Buying Property Off-Plan in Morocco (VEFA): Checks Before You Sign

Buying off-plan means committing to a property — and paying for it in stages — before it has been built. In Morocco this is a regulated sale, the vente en l'état futur d'achèvement (VEFA), and most of the protection the law gives the buyer depends on what is checked and signed at the very beginning.

Before signing or transferring anything, verify five things: who is selling and whether they have authority to do so; the legal status of the land and any charges on it; that the building permit exists; that the contract is in the form the law requires and describes the property precisely; and that the payments requested and the guarantee offered match the statutory framework.

Two points shape everything else. Paying instalments does not make you the owner — ownership passes with the final contract and, for registered land, its registration. And a payment demanded before a proper reservation or preliminary contract has no legal effect, however routine the request may look.

This guide is for the buyer who has not yet committed, or is about to. If the developer is already late, the works have stopped or you want your money back, you are dealing with a dispute rather than a purchase — see the guide on off-plan property disputes in Morocco.

It is written for a prospective buyer comparing projects, a buyer who has been handed a reservation or preliminary contract to sign, a buyer about to transfer a first advance, a foreign or non-resident buyer organising a purchase from abroad, and a company or investor considering an off-plan acquisition of residential, professional or commercial premises.

It is not the main resource for a buyer who is already chasing a late delivery, facing an abandoned project, seeking a refund, terminating the contract or preparing litigation. Those situations turn on remedies, penalties and procedure, which are covered in the dedicated dispute guide.

Moroccan law defines the off-plan sale as an agreement under which the seller undertakes to build a property within a set period and to transfer ownership to the buyer, who pays the price as the works progress (article 618-1 of the Code of Obligations and Contracts). Until the works are finished, the seller keeps its role and powers as project owner.

The regime was introduced by Law 44-00 and substantially rewritten by Law 107-12, published in 2016. The rules described here are those of articles 618-1 to 618-20 in their current, reformed version — older summaries based on the original text can be misleading on reservation contracts, payments and guarantees.

The framework is mandatory. Article 618-2 applies it, on pain of nullity, to off-plan sales of residential, professional, commercial, industrial or craft premises by any public or private seller. A developer cannot contract out of it by calling the transaction something else.

1. Who is selling, and do they have authority? Identify the exact legal entity, confirm it is the party entitled to sell the units in this project, and confirm that the person signing can bind it.

2. What is the legal status of the land? Obtain the land title number (or, for unregistered land, the ownership references) and check the owner, the registered rights, charges and servitudes, and that the title matches the project being sold.

3. Does the building permit exist? A reservation contract signed before the permit is void, and the preliminary contract can only be concluded once it has been obtained. Ask for its date and number — they must appear in the contract.

4. Is the contract in the required form and precise enough? The preliminary contract must be an authentic act or a dated act drawn up by an authorised legal professional, and it must contain the particulars the law lists. A sales-office document signed on the spot is not enough.

5. Do the payments and the guarantee match the law? Compare every amount requested with the statutory stage limits, refuse any payment before a proper contract, and identify the completion or refund guarantee that will protect your instalments.

If any of these five checks cannot be answered clearly and in writing, that is the moment to pause — not after the first transfer.

The law requires the contract to identify the parties precisely (article 618-3 bis). Beyond that statutory minimum, sensible risk control means checking the developer's company details in the commercial register, its registered office and legal representatives, and who holds the power to sign for it on this project.

It also means checking consistency: the entity named in the contract, the owner shown on the land title, the holder of the building permit and the party receiving your payments should fit together. Where they differ — a land-owning company and a separate selling company, for example — the relationship between them should be documented and explained before you commit.

Some checks are practical rather than legal requirements: the developer's track record, completed projects, the progress of the works on site and how it handles financing. They are not conditions of validity, but they are often the best indicator of how the project will be delivered.

The preliminary contract must state the number of the land title of a registered property, or the ownership references of an unregistered one, together with the real rights, charges and servitudes affecting it (article 618-3 bis). That makes the title a document the buyer is entitled to see and should read before signing.

On a registered property, a recent land-registry extract shows the current owner and the entries on the title — for example a mortgage securing the developer's financing. A charge is not automatically a reason to walk away, but you should understand what it secures and how it will be dealt with before units are transferred.

Where the land is not yet registered, or is still in the registration process, the position is less certain and third-party claims can still surface; the guide on opposing land registration in Morocco explains how that procedure works. A full title investigation goes beyond this guide, but the essential question is simple: does the seller's right over the land match what it is selling you?

The building permit is the legal starting point of any off-plan sale. Concluding a reservation contract before the permit has been obtained is prohibited on pain of nullity (article 618-3 ter), and the preliminary contract can only be concluded after the permit has been obtained (article 618-5).

