GEMS Estates Escrow Account

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank holds the escrow account for GEMS Estates, account number 4655*****030 (shown in full in the Escrow Details section above). The account is recorded against DLD project number 2457, which was registered with the Dubai Land Department on 16 September 2022.

GEMS Estates is sold on a time-based plan: a 20% deposit on booking, eleven instalments totalling 40% within 3 to 33 months of the sale date, and 40% on completion. Each payment lands in the escrow account first, and the bank releases funds to DAMAC against construction progress recorded through RERA inspections, not against the payment calendar. The DLD register recorded 62.64% on 14 April 2026, and each reading is tracked on the GEMS Estates construction updates page.

The 4% DLD registration fee on a GEMS Estates villa is paid to the Dubai Land Department in addition to the 20% booking deposit. It is a government registration charge rather than a payment toward the villa, so it is not paid into the escrow account and never forms part of the escrow balance held for the project.

No. Every off-plan payment toward a GEMS Estates villa belongs in the DLD-registered escrow account 4655*****030 at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (the full number sits in the Escrow Details section above), as recorded in the Sales and Purchase Agreement. A request to route money to a personal account, an agent's account or a different company account, particularly one offering a discount for paying outside escrow, matches the standard pattern of payment fraud however official the paperwork appears. Any such request is checked against the escrow account shown in Dubai REST and against the Sales and Purchase Agreement before money moves.

The registered completion date for GEMS Estates, 15 September 2024, and the scheduled Q4 2025 handover have both passed, while the DLD register recorded 62.64% on 14 April 2026 with the main contract progressing. Funds held in the escrow account continue to be released only against inspected progress, so the passing of a date does not by itself move money to the developer. Escrow protects capital; it does not set a revised handover date or pay compensation for delay. Delay terms sit in the Sales and Purchase Agreement, and the current handover date is the one DAMAC confirms in writing.

If the Dubai Land Department cancels a registered project, RERA takes control of the escrow account and buyer refunds are processed from the protected funds under DLD supervision. That protection covers money paid into the registered GEMS Estates account at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank; money sent to any other account sits outside it. The wider regulatory framework is explained in the Dubai Land Department guide.

The GEMS Estates escrow details can be checked in the Dubai Land Department's Dubai REST app under Services, then Project Status, by searching project number 2457, registered as "Damac Hills - Gems Estates 2". The Escrow panel lists Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank as the bank together with the account number, which should match both the Escrow Details section above and the escrow clause in the Sales and Purchase Agreement.

An off-plan GEMS Estates purchase is recorded with the Dubai Land Department through Oqood, the interim register for off-plan sales, which links the buyer's contract to DLD project 2457. The title deed is generally issued after completion, once the final payment and the handover formalities with DAMAC are settled; the exact sequence and any related fees are set out in the Sales and Purchase Agreement.

For GEMS Estates itself, the register records registration on 16 September 2022, construction start on 15 December 2022, a registered completion date of 15 September 2024 that has since passed, and a reading of 62.64% on 14 April 2026. At company level, DAMAC's GEMS Estates brochure states approximately 39,400 homes delivered and a development portfolio of more than 28,000, as of 31 December 2021, figures stated at that date rather than a current count.

The GEMS Estates escrow account protects money paid into it and governs when that money reaches DAMAC. It does not cover payments sent to any other account or charges paid to the Dubai Land Department, it does not guarantee a handover date or pay compensation for delay, and it does not protect the resale value of a villa. Delay and defect terms sit in the Sales and Purchase Agreement.