Off-plan payment schedules explained
An off-plan payment schedule sets when you pay and what has to be true for each payment to fall due. Two kinds exist: one tied to construction progress and one tied to dates. Which one you signed determines whether a delayed building also delays your money.
The two kinds, and why the difference is everything
A date-based schedule means you can be fully paid up on a building that is a year behind. It is common, it is legal, and it is frequently not noticed until the first invoice arrives for a stage that plainly has not happened.
| Progress-based | Date-based | |
|---|---|---|
| What triggers a payment | A construction stage reached | A calendar date arriving |
| If the build runs late | Payments slide with it | Payments fall due anyway |
| What you can check | Whether the stage is real | Nothing, the date is the date |
| Who carries the delay | Shared | You |
A typical shape
Most schedules front-load. A reservation fee, then ten to thirty per cent on signing, then instalments through construction, then a final payment at handover. The exact split varies by market and by developer, and in some markets it is regulated.
The pattern to look for is how much you will have paid by the halfway point of construction. If two-thirds of the price is due before the building is half built, the schedule has been designed to fund the developer rather than to track the work.
What the stages actually mean
Stage names in contracts are shorter than the work they describe. 'Structure complete' can mean the frame is topped out, or that the frame is topped out and the slabs are poured, or that the building is watertight. 'Finishes commenced' can mean anything.
The definition that matters is the one in your contract, not the one the name suggests. Where the contract does not define a stage, the developer's own certifier will, and you will be paying against their reading of it.
Reading yours
- 01List each payment with its trigger, and mark whether the trigger is a date or a stage.
- 02For each stage trigger, write down what your contract says the stage means. If it says nothing, that is the finding.
- 03Add up the cumulative percentage paid at each point and compare it against how much of a building would realistically exist.
- 04Find who certifies stage completion, and whether you are entitled to see the certificate.
- 05Find the clause that says what you may do if you disagree, and what notice it requires.
Questions on this
Is a front-loaded schedule a red flag on its own?
No. Developers need working capital and some front-loading is normal in every market. It becomes a problem when combined with date-based triggers, weak escrow and a developer with no completed units behind them.
Can I negotiate the schedule?
Before signing, sometimes, particularly on a slow-selling project. Converting a date trigger into a progress trigger is usually a more valuable change than shifting the percentages.
What if the schedule and the construction programme contradict each other?
That contradiction is worth resolving in writing before signing. It is the origin of a large share of off-plan payment disputes.
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.