Solicitor Advice on ESCROW account

[samar]

I have invested in Jumeirah Village knowing that the developer has an ESCROW account, but developer asked me to pay into a currency exchange in UK, this exchange company is supposed to transfer money to relevant ESCROW account but I do not get any receipt by the Developer or any statement from the Bank. All I get is a receipt which says that " you money has been received by ACW Holdings". Problem is that the letter is issued on Skycom letterhead and no evidence is shown to prove that the money is actually being transfered to the ESCROW account.

When I asked currency exchange company to confirm the account number they have transfered the money to, they said " because you have come to us through Skycom, we can not provide you any details, you should ask Skysom".

Can anybody advice that the receipt can be issued by 3rd company on behalf of Developer? Why Developer himself can not issue a receipt and why a statement from the Bank can not be shown to the buyers.

 

[Wannaberich]

You should insist that you will only pay directly into an Escrow account.The whole idea of Escrow is to avoid mis-use of funds by developers.If u pay to a third party then the point of Escrow is by-passed.I would also think this is illegal.
If they still tell you to pay to the third party then tell them you will inform RERA if they do not allow you to pay into Escrow.

 

[sgaur]

Samar

I have also invested in project of ACW holding. But I transfer the amount to their Escrow account and I checked on RERA website before transferring this amount.

1. Whether this project is registered with RERA. Although, registration is mentioned on their website but I double checked on RERA website about registration of this project.

2. RERA website has also mentioned about the bank details and escrow account of this project. So, I matched the bank details sent by Skycom with bank details on RERA website.

I am in process of signing the contract for this project with ACW holding. Once contract will be signed, I will push ACW to send me the reciept of money received. You should also transfer the money to escrow account instead of transferring through exchange.

About receipt by third party, it depends on the contract signed between 2 parties. if contract says that receipt can be issued by third party on behalf of ACW holding then I believe that that will be enough to safegaurd your interests.

 

[samar]

Thanks for that guidance. In future I'll pay directly, though an account in Dubai Islamic Bank would have been better but DIB have refused to open non-resident account for UK residents (some GC countries can open such account). Transferring through UK money exchanges is ok though not easy to get confirmation of transfer by DIB. Any comments?

 

[sgaur]

I am also transferring through exchange company to ACW holding account. But they provide me full details of account in which the money is transferred. This is because banks in Kuwait do not give better exchange rates and their transfer charges are very high.

ACW holding is not related to this exchange company. I transfer through any exchange company in Kuwait.

But I will ensure this point in my contract that Skycom will send the receipts on behalf of ACW holding.

 

[DubaiMortgages]

I also have invested with ACW, dont worry your money is safe. I have visited them in the UK and the UAE and know the CEO personally. Your funds go to the escrow whether you deposit it from the UK or the UAE.

Regards

DM

 

[samar]

ACW Holdings

I also have invested with ACW, dont worry your money is safe. I have visited them in the UK and the UAE and know the CEO personally. Your funds go to the escrow whether you deposit it from the UK or the UAE.

Regards

I am sorry to disagree with Dubai Mortgages, you may be given good treatment at Dubai but how can you be so sure that they send the money to ESCROW account. I have evidence that they don't, at least in some cases. Please do not trust them as they told me many times that my money was in ESCROW account but it was not. Currency UK who has some kind of partnership with Skycom / ACW Holdings, do not transfer the money to ESCROW instead they give the money to Skycom and skycom issues a receipt to you. But if tomorrow Skycom and ACW Holding decide to close their offices, the only money which is safe is the money in ESCROW account. So it in everybody's interest to check with Dubai Islamic Bank if the money has been transferred to ESCROW.

 

[reasonant]

The best option is to ask any third party to provide you with a copy of the agreement or authority letter that exists between it and the Developer. Such document is valid if it has been legalized, notarized and validly consularized before the authorities.