Morning round-up: Foreclosures may finally come to the UAE


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Tamweel, the country's largest home lender by volume, may become the first to sell repossessed properties once the legal process is complete, reports The National's Uta Harnichfeger.

Right down, despite the fact that banks are facing losses of as much as Dh23 billion on bad home loans, they have yet to repossess properties, fearing that they may become embroiled in a legal quagmire, Harnichfeger and Travis Pantin report.

But Wasim Saifi, the chief executive of Tamweel, said the Islamic lender would "move to the next step of disposal of proeprties once the legal process of foreclosure is completed." He also said Tamweel "had started the process of foreclosure for a few customers."

And RERA is going global! Gulf News reports that the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera) plans to become an international real estate reference point with the acronym, Menares, which stands for the  Middle East and North Africa Real Estate Society.

Nakheel could get extra financial help from the Dubai government later this year as part of plans to repay a $3.52bn (AED21.9bn) Islamic bond, Nasser Al Sheikh, director general of Dubai's Department of Finance, told Arabian Business.

And Emirates Business 24/7 reports that  a funding shortfall may require an increasing number of private and single-tower developers to offer part ownership options to investors in their projects, according to experts.

Infiniti QX80 specs

Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6

Power: 450hp

Torque: 700Nm

Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000

Available: Now

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Electric scooters: some rules to remember
  • Riders must be 14-years-old or over
  • Wear a protective helmet
  • Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
  • Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
  • Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
  • Do not drive outside designated lanes
Five ways to get fit like Craig David (we tried for seven but ran out of time)

Start the week as you mean to go on. So get your training on strong on a Monday.

Train hard, but don’t take it all so seriously that it gets to the point where you’re not having fun and enjoying your friends and your family and going out for nice meals and doing that stuff.

Think about what you’re training or eating a certain way for — don’t, for example, get a six-pack to impress somebody else or lose weight to conform to society’s norms. It’s all nonsense.

Get your priorities right.

And last but not least, you should always, always chill on Sundays.

The biog

Favourite car: Ferrari

Likes the colour: Black

Best movie: Avatar

Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy