Dubai Courts have now decided the agreement between Oakley and ACI for one of the units is void because the unit was never registered with the Dubai Land Department. ACI was ordered to pay back his Dh569,585 plus a 5 per cent interest rate from the day he started the court proceedings. The other unit was registered with the Land Department and was therefore protected by the law, but Mr. Oakley said he would continue the fight to claim back his remaining Dh695,000.

“It’s like throwing good money after bad, but having two units makes it worthwhile,” he said.

Mr. Oakley’s investment for the other unit remains in an escrow account, and cannot, according to the law, be paid back unless the project is officially cancelled by Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory (RERA). This law also states that the money must be used to fund construction, but this also means, according to some lawyers, that developers might not have the money to refund investments if court orders are issued.

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.”

Gulf News

However, despite the ‘Strata Law’ being in place for almost a year, few associations exist in the emirate. Instead, home owners in areas such as Discovery Gardens, The Palm Jumeirah and Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) have taken to organising unofficial committees to battle recent hikes in maintenance costs.

In JBR, maintenance fee hikes of as much as 129 per cent have hit owners. An apartment owner, Cecilia Reinaldo, is behind the efforts to organise a committee to fight the increases.

“When we moved in we were shown a brochure which promised five beach clubs and a beach park but it’s been a year and we haven’t seen them,” she said. “I don’t know where this money is going.”

She added that the contract said that as soon as the first building was registered with Dubai Land Department, an owners’ association should be set up to look at how the maintenance fees were being spent. However none has been formed.

“Some of the people I spoke to said they wished they’d have rented, instead of buying the property,” she said. “If they go up across the board then demand for properties will fall further.”

A spokesman for Dubai Properties was unavailable for comment. However, RERA CEO Marwan bin Ghalita confirmed to Khaleej Times that Dubai Properties had already sought out RERA for talks about setting up an owners’ association. Acting on behalf of Dubai Properties, Salwan Property Management sent out a notice to residents informing them that maintenance fees would rise from Dh9.5 per square foot to Dh21.75 per square foot.

Vincent Easton, sales manager at Sherwoods said: “These properties have been subsidised for a while now and I expect we are seeing the real price. Dh9.5 per square feet is quite cheap.”

Coupled with delays on moving in, residents of Discovery Gardens have had large maintenance fees sprung upon them without being forewarned.

Neil Whittaker, who was due to move into the property in June, but wasn’t handed the keys until November, said that he was asked to hand over a sum of Dh45,000 before he could move in. The bill included maintenance charges of Dh15,894 as well as community service fees and other charges.

“Nobody told us about these charges,” he said. “Nobody has told us how they got these figures; what it’s based on; if it’s market rate; if they are annual; if they will stay at this rate year after year. Nothing. I foresee many a fight with Nakheel about it but we have the house now and we are moving in.”“For a limited number of properties at Discovery Gardens, it was necessary to revise completion dates,” said a spokesman for Nakheel. “This was due to circumstances beyond our control.

“For all of Nakheel’s developments, each year’s service charges are budgeted according to the projected costs, and all accounts are independently audited to ensure accuracy and transparency for homeowners.”

Meanwhile, Palm Jumeirah residents have fought back against Nakheel’s plans to increase maintenance fees by as much as 40 per cent.

However, third parties not involved in the dispute said that Nakheel had been -on the whole- responsive to residents’ concerns. No one from the owners’ committee that is involved in negotiations was willing to comment to the Press.

Khaleej Times

This means that the government of Ajman will begin enforcing the escrow account law issued in June, stating that all money collected from buyers during the construction of a project must solely be used on construction.

The company already delivered to the market 6 other projects in the last two years in the UAE, the new projects, with a total value of Dhs1bn (Dhs1,000,000,000) are mainly prestigious upper middle class accommodations; the first project, called Serenity Lakes and Giordino Rotondo, will be situated in JVC, while the third one and most prestigious project, will neighbor JVC, the Archery Tower, will be located at the Sports City.

“We are proud to be at the forefront of the real estate industry in the U.A.E.”, says Khaled Chaaban – C.O.O. Avanti.

“The launch of the 3 new projects is a sheer example of the massive investment we are making in the region with an aim to accompany and even lead the boom witnessed by the real estate sector”.

It is to mention that Avanti Holding is completely compliant with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) regulation and has been adjusting all its systems to the new regulations to protect all parties interests.

“The move that RERA took in regulating the market is a step rather a leap long needed to strengthen the trust in the market and thus adding value to all stake holders in the Real Estate Industry in Dubai.”

Mr Shabaan commented.

Avanti is also happy to inform its clients that it commenced construction phases on 3 projects: Serenity Lakes buildings, Giordino Rotondo ‘the Feng Shu’ designed concept and Archery Tower in Sports City.

A date to celebrate ground breaking is set very soon.

“We finished the soil tests and ground breaking is set on plan, we are just waiting for last NOC from land department” Avanti Project management dept said.

“The contractors who will be working with us on the accomplishment of the 3 new developments have been meticulously chosen based on rigorous criteria of quality , integrity, and ability to meet our deadlines”, ended Chaaban.

Avanti Holding a master developer in several neighboring countries with total projects value to date up to Dhs55bn including the UAE, is keen on becoming one of the leading developers across the region.

With a clear vision and a can-do spirit, I am confident our objective will be achieved sooner than expected.

AME Info/Press release