UAE | General

Take possession or cough up fines

Remraam investors say developer forcing them to accept hand-over and pay up service charges in a project not yet completed

  • By Jay B. Hilotin, Chief Reporter, XPRESS
  • Published: 00:00 February 2, 2012
  • XPRESS

  • Image Credit: © XPRESS/Jay B. Hilotin
  • Construction and landscaping work underway at Remraam last week

DUBAI: Remraam investors said developer Mizin is threatening them with fines if they do not take possession of their units and pay service charges even though the project is not yet fully ready.

Owners claim the developer, which comes under Dubai Properties Group (DPG), has threatened them with fines if they refuse to accept hand-over of units even as construction is still under way around their buildings in the middle-class community off Dubai Bypass Road that's already been delayed by months.

Investors have petitioned the Dubai Ruler's Court to intervene.

Ajay Gupta, an investor and father of two, said: "I'm not ready to move in because of several issues: dust, safety for my children and lack of promised amenities. My family cannot move into a place where the majority of the people are construction workers."

The garments wholesaler, who bought his two-bedroom unit at Remraam for around Dh1 million during the project launch in June 2008, said: "The locality is good and I'm happy with overall construction quality, but the promised amenities are not there and landscaping is not completed."

Remraam was designed to have 80 per cent greenery. XPRESS saw construction and landscaping work ongoing at Remraam, now down-scaled to around 56 buildings from the 200 originally planned.

Dozens of construction workers were putting together the podium-cum-children's play area in one of the Phase 1 buildings. Cranes and scaffolds were seen lying around. Vikram Khosla, another investor, said the developer recently asked him to take his unit and pay service fees from January 5, 2012, even before he had gone for snagging to make sure his unit follows the sales contract.

"I was called for snagging and hand-over and to give the date for the final payment. But how can I do this and move in with my family with all these workers around? There's a clear safety issue involved for my children." Access to the property is through Dubai Bypass Road and the promised shorter access via Emirates Road is not there yet, said owners.

Using the existing access road, it takes around 20 to 25 minutes by car to reach Remraam from Mall of the Emirates, via Umm Suqeim Road. A Dubai Properties Group spokesperson said the utilities had already been connected and some residents had already moved in.

"I'd like to be the first to move in," said Allan Paris, who bought a one-bedroom unit in Phase 1. "But I won't do the hand-over procedure to move into what is still clearly a construction site. It was supposed to be handed over, including the 12-month delay, in June 2011. Right now, no compensation is being offered by the developer to investors for the pain."

Anuradha K., an investor who bought two units, said she's been offered an option to consolidate by taking built units instead of the yet-to-be-built ones she booked.

"My hard-earned savings are tied to these units. It's still in the middle of a desert and there's no master development. Even for a bottle of water I have to drive for half an hour. The amenities are not there, how can we move into our unit or rent it out?" said Anuradha.

DPG'S RESPONSE

A DPG spokesperson said: "DPG is committed to delivering Remraam. The work... around the completed buildings is related to landscaping and construction of the... pool.... We are completing the project by near term, ...hand-over process has... started and some people are living there." The developer said completed buildings have 24/7 security guards and infrastructure is in place, including sewage, water, electricity and road network.

Comments (1)

Comment

  1. Added 12:26 February 2, 2012

    How can they do that? How can the developer take the investor for a ride?

    Anonymous, dubai, United Arab Emirates

More from UAE General

  1. Own a little piece of Madonna

  2. New visa rules thrill cross-border couples

  3. School bus driver sacked for misbehaviour

  4. Meet new face of Dubai's breast cancer drive

All articles in General

More from UAE

XPRESS
Popular in UAE

More from UAE

Crackdown

Passports seized in Dish TV crackdown

Dubai airport

Swords, knives, fake guns seized in Dubai

India-Pakistan

New visa rules thrill cross-border couples

Latest news
Community Reports

More from Community Reports

Weather

More from Weather

Gallery

A pick of the best pictures taken by readers

Video

In the lanes of Deira Spice Souq