Freehold
For Foreigners Areas Revealed “Freehold-for-Foreigners”
The
Government of Dubai has published for the first
time the locations where expatriates will be
able to buy property in the emirate.
His
Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE,
and Ruler of Dubai, has issued the three-page,
five-article Order No. 3 of 2006 designating
areas for expatriates who can enjoy freehold
ownership in Dubai, published in the government’s
official gazette on July 3, 2006.
The much-awaited list includes 23 areas and
45 plots including Jebel Ali, the Palm Island
projects, The World islands, Dubai Marina, Emirates
Hills and Al Barsha, among others.
The
new regulations follow the issuance in March
of the Property Registration Law (No. 7), legalising
freehold ownership of land and property to UAE
and GCC nationals as well as non-GCC citizens
to own freehold property in designated areas.
More
than 15,000 expatriates have already moved into
their freehold homes since Dubai opened its
property sector to expatriates in 2002, of which
14,000 were developed by Emaar Properties. About
5,000 more people are expected to move in this
year.
In
the absence of the freehold law, buyers’ rights
were dictated by the purchase documents backed
by a government guarantee extended to the three
master developers namely Emaar Properties, Nakheel
and Dubai Holding entities including Tecom,
Dubai Properties and Sama Dubai.
The
move will pave the way for legal registration
of properties in the name of expatriate owners
with full freehold rights including the title
deed, said Mohammad Sultan Thani, Director of
Development and Marketing at the Dubai Land
Department. “Before, we only registered buyers
who were UAE and GCC nationals. Now, we can
start officially registering properties in designated
areas in the name of expatriates who bought
them from developers,” said Thani.
Thani
was confident they could cope with the rush,
but advised property owners to deal with their
developers to arrange for speedy registration.
“Registrations
are to be handled by companies on behalf of
clients so it takes only two to three minutes
for each property.” He said the Department can
register between 100 and 200 properties at a
time if all the relevant paperwork has been
completed.
Before
the law was published, there had been a lot
of speculative activity in the property market.
However, title deeds in individual names were
being issued unofficially, with some properties
being bought and sold many times over.
“Those
who want to sell their property after initial
registration may need about 30 minutes, if all
papers are ready and if they are to register
the sale individually,” Thani said.
The
England football team’s former skipper David
Beckham and Indian Bollywood star Shah Rukh
Khan, are among some of the world’s prominent
figures known to have bought property in Dubai’s
iconic Palm Jumeirah.
Industry experts said the new regulations did
not offer any surprises, but they awaited further
clarification.
“It’s
as we expected it to be. This list offered neither
surprises nor disappointments,” said Sydene
Helwicq, property lawyer at Al Tamimi law firm.
“We
are still in the process of identifying with
relevant authorities which of the plots relate
to which property,” said Helwicq.
Mohammad
Nimer, director of MAG Group, welcomed the announcement.
“We never had any doubts that Dubai would fulfil
its commitments. This will cement confidence
in the property industry.”
The
list did not surprise Safdar Khan, Business
Development Manager at Dubai Property Centre.
He said: “We expected all these areas to be
in the list before the new regulations were
issued.”
Sourced
from Gulf News |
