Buying a property is always a nice idea and is exciting. However, it is easy to overlook the common sense elements of your purchase which in our experience can cause heartache down the line. We advise that you do take legal advice when buying a property in Dubai. We can suggest some reputable English speaking property lawyers who are familiar in the regularities (and irregularities) of buying a property in Dubai.

Below is a list of the main legal points to remember when buying your property.

All people that wish to buy property in Dubai should be aware of the following:

1. You should obtain a good lawyer. By failing to take the most basic legal precautions you are risking your hard earned cash.

2. Fully read the terms of the contract and ask your lawyer to explain the full implications of this contract to you in plain English. Developer agreements can vary greatly so it is wise to understand and clarify each individual point.

3. Ensure that you give power of attorney to the correct party, as you need to be sure that they are acting on your best interests and not their own, i.e. a property company that deals directly with the developers. They will need to be able to sort out any discrepancies before the contracts are signed.

4. You need to be sure that if you die the property in passed onto the correct person of your choosing. It may be best to use an offshore company and have the company own your property.

5. If you do decide to take a mortgage based in the UAE (Dubai) and you default on your mortgage payments to your lender then you will not only be open to repossession but also fines, penalties and the unpaid amount.

6. Do pay attention to the build quality and direction of your chosen development. It must be built to last. Also while on previous performance the buy to let market for example has shown to have given investors substantial gains it is good to pay attention to the market in general as your investment potential can be affected by saturation of buy to let properties available for rent.