Realty News from UAE

Rera moves to clean up realty

14:11 - 19 Feb '09

Dubai's property regulator, the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera) will soon "name and shame" developers who fail to live up to promised delivery schedules and quality assurances as it endeavours to clean up the sector to facilitate investment, a top official said.

Marwan Bin Galita, Rera chief executive, told property developers at a briefing on Tuesday evening that they would be allowed to retain 30 per cent of the value of the property (as per the contract) if investors sought to pull out of projects - a move aimed at protecting and helping developers overcome the current slump.

"However, we'll be flexible. Exceptions could be made if the investor is unable to continue to pay due to some genuine reasons, such as loss of pay, job loss - which we will have to consider," Bin Galita told the gathering.

"These will have to be approved by Rera and will be handled case-by-case."

Rera has been particularly active in recent months as it strives to restore investor confidence. It may be recalled that the regulator had, on Tuesday, issued a circular outlining the policies that would govern service charges in the context of freehold properties.

Bin Galita also told the meeting, organised by Badr Al Islami - the Islamic banking arm of Mashreq - that discussions on the issue of visas linked to freehold ownership of properties were in the final stages and an announcement to this effect would be made soon.

Freehold visas - as they have been popularly referred to - have remained a hot topic among foreign investors.

Dubai's master developers - Emaar, Nakheel and Dubai Porperties - had been facilitating freehold visas for property buyers till last year when the government stepped in after noticing that some developers had begun exploiting potential buyers.

The UAE federal government has now finalised a six-month freehold visa for investors - which will be announced in a few weeks time.

Chronic delays and complaints of serious construction defects in some projects have also not escaped Rera's attention.

"We feel that these measures are much needed to boost confidence and dispel negative sentiment from the market," Osman Valli, chief executive of Aristocrat Star Investments, told Gulf News.

"We are also very pleased that Rera has been in talks with the master developers and certain proposals are in the pipelines looking at ways to assist customers. More so, there were indications of a real estate committee being formed by professionals from within this sector serving as a platform for consultation prior to issuing of new regulations and guidelines."

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