During the workshop at the chamber’s offices, lawyers and legal consultants, real estate developers, brokers, investors and contract administrators shared advice on successfully buying and selling property.
Buyers and sellers have to know their rights and stay informed about rapidly changing regulations related to property ownership, Chamber Director of Legal Services Jehad Kazim said.
“It is also important for all parties to have enough knowledge about property sales and purchase transactions and agreements to avoid pitfalls and also to know about the duties and obligations of owners, occupiers and developers as well as the availability of alternative dispute resolutions and mediation in case either of the parties fail to fulfill their commitments,” Kazim said.
Afridi & Angell Partner Shahram Safai told attendees that a number of legal measures have been put in place in recent years to safeguard buyers in Dubai. Among the measures he mentioned was mandatory unified real estate contracts, which were adopted in 2014 to provide basic protection for all parties in real estate transactions.
However, Afridi & Angell Senior Associate Geoff Smith said that despite those legal measures, more needs to be done to entice real estate investment in Dubai.
“One area that requires improvement ... is the collection of service charges under the Jointly Owned Property Law,” Smith said. “And despite powers granted to owners’ associations to assist in the recovery of service charges, we are increasingly seeing high levels of service charges remaining unpaid.”
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