A group of lawyers from Dublin, Ireland, representing buyers of a stalled housing project in Dubai, have started talks with the developer to honour the interests of their clients.
The group of 40 investors, 16 of them Irish, under the name Kensington Royale Investors, had invested a combined total of €4 million in the project in Dubai Sports City, said a report carried by The Post.
The five-star project by Middle Eastern Development (MED) was originally scheduled for completion in early 2009.
According to the news report, the law firm Anthony Joyce & Cowas was retained by the group that had paid deposits for apartments in the 252-unit project.
“We have raised our concerns with MED that the project should have been built within the specified timeframe,” said Joyce of the firm.
He also made it clear that the company should not seek more money until work goes ahead.
The lawyer was awaiting instructions from the clients on whether to go ahead with the project or seek their money back, which would involve launching legal proceedings in Dubai against the developer.
While some investors had already paid €60,000, others have made staged payments amounting to €200,000.
Sold on a buy-to-let scheme through a network of worldwide agents, investors were assured of eight per cent returns for the first three years. Most of the units were sold in 2006 and 2007, the report said.
Prices of the apartments range from €168,000 to €280,000.
An unnamed investor was quoted as saying he had reserved a two-bedroom unit in January 2007 and had paid 30 per cent of the total buying price of around €64,700 but heard nothing from the developer for two years.
On a recent visit to see the project, he discovered that the developers had scaled down the dimensions to a one-bedroom unit on the construction drawings he was shown, that too without any prior information.
The report said the scheme is still on sale through Dubaicondoproperty.com.