Dubai: More than two years after getting possession, commercial unit owners in Detroit House, MotorCity, are still waiting for the title deeds.
Owners said the delay is causing them severe hardships. “I don’t even have a Dewa (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority) connection because you need a title deed before you can apply for it. In the absence of a title deed, the developer has promised to issue me an NOC (No Objection Certificate) at an additional cost. Why should I pay for it when I have already paid for the title deeds?” said a distraught owner.
Another owner said he has not been able to lease his unit as he doesn’t have a title deed. “I was hoping to get some returns on my investment. But that’s not happening.” The office building was handed over in September 2010.
Service charge
Owners were also miffed that they have to pay service fees on the units. “RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority) says the service fee is applicable only for title deed holders. Yet we have been paying the service fee regularly.”
There were also concerns over the lack of clarity in the break-down of service charges. “We have not been shown any audit reports. Our service charge is around Dh18 per square foot. I think it’s pretty steep. Don’t we have a right to know where this money is being spent?” said another owner.
Terrace Apartments
Meanwhile, he Interim board members of another residential property in Motorcity — Terrace Apartments (developer: Union Properties) at Green Community, say their terraces should be excluded from service charge.
A board member told XPRESS that service charges at Dh7.9 per square foot was high and called upon the developer to share details on where their money was being spent. “Owing to the concept of the apartments having a terraced area, every unit has a large terrace space which requires no maintenance at all. This is an open space and we want the developer to exclude this area from our total service fee requirement,” said an owner.
Owners also expressed concern about a vehicular pass in their community that is currently allowing school buses from an adjacent nursery to enter from their community’s gates. “Around last year, the land just adjacent to our community was leased or sold to a private nursery school. This school created a vehicular access for school buses which are using our internal cobbled roads. How was this permitted in the first place?,” asked a unit owner.
Located in the heart of Motorcity, The Terrace Apartments comprises of four buildings with 40 residential units in each building.
Responding to an XPRESS query a spokesperson for Union Properties said: “Motor City management has not been approached by Terrace Apartments’ interim board members, however, we are willing to arrange meetings and high levels of communication as per their request. Union Properties is fully transparent in terms of sharing budget, audit reports and forward plans with the concerned people upon request. Service charges have been agreed upon at the time of the property purchase. If we reduce the terrace area, the service fee per square foot will increase as the total budget has to be redistributed on a smaller area.
“Regarding the nursery gate, all this is per the original master plan shared to residents at the time of purchase.
“The inner community gate is a Dubai Municipality requirement. Emirates British Nursery (EBN) has all the approvals required from the authorities. Also, they are using only two mini buses which we confirm is not causing any traffic chaos.”
