Ivory Towers was initially sold as an off-plan project in 2006 and scheduled to be finished by mid-summer 2008. More than 700 customers bought units in the project but construction came to a halt in an early phase when Sokook, the developer, got in a dispute over the land with TECOM Investments, the master developer of IMPZ.

From there, the problems piled up and Nigel Collins, an investor from the UK who bought four apartments in Ivory Tower in 2006, told The National many of the investors had given up the fight.

Sokook’s web site and offices are nearly shut down, but a consultant from Homes Real Estate, who is working on behalf of Sokook, said a “feasibility report” is to be made to summarize which investors have paid their 30 per cent and who have not.

“For people who have paid more than 30 per cent, their money is in safe hands because they won’t pay any more until we start construction again; for those who have paid less but don’t want to pay any more, we will forfeit them. Our construction is on hold because of the people who only paid 10 or 15 per cent.”

The aim of the report is, according to the consultant, to find out how many investors are willing to go on with the project. If half the number of initial buyers are interested in continuing, the consultant said the project would be scaled down to half its size. An option would be to transfer their investments to other projects in Dubai that were either completed or close to completion, but as the consultant pointed out, Ivory Tower is Sokook’s only project in Dubai.

“If there is no trust left in the project, then we can talk with the customer and swap their investment to a developer who is more advanced” he said without commenting on which developers Sokook had been in talks with.

About 800 foreign property buyers, half of whom are based in the UK, are worried about the future of their investment. Two months ago, a local court appointed Rakeen, the development arm of the Ras al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA), as receiver of the development on Marjan Island, which is the emirate’s largest development. This would allow work on the project to continue and followed the jailing in June of Khoie, the developer’s chief executive. He was sentenced to three years for bouncing a Dh57m cheque written to RAKIA.

The court needed Khoie’s consent to declare receivership. He first vetoed this option last May.

“In British law, receivership is for companies that are insolvent or bankrupt,” said Khoie. “Our company is not bankrupt. We have Dh500m in assets. I am in jail for only the criminal aspect of the cheque.”

RAKIA appealed and Khoie said he finally agreed on certain conditions. “They agreed to drop the cases, and I agreed that they will become only a project manager. Ownership is mine. It is my money, it is my project, I created it.”

The chief executive said he had 60 days to change his mind. “I waited 57 days and I withdrew my consent because they failed to honour their side of the agreement to dismiss my cases and release me,” Khoie claimed. “It was our moral agreement.” RAKIA officials denied any agreement of that sort.

Khoie yesterday posted “settlement proposals” to RAKIA on his website, including an extension on land payment and the dismissal of cheque cases. La Hoya’s investors had hoped the appointment of Rakeen would speed up the development, which is still only in the early stages of construction.

“The situation now returns to its original status, to square one,”

said Neil Pattison, a British investor in the project. Other investors agreed.

The National

So far, 875 projects are listed with RERA, and Marwan Bin Galita, chief executive of RERA, hope this initiative will comfort investors in these projects:

“I hope every developer in Dubai, every developer in the UAE will put the indicator for investors to show them what’s going on,” Bin Galita said.

Investors have previously combined forces and set up investor groups to keep track of the progress. It is believed that the progress reports will ease investors work, and give them the knowledge they need from their investments from an independent source.

The Reports

Each project report will contain up-to-date photographs of the construction plot, as well as the plot number and the developer’s approval number at RERA. Additionally, the report will specify the name of the bank holding the trust account and a summary of the progress.

The report should tell potentially investors if this project is safe to invest in.

Pressure on the developers

In less than 30 days, RERA have received a total of 1,030 complaints, leading to the deletion of 27 developers from RERA records.

Developers are now realizing that communication is essentially to avoid issues to escalate to court-levels. Officials at the land department and RERA urge all investors to register their properties and their rights at the land department under Law No. 13, which regulates off-plan sales and give the buyers more rights.

“In a booming market, everybody makes mistakes. Everyone now is running to Daddy which is Rera and the land department. Before everyone was busy selling their properties and noone came to us. Now they are all coming,” Bin Galita said.

Bin Galita also says a 15 day cool-of period before a contract is signed is to be introduced very soon.

“We need a cool-of period of 15 days. That’s two weeks to speak to your wife, consult the bank, get approved finance, before committing to a contract because a contract is binding.”

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