Dubai: Upgrading the Emirate’s property laws is necessary to avoiding another property bubble in the Dubai, Director General of the Land Department Sultan Bin Butti Bin Mujren told Gulf News.
He added that Real Estate Investor Protection Law will be at the forefront of the forthcoming laws.
“The remarkable growth that real estate market is witnessing in Dubai requires serious modification and upgrading, aiming to avoid all previous obstacles, that the market experienced during the financial crisis in the last few years.”
The modification tackles all legislations related to investors’ law, properties owner associations, financing projects and liquefy cancelled project, brokerage, selling template (contracts) and others related issues.
Bin Mejrin said that all these legislations will be enrolled under the land department law.
“We are working to develop a solid unified law at the Land Department that cannot only protect the investor, but to put in place a transparent business relationship between investors and developers as well as to backup the market and increase the investment growth with the real estate sector in the emirate.”
He said that by 2015 all the new legislations will be implemented.
Moafaq Al Gaddah, Chairman of MAG Group, told Gulf News that the market needs new legislations, which would acts as a wake-up call to the market as well as would encourage investors to get back into the market by creating a solid legal framework for this business sector.
Part of this would include introducing a standard template for a sales and purchase agreement, which all developers will be required to use.
“The new template should include the details of developers, investors and the property, as well as penalties on both sides for breaches of their obligations as well as attach clear restriction for re-selling mechanism.”
“These restrictions will eliminate property speculation, reduce investment risk as well as avoid real estate bubble that Dubai suffered during the crisis,” Al Gaddah added.
Moreover, he added that revising the rules of property owners associations will be very helpful to solve a good number of disputes between investors and developers.
Muhannad Al Wadiya, managing director of Harbor Real Estate, said that the new legislation requires both investors and developers to take the time to read, understand and negotiate the terms of their agreements instead of blindly signing them.
The new laws are a necessary part of the ongoing efforts to safeguard investors and better regulate the Dubai property market, which is experiencing unprecedented boom.
It is time to understand the market and better regulate it. “It is important not only to protect the rights of investors, but also for the development of the country,” he added.
