Metropolis Lofts Advice

[Alimha]

UKCIG Marina Star Project Update

Maybe but it would still be misleading as one would expect the building to commence immediately afterwards.

The other thing I found a little odd was when they appointed Edwards Covell to “oversee all architectural design issues " on Met Loft. I could not find anything on them and they appear to be a small outfit based in Soho - very close to where Portmill are based. I would have thought that they would have apointed an international firm with other portfolios rather than a firm that appears to have no website or and unless I missed something no past portfolios.

I checked them out on Companies House and the firm do exist - there registered office is 1 Berkeley Square not in Soho as stated on some directories and they used to be called Yellow Screen Ltd and changed their name in November 2007. It does not say who the directors are but there is someone at Met Lofts in Dubai called Adam Covell - coincidene??

Has anyone else looked into this? I thought it a little odd but maybe there is more info out there.

Hi NP1,

I came across the attached article on reputable website : albawaba.com middle east news information on UKCIG Marina Star Project in a reputable Dubai newspaper ....can anyone confirm the content of this article...if it is correct then UKCIG are getting their act together in Dubai.

Adam Covell is the Project Director and Liam Crawford is the Construction Manager....construction to be completed in 1Q 2011.

Please provide your comments....thanks.

Alimha

 

[Farouk]

Alimha
This article is since Aug, and basically has nothing new as they were saying marina star has started since march 2008.

However, the important info, if anybody can get it, is about the progress of handover from Nakheel and why there was no official statement yet about it?

UKCIG says that they are waiting on some signs and boards to be installed before the announcement of handover, but this has been since late Aug with no progress.

Please guys, if anybody has a flow of communication with developper or his agent to get us some updates

Cheers

 

[metlofts]

I did post about them waiting for a NOC from Nakheel....

 

[Alimha]

Alimha
This article is since Aug, and basically has nothing new as they were saying marina star has started since march 2008.

However, the important info, if anybody can get it, is about the progress of handover from Nakheel and why there was no official statement yet about it?

UKCIG says that they are waiting on some signs and boards to be installed before the announcement of handover, but this has been since late Aug with no progress.

Please guys, if anybody has a flow of communication with developper or his agent to get us some updates

Cheers

Hello Met Lofts Investors,

It appears we are not getting timely updates from UKCIG .....since UKCIG is a RERA approved developer is it possible for someone in Dubai to visit RERA office and understand the rights of the investors......for example under what circumstances can the investors get the money paid into the Escrow A/C at Tamweel back.

Alimha

 

[metlofts]

Hi Alimha,

I think that's an excellent suggest. Maybe it'd be worth finding out the status of the NOC which is meant to be issued before construction begins. Surely we must have the right to any information that is of use to the investor which we're probably not being provided with by UKCIG.

Also, has anyone else noticed that http://www.berestates.com says 'This site is under construction.' They had been displaying Metropolis Lofts Under Construction images which were clearly fake. Also, does anyone know why Portmill Estates has no information about Metropolis Lofts? It has vast information about Cavendish, another UKCIG project.


Just out of interest, Portmill Estates has the following domaina registration details:

Registrant:
Robin Barton
18 Soho Square
London, W1D 3QL
GB

Domain name: PORTMILLESTATES.COM


Administrative Contact:
Barton, Robin [email protected]
18 Soho Square
London, W1D 3QL
GB
+44.2070258272

I just think it's odd that if they are an independant agent for the UKCIG projects why the registrant of the domain would be UKCIG also!

 

[NP1]

I agree it does seem a little odd all these separate companies seem to be linked as does the Edwards Covell (the design company) who also operate from either 18 Soho Square or Berkeley Street depending on which address comes up on different searches.

Also these addresses are all provided by a service company that allows the use of a prestige London address like Mayfair or Soho so it all sounds better than somwhere like Manchester (no offence!).

Portmill estates were up until August this year known as "Redscreen Ltd".

Ber Estates according to companies house are due to be "stricked off".

I think all payments should be held back by all investors until work starts and evidence is shown. This way Im sure they will get things moving by realising that investors want to see progress and will just sit there.

 

[JOHNNY-D]

thanx everybody for this ACTIVE chain of communications. This really help! and means we're not alone! thanx!
anyways! Just wanted to inform you that I called UK Capital Invest. yesterday. They told me that they're still waiting for the bloody NOC letter from Nakheel and they think that the construction will start at the end of this month!
Lets just pray that they can be right this time, lets just pray to have the patience for this, over and over again!

 

[Alimha]

Payment Schedule

thanx everybody for this ACTIVE chain of communications. This really help! and means we're not alone! thanx!
anyways! Just wanted to inform you that I called UK Capital Invest. yesterday. They told me that they're still waiting for the bloody NOC letter from Nakheel and they think that the construction will start at the end of this month!
Lets just pray that they can be right this time, lets just pray to have the patience for this, over and over again!

I would like to suggest to members of this site to lobby UKCIG to revise the Payment Schedule to truly reflect the Project Progress.

I understand some investors have been told by UKCIG that they are looking into it.

Can somebody in Dubai check with RERA whether there is any legislation on their books which forces the developer to revise the Payment Schedule to reflect the Project progress. In any case the Escrow Manager only releases the money to the developer in line with progress achieved. By making payments ahead of progress we are losing the interest which this money can earn.

Alimha

 

[Mujteba]

1 Berkeley Square (Edward Covell )

Unfortunately no Edward Covell at number 1, the building has not been used as offices for a few months so i am told...they must be somewhere else.

