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Land Department initiates free legal services in Dubai
In the clearest signal yet of the problems besetting the property market, key stakeholders in Dubai's real estate sector are marshalling all the available resources to tackle issues that will have a telling impact on the industry's fortunes in 2010.
- By Nicole Walter, Features Editor, Property
- Published: 00:00 December 1, 2009
- Image Credit: Supplied
- The Land Department's pro bono legal services will be available to investors from next month
The latest comes by way of a decree to set up a dedicated committee to deal exclusively with bounced cheques related to the property sector. Prior to that, the Land Department came up with its pro bono legal services, under which a group of 26 law professionals would offer their expertise free of charge on behalf of property investors who lack the funds to take legal recourse on their own. These will be available from January.
"At the Land Department, we believe that those who are in real need shouldn't be denied justice," says Emad Eldin Farouq, senior legal counsel.
And this is just the beginning. The DCLS (the Land Department's Community Legal Service) will develop a broader portfolio, particularly in legal representation. "We will also organise workshops and information sessions in the area of real estate laws to shed light on issues of interest in the market," adds Farouq.
The participating law firms will be registered under the DCLS protocol, allowing for lawyers' inputs, and enabling them to operate from a dedicated office at the Land Department during business hours. Lawyers are expected to ‘donate' two hours per week. They'll also be involved in providing their input into the new draft legislation, which the government agency intends to introduce in the future.
The lawyers involved in this particular programme are more than happy to do so. "We wanted to devote time to this scheme for the good of the community and will be working closely with the Land Department," says Nick Clayson, partner and head of regional real estate at Norton Rose Middle East. "There is a huge amount of confusion among investors on what their rights are."
In the absence of a small claims court here, this system works a bit like the UK's Citizens Advice Bureau, but isn't open to all. If it were, the Land Department would be swamped with calls.
"The beneficiaries have to be genuinely in need of free advice, not people trying to get something for nothing," cautions Clayson. "There are those people who won or made millions in the past, and although they may have little left now, they were not prepared to spend on proper advice in the first place."
He refers to the Catch-22 situation developers and investors find themselves in today. A lot of speculators have put projects in jeopardy by pulling out. "Then, there are buyers who genuinely want to stay in, are very vulnerable (and) deserving of free advice," Clayson states.
Online application
The way the system will work is by online application. "The legal team will then choose the cases according to their merit and award them to the lawyers — only those in need will be selected and if necessary, they'll be represented in court as well," explains Mohammad Sultan Thani, the Land Department's assistant director-general.
A co-ordinator at the government agency will contact those who qualify to set an appointment. But how will the team know who is poor enough?
"It will be difficult at first to know what reference to use to decide which applications are valid," says Clayson. "Putting this system into practice will be a learning curve for all of us."
The Land Department as well as participating law firms have the right to ask the applicant about his financial situation to establish whether the applicant is eligible for this service or not. "We can ask the applicant to provide documents such as bank statements or salary certificates. We will not allow people to abuse the service," says Farouq.
Bounced cheques
A special judicial committee, with members from the local courts and the Land Department, is being set up to exclusively adjudicate on disputes relating to bounced cheques within real estate dealings. It is expected to have the final word on these matters.
The committee will have the power to analyse the circumstances and rule whether a bounced cheque is to be cancelled or replaced. It could alleviate the jittery nerves of developers and investors who bought into freehold and long leasehold deals and cannot keep their financial commitments.
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