Discovery Garden Property has got a New Rate Fixed by Nakheel Real Estate Firm

Discovery Gardens is a well structured community comprising of six themed communities developed by Nakheel. The community offers an area of 26 million square foot freehold residential community. Its construction has been inspired by garden living developed in the heart of New Dubai. Nakheel is one of the leading Dubai real estate developers and has recently planned a revised budget for Discovery Garden community. Before re-setting the property rate, the revised price has been agreed formally with RERA, Dubai property market regulator. This price change will mean an approximate reduction of Dhs5 per square foot in service changes for homeowners.

Managing Director of Nakheel Asset Management and Design (NAMAD) Abdulrahman Kalantar said: “When we first set the service charges for Discovery Gardens, they were based on our best estimates for this new Nakheel community. Following a lengthy review, we have been able to take advantage of recent reductions in the cost of goods and services, which has in turn reduced our overall service charge budgets.”

Nakheel made some necessary preparations with following the introduction of the new strata law in April, 2008. Once the regulations are being finalized by the Dubai Land Department (DLD) these preparations are to register the Owner’s Association with RERA, these necessary preparations are to register the Owner’s Association with RERA. Moreover, these new lowered service charge rates will be backdated to 1^st January, 2009. If there will be any rebates for householders they are being credited against next year’s service charges effective from October 1^st, 2009.

Law No. 9 Safeguard’s Dubai Property Sector

During this recession time, Dubai property sector is trying to come on the recovery path. During this tough situation the real estate investors are cancelling their contracts before completion, because of which Dubai government has issued law no. 9 in 2009. As global recession is prevailing, there is an acute shortage of liquidity in the property market, and thus property developers are not getting any new property contracts. RERA said, that despite of these contract cancellations there are some 30,000 units that are being made available in the year 2009 and in 2010, it will get increased to around 45,000 units.

This Law number 9 that has been issued in developers interest is basically got amended from Article 11 of Law number 13. Previously in article 11 the procedure that is to be abided by any property developer in the event of contract cancellation was mentioned, but the ruling being applicable was not mentioned in that article. Under this revised law number 9, the developer must notify the Land Department or RERA if any purchaser fails to make the installment payment for the property.

Once the notification is sent to the buyer, a written notice is being sent by the Land Department informing the purchaser about this breach, thus reminding him to rectify the fault within another 30 days, failing which the developer would cancel the contract. The most important fact regarding this law is if there are any other contracts or purchases associated with that particular contract, it will also get canceled. Moreover, a technical report from the site is a must to attach with the letter. A reference scale has been introduced for default purchasers as well.

With the emergence of this law both investors and buyers are being benefited as earlier no agency was there which could monitor these purchaser-developer transactions in Dubai.

RERA Plans Rental Index for Dubai Educational Properties

The Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) planned a rental index for school and other educational properties. This rental index will be developed in order to provide a benchmark for rental prices for both private and public educational buildings in the emirate. If we talk about current rental agreements then there are just 70 percent of schools which currently have these agreements in Dubai. This index covers training institutions and other educational universities including schools as well. In addition it will establish appropriate levels of rent according to the areas.

In this current scenario the rents for adjacent schools may vary and as far as private schools are concerned they have a knock-on effect on the level of their tuition fees. This new scheme will now develop long term contracts. The Director General of KHDA and Chairman of Board of Directors, Dr Abdulla Al Karam said: “The scheme aims to define the prices of educational services among various education providers, attracting investment in education to Dubai and enhancing quality in all areas within schools, from the educational to the administrative levels."

Director of RERA’s Ownership’s Relationship management Department, Mohamed Khaleefa Bin Hamad added: “The KHDA will provide lists and records of the types of rented units, their usage and the facilities attached to them.” Moreover, not all schools which are running on a rented land will be affected by this rental index. With this rental index all the irregularities will be erased in terms of pricing and moreover, it will also prevent unjustified hikes in rent. With the emergence of this rental index the KHDA recently said that the school fees can only be increased by just 45 percent for the new school year. Thus, this plan of rental index will surely benefit Dubai educational properties.