 

[metlofts]

Hi,

Is that information 100% accurate because their web site clearly states that their office is at the following address taken from their contact page. Something still worries me about this project. Are their any investors in Dubai that can visit RERA and make further enquiries?

www.ecalondon.com

Head office

suite 209
MWB Berkeley Street
1 Berkeley Street
London
W1J 8DJ
+44 (0)207 0169277

email: [email protected]

 

[Mujteba]

Hi,

Is that information 100% accurate because their web site clearly states that their office is at the following address taken from their contact page. Something still worries me about this project. Are their any investors in Dubai that can visit RERA and make further enquiries?

www.ecalondon.com

Head office

suite 209
MWB Berkeley Street
1 Berkeley Street
London
W1J 8DJ
+44 (0)207 0169277

email: [email protected]

Sorry the above is 1 berkeley street - and in the previous post it was 1 berkeley square. Will go and have a look, i know a few companies in that building...

Apologies for the scare.

regds

 

[investor_from_uk]

I would like to suggest to members of this site to lobby UKCIG to revise the Payment Schedule to truly reflect the Project Progress.

I understand some investors have been told by UKCIG that they are looking into it.

Can somebody in Dubai check with RERA whether there is any legislation on their books which forces the developer to revise the Payment Schedule to reflect the Project progress. In any case the Escrow Manager only releases the money to the developer in line with progress achieved. By making payments ahead of progress we are losing the interest which this money can earn.

Alimha

I totally agree with Alimha on this. We should call them up and ask for the rescheduling of the payment plan. I further suggest, that as has been advised in previous posts, we shouldn't make any further payments until the start of the construction and it should be at that point, that we should request the new payment plan. This is because the payment plan given now still wouldn't be in line with the actual progress of construction.

 

[metlofts]

It'd be interesting to see the payment plan they are working on. This will happen in good time i would imagine. I certainly will not be paying anything now until they start construction. I think it goes without saying that you'd be a mug to pay anything more to the developer until they start the construction and start proving to us that they are 100% above board.

 

[NP1]

The website for ECA actually looks good with a design of the met lofts towers. Then again so does the UKCIG website.

The building there is used either as a servicing (so call handling or post redirection) or it can be physically used but I doubt it would be the most practical way to run a business paying Mayfair rent.

Berkeley Street Virtual Office W1 West End - Virtual Offices, Business Address, Call Answering

Best if Mujteba can try and visit them to confirm to see if there is a physical presence. I went to that building last year to crop off some papers and UKCIG were in there, they had plenty staff and it all looked pretty good.

 

[investor_from_uk]

No rescheduling of payment plan

Guys,

I called up portmill estates(UK CIG london office) yesterday and asked for rescheduling of payment. They rejected it outrightly, and said that they were doing the payment rescheduling till the land had not been handed over, but now, they are not doing it anymore.

I am appalled by their audacity, in view of the fact that they haven't even started construction. Once you get stuck with them, you just have to go with what they say.

I advise that others should also call them up and check for payment rescheduling.

 

[metlofts]

Hi,

Sorry, i'm not sure i understood what you meant. Could you write that again?

Thanks,

Guys,

I called up portmill estates(UK CIG london office) yesterday and asked for rescheduling of payment. They rejected it outrightly, and said that they were doing the payment rescheduling till the land had not been handed over, but now, they are not doing it anymore.

I am appalled by their audacity, in view of the fact that they haven't even started construction. Once you get stuck with them, you just have to go with what they say.

I advise that others should also call them up and check for payment rescheduling.

 

[investor_from_uk]

Hi,

Sorry, i'm not sure i understood what you meant. Could you write that again?

Thanks,

All I said was that the developer of Met Lofts is not rescheduling the payment plan, as had been suggested earlier in previous threads.

Furthermore, I said that people should call them up and ask for the payment rescheduling, so to put more pressure on them.

 

[metlofts]

That's odd. I've got more than one email from UKCIG stating clearly that rescheduling the payment plan is exactly what they're doing. Maybe Portmill Estates aren't because they're not responsible for this? I thought UKCIG were?

investor_from_uk - do you feel comfortable with UKCIG? I certainly have a bad feeling about them.

 

[investor_from_uk]

That's odd. I've got more than one email from UKCIG stating clearly that rescheduling the payment plan is exactly what they're doing. Maybe Portmill Estates aren't because they're not responsible for this? I thought UKCIG were?

investor_from_uk - do you feel comfortable with UKCIG? I certainly have a bad feeling about them.

I thought that Portmill Estates were the only representatives of UKCIG in UK. Is there any other way of contacting UK CIG? If there is, please let me know. They didn't send me any email or a letter chasing up for the payment. I called them up myself for rescheduling of the payment.

By the way, how much payment have you made in percetage and when did you get those emails. Th reason for asking is that they said that they were rescheduling the payments up till a few weeks back, when they hadn't been handed over the land.

Metlofts, to be honest, I don't anything will go wrong with UKCIG. All developments are being delayed in JVS, and it's not only Met Lofts. But I would surely not make any more payment, till I see evidence of the construction being started.

 

[metlofts]

i thought that portmill estates were the only representatives of ukcig in uk. Is there any other way of contacting uk cig? If there is, please let me know. They didn't send me any email or a letter chasing up for the payment. I called them up myself for rescheduling of the payment.

By the way, how much payment have you made in percetage and when did you get those emails. Th reason for asking is that they said that they were rescheduling the payments up till a few weeks back, when they hadn't been handed over the land.

Metlofts, to be honest, i don't anything will go wrong with ukcig. All developments are being delayed in jvs, and it's not only met lofts. But i would surely not make any more payment, till i see evidence of the construction being started.

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