This is effectively what one could call freehold, and indeed has one advantage that till the freehold is established the developer is always on the hook for the common areas and the management of the overall estate.

The reality is that as far as contractual matters go, an expatriate acn enter into a 30, 50 or whatever year leasehold contract on say Shaikh Zayed Road, and even notarising the contract in court and having legal recourse in the event that leasehold is violated.

Where people have a problem is seeking an office where this leasehold title can be registered allowing one to have one leasehold title form to show as evidence of owning the leasehold rather than carting a 50 page document around.

This is in effect a very simple matter and does not violate the law of the land and is effectively not diluted in terms of legal rights just because there is no registration.

The problem remains in registering freehold titles as they cannot be registered till the law is passed, however even in this case the contractual matter of a purchase being made for consideration will be upheld in court irrespective of what the deal is, i.e. freehold or leasehold.

This is why I have always preferred what is called the ‘Dubai Freehold’ as it is clear in every respect, the buyer is getting a leasehold contract and if the law changes will be given a freehold title. There is absolutely no legal ambiguity in this case and perfectly legal to enter into.