My unit is 22% smaller, 2 years late and 1 floor higher, says Dubai resident

DUBAI: A property investor said he is being pushed to take possession of a freehold apartment unit he booked in 2008 which is 22 per cent smaller, delivered two years late and one floor higher.

Fernandes Sundeep, an Indian executive, said: “The area as per the developer is now reduced to 655 square feet, whereas my SPA (sale purchase agreement) states it is 846 square feet (191 square feet less).”

Sundeep said he discovered the discrepancy by accident.

“I was looking at the Rera-approved service charge invoice sent to me only recently and that’s when I found out about the reduced size,” he said.

That’s not his only beef against Mizin LLC, developer of Remraam residential development off the bypass road. In September 2008, Sundeep gave a Dh54,990 deposit and a Dh12,000 arrangement fee for his unit worth Dh1,099,800.

He then signed up with finance company Tamweel to pay the balance of Dh1,044,810, which he is to amortise over 25 years (279 installments) at Dh8,843 per month (a total of Dh2.47 million).

The one-bedroom unit had an original net sale value of Dh598,845.

On March 20, Mizin wrote to him stating the completion date for his property is April 19, and warned of penalties if final payment is not made.

Tamweel, meanwhile, said Sundeep’s undated cheques will be banked by April 2, prior to possession. But Sundeep said this is illegal as there’s no inspection done yet to check for defects.

He also said his unit was to be located on the building’s podium, the same floor as a play and garden area, but the unit being given to him is one floor higher.

“This is against the ‘Vaastu’ alignment which I had looked into before booking by original unit,” he said. Vaastu is an ancient Indian doctrine on how the laws of nature affect human dwellings.

Sundeep now fears getting on default when his cheques worth about Dh119,000 are deposited with insufficient funds. “Tamweel insists on depositing my security cheques if I fail to take possession before March 30,” he said.

Until April 1, he said, Tamweel gave no word about his situation, but simply told him it will be “amended.”

As for the area in dispute, Mizin told Sundeep by email that they will work closely with him to “resolve” the issue, without stating a fair compensation amount.

As to the changed floor level, a Mizin customer service staff explained it was due to changes that affected the buildings within the community.

A Mizin official also acknowledged the two-year delay, but said: “This was beyond the master-developer’s scope. Given the prevailing market conditions, Mizin LLC was obliged to reconsider the delivery schedule for this project for the time being.”