Arra ajman must help buyers investors who are having nightmares Agreed. They should cancel, refund and then relaunch with the much more stringent and clear conditions. From the top of my mind I can't recall where it was stated that for the future they (developers) won't be allowed to sell anything offplan until the following conditions are met:
- They own the plot, which has also been handed over to the developer.
- They've started construction which is 20% completed
- They have deposited 20% of the project value into the escrow account themselves
And on top of that strictly enforcing the withdrawals from escrow account to be for construction only.
I'm pretty sure that would boost confidence and be a clear sign that Dubai is not only PR and empty words, but action on ALL levels.
ARRA AJMAN MUST HELP BUYERS INVESTORS WHO ARE HAVING NIGHTMARES
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090513/BUSINESS/705139936/1005 Worried investors in Ajman lobby ARRA
Nathalie Gillet
Last Updated: May 13. 2009 7:15PM UAE / May 13. 2009 3:15PM GMT A group of 30 worried property buyers who say they have paid many thousands of dirhams to developers for projects that are either months behind schedule or not even started are pressing the Ajman Real Estate Regulatory Agency (ARRA) to take action to protect their investments.
Most have invested in properties in the Dh15 billion (US$4.08bn) Emirates City development, one of the few projects along the Emirates Road where construction is well advanced.
However, they say, many sub-developers within the new city have not yet started building work, and the investors fear their money is at risk.
The 30 have signed a petition to ARRA, a government agency set up at the beginning of this year, declaring they will be handing over no more money to developers until they get a schedule linking future payments to specific stages in the development and giving guaranteed completion dates, with penalty clauses.
The petition says: “ARRA has declared that no more payments should be made to any developer unless the developer has registered with ARRA and established an escrow account. However, we believe that these two steps alone are not sufficient to guarantee investors’ rights. We are therefore, not going to make any further payments, even into an escrow account, unless we get a written contract whose payments schedule is linked with certain stages and which states a revised completion date, together with a clause for a specified penalty to honour the contractual obligations.”
Fifteen of the signatories went to ARRA’s offices this week. But while ARRA’s management was willing to meet them individually or in groups, ARRA refused to take the petition, according to one of the investors, Amberin Sajid, a French citizen who invested in the Lake View Tower.
“I came with a list of 30 investors who have invested in the same tower,” she said. My flat cost me around Dh400,000 and I have paid already Dh150,000. That was all my savings. Nothing has started so far and nobody can get in touch with the developer.”
ARRA told the petitioners they should file a case in court. However, the petitioners say, this would cost a minimum of Dh40,000 per person and per case. “First ARRA said wait for May 1 and then we will take your complaint. But now they tell us to go to court by ourselves,” Mrs Sajid said.
“I did not gamble on the stock exchange. And if my flat in the end is only worth Dh100,000 I would not care because I still have the walls. But if I don’t even have that … I should not have to go to court and spend even more money. There should be laws.”
Another signatory of the petition, Mohammed Siddique, said he had paid 31 per cent of the cost of his property so far but the developer had built less than 10 per cent, only getting as far as putting in the piling. “Payment should be in line with the construction,” he said. “We have lost our confidence.”
Ahmad Yasri, a customer service agent at ARRA, said he had seen the group of investors, but did not want to comment further on the case.
The investors also said they were discriminated against by the new visa regulations. Last year the Government announced the end of automatic residence visas for property buyers. A recent federal regulation declared that buyers can now get a six-month renewable visa if they have bought a property for at least Dh1 million. In Ajman, however, most of the properties are much cheaper than that.
The petitioners said: “The issuance of a visa had been guaranteed in our contracts. Now the rule has changed to a one million dirham price limit. The property owners of Ajman feel discriminated by this policy.”
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