EXCLUSIVE: Action group urges investors to withhold ACW payments

A group of investors locked in a dispute with developer ACW Holdings have urged its members to withhold further payments until installments are linked to construction.

Investors, many of whom have paid 80 percent of installments on properties, claim payment plans are still date-based.  

ACW’s projects are experiencing severe delays, with only excavation and piling works underway.

Last month, Arabian Business reported that ACW investors had formed an action group, consisting of around 70 members.

Writing in the latest newsletter to ACW investors, Simon Brew, chairman of the group, said: “We repeat our advice not to pay any more stage payments on any ACW developments until you receive a RERA-approved payment plan which refers to real building milestones and not just to calendar dates. We have not yet seen any ACW payment plan which meets this criterion.”

However, the developer said on Tuesday that Dubai property watchdog RERA (the Real Estate Regulatory Authority) last week approved its construction linked payment schedules. They will be released in September.

Scott Richards, director of client services at ACW told Arabian Business: “A construction based payment schedule is what most investors want.”

“There is a lot of disaster in the market and that is something we pay attention to -you really do have to make an effort for investors,” he added.  

Investors also say they are unfairly being charged pre-registration fees and claim these are not due until completion and handover of the buildings.  

ACW strongly denied this and said it was entitled to charge the fee because it was a legal requirement- involving the registration of off plan property on behalf of investors with the Dubai Land Department (DLD).

Registration of both the property and the sale contract costs AED1960 and AED1000, ACW said.

Richards insisted the company was ‘not making a profit’ by charging investors the fees.  

Only excavation work and no actual construction has started on five of ACW’s projects in the Arjan and Jumeirah Village districts in Dubai.

A sixth project called Platinum Two is severely delayed due to a proposed road through the site by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).  

ACW was established in 2004 and has two UK offices in London and Leeds as well as its Dubai operations in Emaar Business Park and Jebel Ali.

The company has launched seven freehold developments since 2006 with an asset value of AED5bn.

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