In practice this means the permit — not the marketing launch, the show flat or the state of the foundations — determines when a lawful commitment can begin. Ask for the permit's date and number, check that they relate to this project and this plot, and make sure they are written into the contract, as article 618-3 bis requires.

A developer taking reservations or deposits "before the permit comes through" is asking you to enter an arrangement the law treats as void. That is a reason to wait, not a formality to overlook.

A reservation contract is optional. Where the parties use one before the preliminary contract, it must be made by authentic act or by a dated private act, it can only be concluded after the building permit, and it must contain most of the particulars required for the preliminary contract, including the title, the permit, the description, the price and the delivery date (articles 618-3 bis and 618-3 ter).

The buyer may withdraw within one month of signing, and on withdrawal the seller must return the whole amount advanced within seven days. The reservation is valid for at most six months and cannot be renewed: it must lead either to the preliminary contract or to withdrawal and a refund (article 618-3 quater).

The advance paid at reservation is capped at 5% of the price (article 618-6). The seller must deposit it in a special bank account in its name, where it can neither be used nor seized until the withdrawal period has expired, and the buyer receives a deposit receipt (article 618-3 quater). Before paying, ask where the money will go and make sure you receive that receipt.

The preliminary sale contract is the core document of the purchase. On pain of nullity, it must be drawn up either as an authentic act or as a dated act prepared by a professional from a regulated legal profession authorised by law to draft such acts; the Minister of Justice publishes an annual list of authorised professionals, which includes lawyers admitted before the Court of Cassation. The act must be signed and initialled on every page by the parties and by its drafter (article 618-3).

The law lists what it must contain (article 618-3 bis): the identity of the parties; an elected domicile for notices, with an obligation to report any change; the land title or ownership references and the rights and charges on the property; the date and number of the building permit; the location, description and approximate surface area of the unit; the price per square metre and the payment terms (or the global price for social housing); the delivery deadline; and the references of the refund guarantee, completion guarantee or insurance.

The seller must also make available, with the drafter of the act, certified copies of the architectural plans marked "ne varietur", the reinforced-concrete plans, the specifications (cahier des charges) and a copy of the bank guarantee, similar guarantee or insurance (article 618-3 bis). Asking to see these documents before signing is not a favour — it is what the law provides for.

Prudent review goes further than the statutory checklist: how the delivery deadline is defined, which documents are annexed, what happens to the price if the surface changes, how notices are served and whether any clause tries to reduce the buyer's statutory protection. Reservation and preliminary contracts are exempt from registration duties when concluded (article 618-6).

The seller must prepare specifications that conform to the authorised architectural plan and set out the substance of the project, its designation, the nature of the works and equipment to be delivered, and the construction and delivery deadlines. Seller and buyer sign them with legalised signatures, the buyer receives a certified copy, and for registered land the specifications and plans are deposited with the land registry (article 618-4).

Read them as a buyer, not as an annex: the unit's identification and floor, the approximate surface, the layout, the finishes and materials, parking or storage if they are part of the price, and the common areas you are paying for. Brochures, renders and show flats help, but they do not replace a precise written description.

Vague specifications are one of the most common sources of later conflict, because they leave little to compare the delivered property against. If a delivered unit ends up not matching the contract, that is a conformity dispute handled in the dispute guide; the preventive step is to make the description precise before you sign.

After the preliminary contract is signed, the seller must provide the buyer with either a guarantee of completion of the works or a guarantee of repayment of the instalments paid if the contract is not performed (article 618-9). The conditions and procedures for these guarantees are set by regulation, through Decree 2.17.318.

The references of the guarantee (or insurance) must appear in the preliminary contract, and a copy must be available with the drafter (article 618-3 bis). Where instalments are deposited with the drafter of the contract, they cannot be released to the seller until it has obtained a guarantee covering all the instalments paid (article 618-9).

Before committing significant sums, the practical questions are: which of the two guarantees will be provided, who issues it, from when it applies, what event it responds to, and whether the documents you are shown match what the contract says. Note one legal exception: public establishments and companies wholly owned by the State or another public-law entity are not subject to the article 618-9 guarantee (article 618-11), so buying from such a seller calls for a clear view of what protects your payments instead.

How a guarantee is invoked when a project fails is a dispute question and is covered separately; at the purchase stage, the aim is simply to know that it exists and what it covers.

For a registered property, once the advances paid exceed 50% of the sale price, the buyer may ask the land registrar to record a prénotation, on production of the preliminary contract (article 618-10). It remains valid until the final contract is registered, and any clause to the contrary is void.

Its effects are concrete: once it is recorded, the registrar may not issue the seller a duplicate of the land title, the final contract takes rank retroactively from the date of the prénotation, and when the original title is divided the prénotation is carried over to the new individual title.

It is not ownership, and it does not guarantee that the sale will be completed. But for a buyer who has paid more than half the price, it is a protective step worth planning for at the outset.