RERA Audit performed on Dubai Property Firm comes Clean

Al Fajer properties successfully came out of the independent third party audit with RERA support. This Dubai property firm recently went through a construction audit which was voluntary and the audit was carried out by RERA. Al Fajer got a clean chit for its construction and they are pleased to announce that their performance can now be measured by a well established construction standard thereby; highest level of transparency will be maintained for all the projects under this property firm. The result of this audit undertook by Al Fajer confirms that the construction being carried out at phase 1 has been completed to about 80 percent and 15 percent has been completed on phase 2.

The official RERA website is the source where the progress of the project can be monitored. Company’s restructuring was started with managerial restructuring, followed by a financial restructuring which strengthened the balance sheet as a result. Phase 3 involves strengthening the operational capabilities of the company and removing the inefficiencies. Due to this operational excellence AFP, has now become number one developer in Dubai which delivers highest level of compliance.

President of Al Fajer properties, His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum said: “Often times in the past, some companies in the sector, were led by brokers and sales agents who did not adhere to sound business methodologies as it was very easy to sell real estate due to the excessive demand in the market. However, today Dubai like any developed economy is returning to fundamentals Therefore, companies that have a strong focus on management and performance as their core competencies are the ones that will excel in these current market conditions. I am confident that we will continue to deliver measurable results through our performance and dedication.” His Highness further commended on RERA’s proactive approach for attaining full transparency in line with its aspirations and clearly mentioned goals as far as the real estate sector is concerned.

RERA Plans to Expand Globally

The emirate’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority is planning to become an international reference point when it is the matter of real estate industry. RERA is a regulatory authority that manages licenses and other property related activities in Dubai. This Dubai real estate regulatory body has recently got affiliated to the five organizations which are responsible for regulating the real estate dealings not only in the UAE but around the world. It has also become a part of Menares which stands for the Middle East and North Africa Real Estate Society. The basic aim of this regulatory body is to encourage real estate practices, professionalism and real estate education. Other than this RERA has become a part of various other internationally known real estate bodies.

The director of the RERA real estate sector development department, Mahmoud Al Burai said: “We are in the final stages of establishing Menares. We are aiming to build a professional real estate market and are serious about being first, globally.” He further added “Everyone is looking at Dubai. Everyone is looking at RERA as the reference.” The five organizations in which RERA has joined in are: International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), Asian Public Real Estate Association (Aprea), World Association of Valuation Organization (Wavo), Urban Land Institute (Uli) and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Al Burai said that the RERA plans of being a global real estate regulatory body were in line with the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Moreover, the exact details of this dealing are still being discussed with other organizations and real estate bodies.

Dubai RERA will be escrow signing body

Dubai RERA is Real Estate Regulatory Authority which was established in July 2007 by the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. RERA is a part of Dubai Land Department that regulates licenses and manages all Dubai real estate related activities and transactions. It has been decided that from now on Dubai RERA will be the escrow signing body. The agreements pertaining to the management of guarantee accounts will now be related between the account trustees and Real Estate Regulatory Authority. This news was reported according to an agency official in Emirates Business 24/7.

The Trust Account Administration Director, RERA, Khalid Al Mutaiwai told the agency official: “The new agreements, titled 'Guarantee Account Trustee Agreements', will mention yearly charges that will now be payable by the trustee banks to Rera. Rera is expected to send out the new agreements to the Account Trustees or escrow banks, in a couple of weeks' time." The new agreements which are coming up will specifically outline detailed information about the management of the guarantee accounts.

As per the guidelines that have been mentioned, four major allowable account heads have been created for the payment out of the escrow account. The escrow account is basically a trust account which is being held in the name of the borrower to pay debts including insurance premiums and property taxes etc. The four heads that have been decided for the payment from the escrow account are: construction, project management, land and sales and marketing. Thus, RERA engages itself as a transparent and an effective regulatory body formulating various entities.