's no-objection certificate | A fee set by the developer; ask for the amount | Every transfer |
| Service charges | Paid up to date before the certificate is issued | After handover |
| Mortgage | Your bank's early settlement terms | If the unit is financed |
| VAT | 5% on the price | Offices only |
| What you paid to buy | The 4% DLD fee and the admin fee are not refunded | Every sale |
| Tax on the gain | None for individuals in the UAE; your home country may tax it | Every sale |
The last two lines are the ones buyers forget. The 4% you paid at booking is a cost of the round trip, so a resale at your own price loses money. As a rule of thumb, a sale breaks even at about 4% above your price if the buyer pays the whole new DLD fee, about 6% if you split it as DLD's schedule does, and about 8% if you pay it all, before the admin, certificate and trustee fees.
Planning the exit before you book
- Choose the type and the floor for the buyer after you. Studios and one-bedrooms are most of DLRC's trading; open views and high floors are what a resale buyer cannot find in older stock.
- Know your holding power. If the market is slow in 2029, can you carry the 50% after handover, with the rent you expect? Part 5 is the test.
- Get three things in writing before you sign: the resale rule, the certificate fee and how a sale works during the post-handover plan. All three are on the checklist in Part 11.
My earlier guide on when to sell in Dubai covers the market signals to watch once you own.
My view
For most buyers at The WOW Tower I would plan one of two exits: an apartment held through handover, let, and sold once it has a title deed and a tenant, when the mortgage market is open to your buyer; or an office kept for its guarantee and, if sold at all, sold in the first half of the term. Reselling a contract before handover can work in a rising market, but it depends on a buyer with cash and on prices in a district where more than 11,000 off-plan homes are registered to complete by 2029. I would not buy here on that plan alone. The full series is in the WOW Tower investor guide.
Sources and dates
- Resale threshold: Mr. Eight residential and business fact sheets (May 2026), "resale option available once 24% is paid", issued with the earlier payment plan and kept in the October terms. Title deed at handover: the developer's October 2026 terms. Conditions of a resale before handover: the developer's SPA, general points only.
- Mortgage caps (50% off-plan; 80%, 70% and 60% for expatriates; 25 years): CBUAE Rulebook, Regulations regarding Mortgage Loans, Article 3, as amended in 2020, read 7 Oct 2026.
- DLD fees on a sale (2% from the seller and 2% from the buyer of the sale value; trustee fee Dh4,000 plus VAT from Dh500,000) and the developer's e-NOC required in freehold areas: Dubai Land Department e-services, Property Sale Registration and Request to register the initial sale, read 8 Oct 2026.
- No UAE tax on an individual's property gains: Cabinet Decision No. 49 of 2023, under which real estate investment by a natural person without a licence is outside Corporate Tax, and the Federal Tax Authority's guide Real Estate Investment for Natural Persons (October 2024), read 8 Oct 2026.
- DLRC off-plan resales (70 of 434 off-plan apartment sales), type mix and ready sales (158, median Dh863 a sq ft): DLD registrations, 9 Jul to 7 Oct 2026, via DXB Interact, retrieved 7 Oct 2026.
- Office lease passing to a buyer, cost of leaving early: the developer's Agreement to Lease, general points only. Guarantee arithmetic: 7% of Dh2,700,000 a year, the developer's October 2026 terms.
- Silicon Oasis office rent, median Dh90 a sq ft: Ejari contracts, same period and source.
- VAT on commercial property: Federal Tax Authority, tax.gov.ae, read 7 Oct 2026.
- Estimated completion Q3 2029: Mr. Eight fact sheets (May 2026).
Request exclusive pricing
Starting prices are public in this guide. The full price list, the units still available and the offers that apply to them I send directly. Four details, and WhatsApp opens with your message ready to send.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The developer's documents allow a resale of the contract once 20% of the price and the 4% DLD fee are paid, with the developer's no-objection certificate. Your buyer pays you back what you have paid, plus any premium, and takes over the remaining instalments.
It depends on the developer's contract. At The WOW Tower the documents set it at 24% of the price: the 20% instalment plus the 4% DLD fee.
Only up to 50% of the value. The Central Bank caps loans on property bought off-plan at 50%, whatever the buyer's purpose, so most buyers of contracts before handover pay in cash.
DLD's registration fee of 4% of the sale value, 2% each from seller and buyer in DLD's schedule unless the contract says otherwise, the developer's no-objection certificate fee, a trustee fee of Dh4,000 plus VAT on sales of Dh500,000 or more, any service charges still owed, and your bank's settlement terms if the unit is mortgaged. Offices also carry 5% VAT on the price.
Not in the UAE, if you own the property as an individual: there is no personal income tax, and real estate investment by an individual without a licence is outside Corporate Tax under Cabinet Decision No. 49 of 2023. Your home country may tax the gain, so check there before you sell.
Yes. The lease is written to pass to a buyer with the office, so the buyer takes over the income for the years that remain. It helps a sale most early in the term, when most of the guaranteed rent is still to come.
Yes. The title deed is issued at handover, but the balance still owed to the developer has to be paid off at the transfer or taken over by your buyer with the developer's consent. Ask for the process in writing before you book.
Before handover your buyer needs cash, because banks lend at most 50% on off-plan property. After completion, with a title deed, a buyer can borrow up to 80% for a first home, so a finished, let unit reaches far more buyers.