DLD completes Phase One of building classification plan

Dubai Land Department (DLD) said it has completed the first phase of its building classification project, which was launched three years ago as an initiative to survey real estate projects across Dubai. Phase One focused specifically on (non-freehold) old areas in Dubai. Sultan Butti bin Mejren, the director-general of DLD, said the vital project aims to enhance the transparency in real estate transactions by ensuring accurate data is available to government and private real estate customers. "Our target was to complete the project by the end of 2017 which we have successfully done, and today we are pleased to announce that all parties in the real estate sector are now able to benefit from the survey data," remarked Bin Mejren. After a comprehensive survey of the empty land plots, villas, commercial and residential buildings, factories and shopping centers, all types of buildings in Dubai were incorporated into the project's database. This will facilitate the rental procedures for tenants, as well as provide a precise classification of each property in the surveyed areas, he stated. DLD said the survey examined 100 per cent of land plots outside freehold areas, with the data collected focusing on the current state of the plot, whether there was a building or just vacant land, as well as determining the number of buildings, floors and units (apartments), and the nature of the property’s use (residential or commercial purposes). Moreover, the specifications of the property were also listed according to 64 criteria, which includes the availability of parking spaces, the age of the building, the existence of facilities and services such as lifts, as well as the profile of its location such as sea view, said the DLD in its statement. The survey also captured relevant images to support the data collected, it stated. The survey revealed that 79,280 plots of land are now located in non-freehold areas, compared to 69,982 plots located in freehold areas bringing the total up to 149,262 plots