Off-plan contract: the clauses that matter most
Six clauses decide almost everything: how stages are defined, what triggers payment, where your money is held, how delay is treated, what the specification is, and what happens at acceptance. Read those six before you read the price, because every one of them decides something the price cannot.
The six
| Clause | The question it answers | The failure it causes |
|---|---|---|
| Stage definitions | What counts as a stage being complete | Paying for work that has not happened |
| Payment triggers | Date-based or progress-based | Being fully paid on a building a year behind |
| Where money is held | Escrow, unit account, or the developer's own | Being an unsecured creditor if the company fails |
| Delay | Grace period, extension events, long-stop date | Discovering you had a remedy after the deadline to use it |
| Specification annex | What you are actually buying | A finish that is legal, cheaper, and not what you saw |
| Acceptance | What signing means and what you can reserve | Losing your position at the moment you take the keys |
What to read them for
Not for fairness, which you will not find, but for whether each one can be checked by somebody other than the developer. A stage definition that refers to a measurable state is worth several that refer to a certifier's opinion.
The clauses interact, and reading them separately is how buyers miss the shape. Date-based payments plus a broad extension list plus a two-year long-stop date is a contract in which the developer can be very late at no cost while you cannot be late at all.
What is often missing entirely
- Any right of access to the site during construction.
- Any obligation to notify you when an extension event is claimed.
- Any entitlement to see the stage-completion certificate your invoice rests on.
- Any consequence for the developer that reflects your actual loss.
Before you sign
- 01Have it read by a lawyer with no relationship to the developer or the agent.
- 02Ask for the annexes, and read them. Most of what you are buying is in them, not in the body.
- 03Ask in writing for anything you were told verbally to be written into the contract.
- 04Negotiate the triggers before the percentages: a date trigger converted to a progress trigger is worth more than a discount.
Questions on this
Are these contracts negotiable at all?
More than buyers assume, particularly on a project that is selling slowly. The answer is almost always no on the first ask and sometimes yes on the second.
Should I sign a contract not in my language?
Only with a translation you commissioned and a lawyer who reads the original. Where two versions exist, find the clause that says which one governs.
What if the developer says the contract is standard?
It probably is standard for them. Standard describes how often it is used, not whether it is balanced.
Read one before you buy one
The specimen shows the whole structure: status, what each payment was meant to buy, the forecast with its range, the photographic record and the limits of what was checked.