The property is not legally complete merely because the works are finished: completion requires the habitation permit or the conformity certificate (article 618-15). The final sale contract is then concluded in the same form as the preliminary contract, after the architect certifies completion and conformity with the specifications, once the habitation permit or conformity certificate has been issued, the individual land titles have been created for registered property, and the buyer has paid the balance of the price (article 618-16).

The law sets a notification sequence. Within sixty days of obtaining the habitation permit or conformity certificate, the seller must notify the buyer at the elected domicile and, for registered land, start the formalities to split the title; it must then notify the date the separate titles are created within thirty days (article 618-18). The final contract is expected to be concluded within sixty days of that notification (article 618-19).

Ownership passes at the conclusion of the final contract for unregistered property, and on its registration in the land register for registered property (article 618-20) — not when an instalment is paid or when the keys are handed over informally. Keeping your elected domicile up to date matters, because that is where the notices that start these periods will be sent.

The VEFA rules apply in the same way to foreign and non-resident buyers. What changes is the practical difficulty of checking a project, reading documents and signing from a distance — and the risk of being asked to transfer money quickly on the strength of a brochure.

Much of the preparation can be done remotely: reviewing the title, the permit, the specifications and the draft contract, and verifying the guarantee references. Where you cannot attend signings, a power of attorney drawn up in the proper form, legalised or apostilled as required and accompanied by a sworn translation into Arabic or French where needed, allows a representative to act for you. An independent on-site inspection is worth arranging rather than relying on the developer's progress photographs.

Choose the elected domicile in the contract with care: statutory notices — including the one that starts the final-deed period — are sent there, so it should be an address where mail will actually be received and acted on, which may be your Moroccan counsel's.

Keep the bank evidence of every transfer made from abroad. Beyond proving your payments, a clear record of foreign-currency funding is typically relevant to exchange-control questions if you later sell and wish to transfer the proceeds. The wider questions of buying in Morocco as a foreigner — eligibility, general checks and costs — are covered in the guide on buying property in Morocco as a foreigner.

Much of the value of legal advice in an off-plan purchase lies before the first signature, when problems are still cheap to fix. In practice, a real estate lawyer in Morocco can:

• qualify the transaction and confirm that the VEFA regime applies;

• check the seller's identity, corporate authority and signatory powers;

• review the land title, registered charges and servitudes, and the consistency between title, permit and seller;

• verify the building permit and the project documents;

• review the reservation and preliminary contracts for form, statutory particulars and one-sided clauses, and negotiate changes;

• check the payment schedule against the statutory limits and flag premature requests;

• review the guarantee or insurance documents and their references;

• coordinate the drafting, signing and legalisation formalities with the authorised drafter;

• monitor milestones, notices and deadlines during construction;

• prepare the delivery and final-deed stage, including the documents to require;

• escalate early, before a delay or irregularity becomes a dispute.

The goal is dispute prevention: a buyer whose file is complete and whose contract is precise is in a far stronger position if anything later goes wrong. For a foreign buyer, a lawyer in Morocco for an off-plan property can also serve as the local point of coordination and, where agreed, as the elected domicile for notices.

Off-plan purchases by international buyers often involve several advisers. Moroccan counsel may coordinate with the buyer's lawyers abroad, international counsel or an in-house legal team, particularly where a company is acquiring several units or professional premises.

On the Moroccan side, coordination typically involves the notary or authorised professional drafting the acts, sworn translators for documents and powers of attorney, and, where useful, architects, technical experts or surveyors to check the plans and the progress of the works. Banks may be involved where the purchase is financed or funds are transferred from abroad.

This section describes, in general terms, how such cooperation is usually organised; it does not describe any particular engagement.

This guide stops where the purchase goes wrong. If the delivery deadline has passed, the developer has announced an extension, construction has stopped, the delivered unit does not match the contract, or you are considering a refund, termination, delay penalties, damages or court action, you have moved from a transaction to a VEFA dispute.

Those questions — when a developer is legally late, how penalties and termination work, how guarantees are invoked and which court is competent — are covered in the guide on off-plan property disputes in Morocco. Defects that appear after delivery are a separate subject again, covered in the guide on construction and contractor disputes.

Code of Obligations and Contracts (Dahir of 12 August 1913), articles 618-1 to 618-20, as introduced by Law 44-00 (Dahir 1-02-309 of 3 October 2002) and amended and supplemented by Law 107-12 (Dahir 1-16-05 of 3 February 2016, Bulletin Officiel no. 6518 of 17 November 2016) — consolidated text published by the National Agency for Land Conservation, Cadastre and Cartography (ANCFCC).

Decree 2.17.318 setting the conditions and procedures for the completion and refund guarantees provided for by article 618-9.

Decree 2-04-143 of 27 December 2004 setting the fees for drawing up preliminary and final off-plan sale contracts (article 618-17).

Law 31-08 on consumer protection, where the buyer acts as a consumer.