The Highbury Escrow Account

Commercial Bank of Dubai (PSC) holds the escrow account for The Highbury, account number 1007*****9 (revealed by the Show button in the Escrow Details section above). The account is recorded against DLD project number 2641, which the Dubai Land Department register shows as registered on 25 May 2023.

Buyer payments for The Highbury stay in the escrow account until construction progress is verified through Dubai Land Department inspections; the bank then releases funds to Ellington in line with that verified progress, not in line with the dates on a payment schedule. The most recent DLD register reading on file is 80.03% at the inspection dated 20 July 2026. Each reading is tracked on The Highbury construction updates page.

The Dubai REST app lists The Highbury under project number 2641 in its Project Status service. The project record includes an Escrow panel showing the bank name, Commercial Bank of Dubai, and the account number. A genuine payment instruction carries exactly the same bank and account number as that panel and as the escrow details in the Sales and Purchase Agreement.

The Dubai Land Department register lists the developer of The Highbury as ELLINGTON PROPERTIES DEVELOPMENT L.L.C. That registered company is the entity recorded against project 2641 in Dubai REST, while Ellington Properties is the brand name used on the marketing material.

No. The 4% DLD registration fee is paid to the Dubai Land Department to register the purchase, so it never sits in The Highbury escrow account and is not part of the protected balance. The escrow account receives the purchase price itself under the 70/30 plan: 20% on booking, 50% during construction and 30% on completion, with instalment timing set in the Sales and Purchase Agreement.

No. All off-plan payments toward The Highbury belong in the DLD-registered escrow account 1007*****9 at Commercial Bank of Dubai (the full number is in the Escrow Details section above), matching the account named in the Sales and Purchase Agreement. A request to pay a personal account, a broker, or a different company account, particularly one offered with a discount for paying outside escrow, fits the standard pattern of payment-diversion fraud however authentic the paperwork appears. Such a request is checked against the escrow account recorded in Dubai REST and the Sales and Purchase Agreement before any money moves.

Money already paid stays in the escrow account and is still released only against verified construction progress, whatever the calendar shows. Ellington expects handover in Q4 2026, and the DLD app does not display a registered completion date for project 2641. Escrow protects capital while construction continues; it does not pay compensation for a later completion, and any such terms sit in the Sales and Purchase Agreement. Part of the balance is also kept back as retention once the building is finished, and the independent inspection that pairs with it is covered on The Highbury snagging inspection page.

Retention is the part of The Highbury escrow balance kept back after completion as security for defect repairs, so some of the money is still held while the first owners move in. The developer documents for The Highbury do not set out a retention amount or release date, so the Sales and Purchase Agreement governs those terms.

RERA takes control of the escrow account if a project is cancelled, and refunds to Highbury buyers would then be paid out of the protected balance under Dubai Land Department supervision. Money paid anywhere other than the registered account sits outside that mechanism. With the DLD register reading for The Highbury at 80.03% in July 2026, cancellation is a remote scenario at this stage, though the safeguard applies at every stage. The DLD framework that governs it is set out in the Dubai Land Department guide.

The Highbury escrow account protects the purchase payments made into the registered account. It does not hold the 4% DLD registration fee, agency commission or service charges, it cannot protect money sent to any other account, and it does not compensate for a later completion. It also has no bearing on resale prices, and it does not replace an inspection of the finished unit before acceptance.

The verifiable record for The Highbury is its own DLD history: a construction start recorded on 17 April 2023, registration as project 2641 on 25 May 2023, and a DLD register reading of 80.03% at the 20 July 2026 inspection, when the RERA progress report recorded enabling, foundation and structure works as completed. Ellington's area map of Mohammed Bin Rashid City also shows Wilton Terraces, Wilton Park Residences, Berkeley Place and Kensington Waters as other Ellington developments in the district; the map gives no delivery dates, so it is not a handover record.