Your property project cancelled? Watch out for developers' notices

Move after government sets up committee to liquidate and settle claims on cancelled projects

Developers in Dubai have started putting notices of project cancellations in local dailies, a move that has gained pace after the government set up a committee to liquidate and settle claims on cancelled projects.

The notices being published are as per the regulation set by Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera), developers claim.

The notices give claimants two weeks' time from the first date of publishing of the notice to submit their claims with Rera’s liquidation department.

Claimants are asked to provide property reservation form, original property agreement, passport copy and original payment receipts.

Last month, the Dubai government issued Decree No. (21) of 2013 setting up a special legal committee for the liquidation of cancelled property projects and the settlement of rights disputes related to such projects.

In the past two weeks, three developers have published project cancellation notices.

Earlier Rera said it would not release in public the list of cancelled projects, but stated investors in cancelled projects are notified through  email.

A major developer, who put a project cancellation notice, told Emirates24|7:  “We had cancelled our project in Business Bay three years back. All investors have got a full refund. Now we plan to launch a new project and so Rera has asked us to put the notice for three days.

“Any claim after the two-week notice expires will stand and no one will be able to file claims to stop us from progressing with our new project on the same plot of land.”

In its August newsletter, released on Monday, UAE-based Hadef & Partners law firm said: “It appears Decree 21 will create greater certainty, and a faster and more inexpensive process for aggrieved purchasers to make claims. 

"However, given that the decree applies only to projects that have been cancelled by Rera, it is too soon to assess with any accuracy how dramatic  the impact of Decree 21 will be in the property market.”

As per Dubai government’s bond prospectus issued in 2012, 217 projects have been cancelled as of May 31, 2011.

Rera data reveals that 187 projects have been completed since the beginning of 2009; 253 projects are on hold; 232 projects are likely to be completed in due course.

Each of these 253 registered projects is likely to qualify for either the Tayseer or the Tanmia initiative, the bond prospectus said.