Dubai snagging checklist
The full room-by-room list, free to work through yourself — and an honest account of the five things it cannot tell you.
The short answer
A Dubai snagging checklist covers roughly 180 inspection points across every room, plus the mechanical, electrical and plumbing services and the external envelope. The points that cause disputes are drainage falls, waterproofing in wet areas and air-conditioning balance, none of which are visible on a walk-through.
What is checked, room by room?
Seven areas, each with the defects that come up in disputes flagged in the last column.
| Area | What is checked | Points | Commonly disputed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entrance and hallway | Door operation, locking, alignment, frame seal, floor level and finish | Door alignment | |
| Living and dining | Wall and ceiling finish, skirting, sockets, lighting circuits, glazing seals | Hairline cracking | |
| Kitchen | Cabinet alignment and operation, worktop seal, sink drainage, appliance connections, extract | Drainage falls | |
| Bathrooms | Waterproofing, floor falls to drain, sanitaryware seal, water pressure and temperature, extract | Waterproofing | |
| Bedrooms | Wardrobe alignment, finishes, sockets, air-conditioning outlet and balance | AC balance | |
| Balcony and terrace | Waterproofing, drainage, balustrade fixing and height, threshold seal | Waterproofing | |
| Services | Distribution board, circuit testing, water heater, AC plant, drainage stacks | Electrical loading |
Source: , checked 2026-08-12.The ~180 total is carried from the launch research pack; the per-area split needs its primary citation before publication.
How to work through the list yourself
Six rules. They are the difference between a list that a developer acts on and one they argue with.
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Kitchen: cabinet alignment and operation, worktop seal, sink drainage, appliance connections, extract. -
Living space: wall and ceiling finish, skirting, sockets, lighting circuits, glazing seals. -
Work through it before you sign acceptance. The list is worth most at that moment and least afterwards.
- Go in daylight Finish defects, level problems and glazing marks are close to invisible under construction lighting.
- Work room by room Not defect type by defect type. Working by room is how you avoid missing an entire space.
- Operate everything Run every tap, flush every WC, open every window and door. Operational defects only appear under operation.
- Photograph with context Something in frame that fixes the location. A photograph of a crack with no context is not evidence of where the crack is.
- Number and locate each defect Developers respond to numbered, located lists. They do not respond well to prose.
- Do not sign acceptance first The list is worth most before acceptance and least after it.
What a checklist cannot tell you
Everything in the table above is checkable by eye and hand. Five categories are not, and they are where the money is.
- Water pressure and temperature at each outlet — needs a gauge, not a hand under the tap.
- Drainage falls — a floor that looks level and drains slowly is a defect you notice a year later.
- Circuit loading and earthing — a socket that works is not a socket that is correctly wired.
- Air-conditioning balance across zones — needs measurement at each outlet.
- Concealed moisture behind finishes — needs thermal imaging.
If working through the list has you wondering whether the unit is worth what you agreed to pay, a written valuation gives you the current figure.
Questions people ask
Answer first, then the detail. Every figure quoted here is the same figure the page above it publishes, with the same source.
What is on a Dubai snagging checklist?
A snagging checklist covers finishes, joinery, doors and windows room by room, then the services — water pressure and temperature, drainage, electrical circuits and sockets, air-conditioning output — and finally the external envelope, balconies and any roof or terrace waterproofing.
How many points are on a snagging checklist?
Around 180 points for a typical apartment, though the number by itself means little. A checklist with 300 cosmetic points and no MEP testing is weaker than one with 120 points that includes instrument testing of the services.
Can I use a checklist instead of hiring an inspector?
A checklist lets you find the cosmetic and operational defects yourself, and that is genuinely worth doing. What it cannot give you is instrument testing of water pressure, drainage falls, electrical loading and air-conditioning balance — the categories that cost the most to fix later.
Which defects do developers dispute most?
The disputed categories are consistently those where the developer can argue the fault arose from use rather than construction — waterproofing, drainage and hairline cracking in particular: . A dated pre-acceptance report is what settles that argument.
When should I use the checklist?
Use it at the developer’s handover viewing, before you sign the acceptance documents. Bring it, work through it room by room, and photograph everything with the date visible.
Where to go next
Ask a question about your own property
No form. Call or email, and the answer comes from the same sourced figures published above.
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Email
info@plainlyproperty.comThe written report is delivered here within 24 hours of the request.
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What this is not
No listing, no marketingAsking for a report does not put your property on the market. Plainly Property publishes no listings and holds no licence.