Abu Dhabi developer Hydra Properties on Wednesday announced that customers who have already paid 50 per cent of the value of their properties would not have to make any further installments until 2010. The company also said it had scrapped late payment fees.
Last month’s legal threats by Hydra sparked an outcry among investors, particularly as Hydra has delayed delivery of the Hydra Village project by two years, to 2011.
Nearly 200 disgruntled investors formed the Hydra Investors’ Group, complaining that the developer had also increased the prices of properties and made changes to master plans.
One investor - who paid a 20 per cent deposit on his Hydra Village unit - told Emirates Business that he had not even received his initial purchase contract, but the first contact Hydra had made with him since receiving the deposit was a legal demand for 50 per cent of the property's value - or the firm would claim his unit.
Today’s announcement follows several meetings between the investors’ group and the developer, which ended acrimoniously.