Mohammed Al-Hafiti ,The Real estate expert

*Dhs132.6bn  Dubai real estate sales January to November

 Real estate expert, Mohammed Al Hafiti, said that Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Agency, RERA provides a supportive investment environment to attract investors, and regulates the cancellation of unfinished projects to protect real estate buyers.

Al-Hafiti said that some real estate projects may be exposed to crises during their implementation, resulting in delays or stumbling so as RERA opt to  project cancellation.

Al-Hafiti stated that the cancellation of any project is preceded by several procedures representing the supervision of the Real Estate Regulatory Agency and noting the absence of a noticeable development in construction works through the periodic examination of real estate projects, followed by summoning the developer to discuss the reasons for the delay and address the project problems.

He revealed that when it is confirmed that  construction works cannot be moved up, the decision of cancellation may become the only choice  to reserve the interest of the current buyers and to avoid obtaining more  unnecessary payments from them.

“The decision follows procedures such as referring the project file of unfinished and canceled real estate projects to the Special Judicial Committee in the Emirate of Dubai ,to consider the grievance that may be submitted by the developer and the possibility of assigning the project to another developer,”  Al-Hafiti continued. ”Looking into the lawsuits, requests and orders that are in place of a canceled or unfinished project, and determining the rights of buyers and offer peace and reconciliation, may be other  procedures,” he said.

Al-Hafiti referred to appointing auditors and specialists with experience, issuing any necessary orders to the escrow account (the bank) and other procedures and powers aimed at limiting the project’s funds and assets, leading to refunding part or all of the paid amounts to buyers, as the case may be.

He confirmed that the Special Judicial Committee for unfinished and canceled real estate projects was formed in the Emirate of Dubai under Decree 33 /2020. Previous to the decree , there were two committees, one  was specialized in liquidating canceled real estate projects (in which no construction works had been done), and the second committee was concerned with real estate projects  of unfinished construction works and have not yet been fully completed.

The real estate expert indicated that when announcing the cancellation of a real estate project, the jurisdiction is to consider the buyers’ claims to this committee and not to the court, as was the case before and without fees, so that the committee’s decision is now non-appealable and enforceable.

“There is an important procedure where buyers of canceled or unfinished real estate projects must follow, which is to download the Dubai Rest application and choose the name of the project to register their contact data and the purchased real estate unit in, download the agreement, payment receipts, and evidence of registration in the contract system, for ease of communication with them and informing them about the project liquidation procedures developments,” AlHafiti said.

He pointed out that many real estate reports issued by a number of advisory institutions specialized in the real estate sector confirm that the real estate trajectory is expected to continue moving upward  during the next year. He noted that these expectations depend on Dubai real estate sales  data since the beginning of the year.  Data from the Dubai Land Department showed that sales topped Dhs132.6bn since the beginning of the year until now.

Al-Hafiti stressed that the real estate sector is full of attractive investment opportunities, stressing that the price index still has a lot of room to rise during the coming period, to be added to the significant increase since last year.

The expert pointed to the improvement in the purchasing momentum and the increase in investment demand from foreigners and citizens alike, especially those with high incomes. This is evident in the strong demand for the large villas and townhouses, in addition to the demand for medium housing units the price of which is Dhs750,000 to 1 million dirhams needed for residence visa in Dubai for a period of 3 years, subject to extension.

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About Muhammad Al-Hafiti

Muhammad Al-Hafiti is a real estate expert and the founding partner of “786 Real Estate”, with more than 10 years of experience in the real estate buying, selling and leasing market in the UAE nationals’ areas.

“786 Real Estate“ serve  customers through their legal arm,  to solve all real estate problems and deals with the Dubai Land Department.