Al Seef owners try to withhold payments

Apartment owners of Deyaar's Al Seef Tower II in Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) are putting pressure on their Interim Owner Association (IOA) to withhold payment of the master-community charges to Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) due to the lack of facilities within JLT, said Chairman of the IOA Mohammed Kamal Metwally.

"There is pressure from apartment owners to withhold paying DMCC charges due to the lack of services in JLT. We are keen on DMCC spreading good news to owners with respect to their plans to develop the lakes as mentioned in the contracts, provision of playgrounds, tennis courts, landscaping.

"If there is a communication from the master-developer with regards these issues, it will ease the tension among owners who feel they are paying the DMCC charges for no services," Metwally said. In an interview with Emirates Business, Metwally said some property owners are hesitating to pay the master-community service charges to DMCC due to the lack of completed landscaping, lakes, children play areas within the JLT.

He said some retail shop owners and developers are also complaining about the lack of support and services from DMCC retail, which is delaying/hindering the opening of many outlets in JLT due to the lack of completion of infrastructure.

He said many residents are being double-charged the DM housing fees. "The issue has been raised repeatedly in the past with no outcome or necessary feedback for several months."

He added that communication can go a long way in easing the concerns.

"DMCC can at least send out a proper communication to the various buildings in JLT about the status of when they propose to start construction," he said.

The IOA of Al Seef Tower II are also awaiting parking allocations for around 171 spaces within the building from Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), despite the building having been handed over for more than a year, a committee member of the Interim Owners Association (IOA) said.

Chairman of the IOA said the handover of the building began towards the end of December 2008 and the IOA of the building was formed in August last year. Al Seef Tower II, located in Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT), has 210 apartment units with provision for parking spaces for 141 in all.

The IOA has been in talks with DMCC regarding the parking allocations of the rest of the spaces designated to the building owners.

"Deyaar, who are the developers of the building, have told us that they have purchased parking spaces from DMCC for the owners of the building since they only have 141 spaces for parking within the tower.

"The building in all has around 210 units. However, the allocation of these spaces is yet to happen. Right now owners are parking on a first come first basis," said Metwally, committee member of Al Seef Tower II.

When contacted by this paper, a Deyaar official said: "The 170 parking spaces were purchased by Deyaar for its valued customers at Seef II from the master developer 'DMCCA'.

"Deyaar is still awaiting the parking spaces to be handed over by the authorities in order to allocate the same to its customers. Deyaar's management is continuously following up with the master-developer to ensure earliest handover of the same," he said.

Meanwhile, Deyaar has made special arrangements with the master-developer wherein the owners of Seef II are allowed to park their cars inside DMCCA spaces but without specific allocation made. Metwally said: "When Deyaar developed the plan for parking allotments, they said one-bedroom and two-bedroom owners will get one parking space each, owners of three-bedroom apartments will get two parking spaces and owners of penthouses will get four parking spaces each. Plus retail spaces within the building will each get parking spaces as well."

He added that keeping all this in mind owners of the building are falling short of 171 parking spaces within the building for which Deyaar has purchased from DMCC.

However, the developer is still awaiting the parking allocations for these spaces.

"We are expecting a solution but I can assure that it will serve the best interest of DMCC if they communicate the solution to the committee members. The issue is that people are residents and not investors. They prefer to know that this is their parking spot at any given time whether they come in early or late," he said.

Meanwhile, Metwally said the IOA is also lobbying with other owner associations in JLT with regards to the master-community charges payable by the owners of apartment units.

Currently, the master community charges payable to DMCC by owners of Al Seef Tower II is around Dh1.29 per square foot.

According to Metwally, last year for the period between January 1 2009 and December 31 2009, the IOA of Al Seef Tower II paid a service charge of Dh13.17 per sq ft. However in 2010, residents in Al Seef Tower II will pay around Dh12 per sq ft.

Further, the IOA also collects an additional Dh3 per sq ft security deposit charge, which is refundable to property owners at the time they are selling the unit off to another buyer. The security deposit is taken in regards to any defaults arising in service charge payment from property owners.

"We decided to enforce what was written in our constitution and collect a security deposit from unit holder to the tune of Dh3 per sq ft, although our constitution says to collect Dh6 per sq ft.

"The reason for this is that we have had 95 per cent collections last year hence we decided to collect only Dh3 per sq ft.

"We need some funds to keep growing and pay our bills until we can recover the maintenance or the association fees from those who are delinquent from payment. The Strata Law will be extremely helpful on that front because it will empower associations to take legal actions against delinquent owners.

"Obviously, if the collection is 100 per cent, there is no need for a security deposit," he added.

Breaking down the service charges further, Metwally said that out of the Dh12 per square foot, Dh2 per sq ft goes towards the sinking fund charges. Dh1.29 per sq ft is towards the master-community charges and the rest is towards the maintenance of the building.

The association said the actual cost for operation of the building is only Dh8.71 per sq ft of which nearly Dh4.43 per sq ft per annum has been allocated to utilities. "Palm District Cooling, pumps for pumping chilled water are some high consumption items of electricity within the building."

Metwally said the IOA was formed in August last year with six committee members in the association.

Further, the financial accounts of the IOA are audited by independent auditors appointed by the board. Deyaar has also set up a separate bank account for the owner association for the collection of service charge money.

Moreover, Deyaar has been signed on as the FM provider on the building.

Deyaar said the value of the Facilities Management (FM) contract for Al Seef II is Dh1.68 million.

"Despite the expected fall of property prices, the cost of services and facilities provided by Deyaar are still not affected. Deyaar FM main objective is to provide the maximum services at the lowest cost available to all customers," said a Deyaar spokesperson.

The IOA saw a 95 per cent service charge collection rate for the building.

"In 2009, we recorded a 95 per cent collection rate. There are 16 units within the building that are yet to pay the service charges of which four units have paid up in January this year.

Four other units are the unsold units of Deyaar and are payable by the developer. While the rest eight units are having some issues pertaining to the service charges and are not paying up as yet."

He said Deyaar had said it will pay but it has yet to pay.

Making space for car park

The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority (DMCCA), master-developer of Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT), is in the process of erecting card controlled access barriers to each parking cluster within JLT.

"There is adequate parking within each garage cluster to cater to the needs to the community that currently resides within the towers. We will commence transfer of title to the completed towers to sub-developers and the bulk allocation of parking spaces for each tower in the very near future.

"Individual parking space allotment will be managed by each sub-developer with support from DMCC," a DMCCA official spokesperson told Emirates Business.

DMCCA said there are currently 26 parking structures, each shared by three towers. "The garages have been constructed and DMCC have expended significant effort to ensure that the garages incorporate appropriate safety and security measures," said the DMCCA official.

DMCCA said four play areas have been planned and will be built in stages over the next year, with the first such play area being functional around August.

"We are endeavouring to ensure that the JLT has adequate facilities for children and adults alike and JLT will be a premier destination with a dynamic waterfront community comprising of attractive residential towers, retail and community services. Children are perhaps the most important part of any community and there will be adequate play areas for children."

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