Snagging: the cheapest check you will buy on a handover.
A snagging inspection puts defects on the developer's desk while they are still the developer's problem. Here is what it costs, and how long the law keeps them there.
A Dubai snagging inspection runs from about AED 800 for a studio to AED 2,200 for a three-bedroom apartment, with villas from AED 2,000 upwards, or AED 0.50 to 1.50 per square foot where a firm prices by area. Book it before you sign the handover if you can. Law No. 6 of 2019 then holds the developer liable for one year from handover on mechanical, electrical and sanitary installations, and for ten years from the project completion certificate on the structural parts.
In short
The cover on installations lasts twelve months from your handover, which is the clock that runs out first.
Structural cover runs ten years from the project completion certificate, not from the day you got the keys.
Your sale agreement may add its own contractual defects period on top, covering finishing and workmanship.
Report in writing and keep the thread. A verbal complaint to a handover agent is not a record.
What it costs
| Unit | Advertised fee, AED |
|---|---|
| Studio | 800 to 1,200 |
| 1 bedroom | 1,000 to 1,500 |
| 2 bedroom | 1,300 to 1,800 |
| 3 bedroom | 1,600 to 2,200 |
| Villa | from 2,000, and often far higher with size |
| Priced by area instead | 0.50 to 1.50 per sq ft |
Sampled from published UAE inspection price lists including Expert Property Snagging, Atom Inspections, Snagify and Handover Heroes, read 18 September 2026. Firms quote either a flat fee by unit type or a rate per square foot of built-up area. Large villas commonly exceed the figures below. VAT treatment varies by provider, so confirm it in the quote.
What you are covered for
Most owners think of the handover as the moment risk transfers to them. Some of it does. A good deal of it stays with the developer for a while longer, on two clocks of very different lengths, and knowing which clock a given fault sits on decides whether it is worth pursuing.
| What fails | How long | Running from |
|---|---|---|
| Structural parts: foundations, main supports, columns, structural walls, ceilings and joists, staircases, facades, roofs | 10 years | The project completion certificate |
| Mechanical and electrical work, sanitary installations, sewerage | 1 year | Handover of your unit, or the completion certificate if you refuse possession |
| Finishing and workmanship | As your sale agreement says, commonly 12 months | Usually handover |
Law No. 6 of 2019 concerning the ownership of jointly owned real property in the Emirate of Dubai, Article 40. Read 18 September 2026.
Using the first year properly
The short clock covers more than people expect.
Air conditioning, wiring, plumbing and drainage all sit inside the twelve-month statutory period rather than being left to whatever your contract happens to say. That makes the first year the window in which a failed AC or a badly run waste pipe is the developer's cost.
The long clock starts earlier than you think.
Ten years sounds generous until you notice it runs from the project completion certificate, which on a building handed over in phases can predate your keys by a year or more. Ask for that date and write it down.
Federal decennial liability runs alongside.
The Civil Transactions Law holds the contractor and the designer liable for a decade for collapse and for defects threatening stability or safety, and it is strict, so negligence does not have to be shown. Proceedings must begin within three years of the collapse or of discovery.
Report in writing, then re-inspect.
Send the report dated, with the unit reference, and ask for a rectification schedule rather than an acknowledgement. A second visit once the work is called complete costs a fraction of the first, and it is where owners find out which items were signed off without being done.
Keeping the file
Hold on to the report, the covering email, the reply, the rectification schedule and photographs taken after the work. If something resurfaces in year three, a claim is built from dated records, and owners who kept them are in a different position from owners relying on what they remember being promised.
For where the inspection sits in the wider sequence of taking possession, our off-plan handover guide sets out the order, and the real cost of owning covers what starts running the day you take the keys.
Prices are advertised market ranges sampled from published UAE inspection firm price lists, read 18 September 2026, and VAT treatment varies. Developer liability is summarised from Law No. 6 of 2019 concerning the ownership of jointly owned real property in the Emirate of Dubai. Federal decennial liability is described in general terms. Your own sale agreement governs any contractual defects period. General information for property owners, not legal advice.
Questions
- How much does snagging cost in Dubai?
- Apartment inspections advertise at roughly AED 800 for a studio up to about AED 2,200 for a three-bedroom. Villas start around AED 2,000 and published lists run to AED 9,000 or more for large ones. Some firms price by area instead, at AED 0.50 to 1.50 per square foot of built-up area. Check whether a quote includes VAT, because providers advertise it inconsistently.
- Is snagging worth it on a brand new property?
- A finished unit nobody has lived in is where hairline cracks, doors out of square, underperforming AC and badly sealed wet areas hide, because there has been no occupation to reveal them. The cost of finding them is a fraction of a per cent of what you paid for the unit, and the developer's liability for installations expires twelve months after you take the keys.
- When should the inspection happen?
- Before you sign the handover, where the developer allows a pre-handover visit. Where they do not, book it soon after you take the keys. The statutory cover on mechanical and electrical installations runs for a year from handover, so an inspection in month eleven leaves almost no time to report a fault and have it put right.
- What is the defects liability period in Dubai?
- Two things go by that name and they are worth separating. Your sale agreement usually carries a contractual defects period, commonly twelve months, covering finishing and workmanship. Underneath it, Law No. 6 of 2019 imposes its own liability on the developer that does not depend on what your contract says.
- What does Law 6 of 2019 make the developer liable for?
- Two periods. Ten years from the date the developer obtains the project completion certificate, for defects in the structural parts: foundations, main supports, columns, structural walls, ceilings and joists, staircases and stairwells, facades and roofs. And one year from the handover of your unit, for repairing or replacing defective mechanical and electrical work, sanitary installations and sewerage. Where an owner refuses to take possession, that one-year period runs from the completion certificate instead.
- What happens if I find a structural problem years later?
- You may still be inside the ten-year window under Law No. 6 of 2019, which runs from the project completion certificate rather than from your handover, so check that date rather than assuming. Federal law carries a parallel decennial liability for the contractor and the designer covering collapse and defects that threaten the stability or safety of the building, and there proceedings have to start within three years of the collapse or of discovering the defect. Neither route covers every fault an owner might call structural.
- Can I do the snagging myself?
- You can walk the unit and note the obvious, and it is worth doing. What a walkthrough misses is the part needing instruments: AC airflow and temperature differentials, moisture behind finishes, electrical testing, falls and drainage in wet areas. A report an inspector puts their name to also carries more weight with a developer than a list you typed yourself.
- Does the developer have to fix everything on the list?
- Defects, yes. A door that sticks, a leaking trap or an AC unit missing its design temperature is a defect. A finish you have gone off is a preference, and a report padded with those tends to get the whole list taken less seriously.
Mulki keeps the handover file with the unit, report, replies and all.
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