Dubai property dispute victims to get free legal advice

Posted by: K M Furqan Thursday, 25 April 2013 6:47 PM[UAE] - Abu Dhabi, UAE

Neither I am a flipper of property, nor a businessman. Just a teacher who never before and never after bought any property in Dubai. In 2008 I booked a one room apartment in an off-plan building in Jumeirah village, by a Rera-registered developer, through a Rera-registerd agent, having Esrow account in Emirates Islamic Bank, out of my hard-earned and meager savings and a bank loan. Paid 30% in 3 installments by cheques which all were encashed well in time, by developer who is still here in Dubai. This is fifth year nothing is happening. Majority of the buyers in this project wanted their money back. And gave petition to Rera to this effect. But neither Rera canceled the project in spite of accepting petition with signature of a large number of buyers, nor forced developer to start construction. Now I am nearing my retirement.

Posted by: Fabio martini Monday, 20 May 2013 10:29 AM[UAE] - Uk

I lost 300,000 dirhams in City of Arabia. Simply priced out of the legal system. No one in Dubai interested to know. Shame on you, at least set up a project to deal with all investors who were under the wrong impression that it was safe to invest in Dubai. Word of advice do not ever invest in Dubai

Posted by: Paddy Clarke Wednesday, 1 May 2013 9:44 AM[UAE] - N Ireland

I invested in two apartments in Sports City in 2006 and paid 65% up front. Now 2013 and guess what no apartments !!!Have being trying since to get my money back but to no avail. RERA, Dubai Police and other goverment bodies dont want to know. Legal costs are unreal, everything is geared against the investor. Dubai is a nightmare and I would never encourage anyone to invest there. Dont think I will ever see any money back from this place.

Posted by: Ash Thursday, 25 April 2013 11:34 AM[UAE] - UK

Hi all

We invested in Jouri 1, My husband is leaving UK tomorrow to fly to Dubai and see where he stands, as trying to get problems and any kind of information from Dubai seems to be an impossible task. plan 1 to try and get refund, if that fails to try and get a bigger property (market price has fallen dramatically) that is already finished and sell it in the future, at least we would have something to show for our money, instead of false promises.

Posted by: Noor Ahmad Tuesday, 21 May 2013 11:34 AM[UAE] - UAE

Hi Ash,

I bought a studio flat in jouri 3 through Al Masah Real Estate way back in 2008. I have paid them 160000 grands for the Project that never developed. Last time i checked with RERA i found out that the project jouri 3 is cancelled. Can you provide me with any updates regarding the steps you have taken to get a refund of your money, i.e any particular lawyer that you have spoken to with regards to this??? Any help in this regard would be highly appreciated.

My email is inoorahmad@gmail.com

Thanks
Noor

Posted by: Ash Monday, 29 April 2013 2:39 PM[UAE] - UK

An update on my husbands visit to Dubai, like i said we invested in jouri 1, he went to see Al Masah, he said that the projeect would be completed in 2016, and that rera hadn't cancelled project which means no refund. Hubby then went to rera and found that the project was cancelled, so a chance that we could get our money back but only if it was registered (Oqood) with the land dept, and had an Escrow acct, well it turns out that Al masah did register us before they got into trouble, the chances of them registering buyers after is very slim. So apparently the developer will be taken to court and were told we will be able to get our money back plus the interest by the end of this year. So I hope this helps you try and get an answer for your properties. Also if my husband didnt go there in person I don't think we would have had the same outcome.

Posted by: Adil Sunday, 28 April 2013 9:14 AM[UAE] - UK

Very unreliable market . No protection to investor especially when they are living abroad and time to time they have to manage their properties and disputes created for the non payments from their tenants . We can not open bank accounts being owner of apartments if value is less than 1 million dhms . Collection of rental money is big hassle , if tenant refuses to pay then there is not any solid way or procedure which you can follow to chase them .

Posted by: David Mellor Tuesday, 16 April 2013 11:54 AM[UAE] - United Kingdom

Hi we have invested in Cadi 1 and have been told countless times that it will be completed however the project seems to have stopped yet again - it is some 2/3 years late anyway. If anyone has invested in Cadi 1 through Al Masah International could they please contact us. Are we able to recoup our monies from the Escrow Account? Any help or advice would be much appreciated.
Thank you.

Posted by: Nughma Hillfram Monday, 11 February 2013 10:35 AM[UAE] - Pakistan

Hello everybody, In 2008 I and my husband also invested in The Serena Residence project in Jumeira Village Dubai by the developer, ICI Investment and were supposed to get handover of the two apartments by End 2010. After we paid 40% of the installments, we realized that the project had stalled and stopped payment. Till date we have no way of contacting the developer. and although our money was paid into the so called escrow account, we feel helpless as there seems to be noone to contact.
It was also our hard earned money and I feel completely betrayed by the UAE government.
Is there any hope for us small time investors at all?

Posted by: neelam zaka Thursday, 24 January 2013 9:25 PM[UAE] - england

I invested in Ajman (Savvanah Tower) nothing came of it. I have paid almost �40,000 of my hard earned money. Completely devastated. Can somebody help?