Hundreds of building contractors and more than 80 homeowners have lost millions of dirhams after a Dubai-based home renovations company abruptly halted operations, The National has learnt.
Signature Living closed its doors in December with the loss of about 300 jobs.
Clients and suppliers have now filed civil and criminal cases with the Dubai courts as they seek to return lost money. The National has spoken to former employees, homeowners and contractors who have lost out.
Signature Living, which did not publicly announce its closure or bankruptcy, offered bespoke home renovation services for affluent customers. The company's office in Dubai Investments Park has been closed since December, while its phone number and social media channels are inactive, although the company's official website is still live.
Dutch property trader Roger Lips is believed to be a majority stakeholder through a holding company, which is thought to be in the names of two of his adult children. His son, Bas, was employed as Signature Living’s financial controller. Mr Lips recently left the UAE. Chief executive Matthew Wilds also recently left the UAE.
In a statement, Mr Lips denied he was responsible for the company's collapse and said he had not "fled" the country. Mr Wilds did not respond to repeated attempts to contact him.
A third executive, chief operating officer Johann Watermeyer, denied being responsible for losses. He told The National he was speaking to Dubai Police about the recovery of a loan he said he had made to keep the company afloat.
'It's a mess'
Signature Living is among the many renovation companies that thrived during the property boom in Dubai. A population surge and soaring rents since the pandemic led to a rise in home ownership and with it the desire to renovate villas and apartments.
The company was founded in 2015 and only took on major villa or apartment renovations, with contracts ranging from Dh350,000 for an apartment to Dh3 million for larger villas. Clients would be asked to pay a 30 per cent deposit, with the rest set up in milestone payments.
Managed by Mr Wilds, it had 300 people registered with work visas, according to a former employee, who asked to be identified only as John, who spoke to The National to document the company's closure.
It had 84 active projects when it closed. These included those at the planning stage and others that were 90 per cent complete. Some homeowners said they had lost up to Dh1 million. Sub-contractors are asking for debts to be settled by Signature Living.
“There was a grab for cash where senior managers and salespeople were being asked to extract money from clients in order to fund the jobs, but then it has transpired it was an attempt to get as much money into the account before the plug was pulled,” John told The National. “Even things like rent on the warehouse haven’t been paid, salaries haven’t been paid. It’s a mess.”
A former client told The National they estimate more than 1,000 suppliers have been affected and more than Dh24 million lost, if client, supplier and staff salaries are taken together.
Behind the scenes
Signature Living built a strong reputation in the market over nine years. John said, until recently, it was “a really good, solid company”.
“We were transforming people’s homes, we had lots more work to do to continue that growth. We had some good people there, it’s just an absolute shame we didn’t know what was going on.”
John said the company had been “trading as insolvent for months”, but the employees were told a loan to keep the business running was incoming. “When they’ve got over 80 projects with money in them, you don’t normally call it a day. You carry on and save the business.”
The cause of the company's apparent collapse is the source of speculation.
When asked by The National, Roger and Bas denied responsibility for the company’s demise. “I advice [sic] you to reach out to the company manager, which is not me,” he replied in a message.
Mr Lips’ lawyer in the Netherlands, Geertjan van Oosten, told Dutch media his client “does not recognise himself in the picture painted in any way”. According to local reports, Mr Lips said: “I am not aware of a report against me or my son. I understand from a lawyer that clients of a company where my son works have filed complaints against that company. I do not want to make any statements about my current whereabouts, but of course, I have not fled from anyone or anything because I do not deceive people.”
The National attempted to reach Mr Lips’ legal representative in the UAE, as directed by Mr van Oosten, but received no response. Signature Living’s chief executive, Mr Wilds, meanwhile, is believed to have moved to Greece in November. He did not respond to questions by The National about the status of the company and his involvement.
Mr Lips moved to the UAE from the Netherlands around 2014 after being questioned about bankruptcy fraud in his home country. He was declared bankrupt in 2013 with debts of more than €100 million (Dh397m) and several of his companies went under, according to Dutch media reports. In June 2024, Mr Lips was sentenced to four years in prison by a court in Zwolle, Netherlands, Dutch news agency Algemeen Nederands Persbureau reported. His wife was given an 18-month jail term. Mr Lips is said to have left Dubai for Cambodia in September.
Casting blame
On December 11, 2024, an email, which has been seen by The National, was sent to just under 100 of Signature Living’s clients and contractors, who were publicly copied in, implicating chief operating officer, Mr Watermeyer, for taking cash from clients without permission.
Mr Watermeyer was hired last February, but by this time was “no longer connected” to the company, according to the email signed by the company’s accounts department.
“Signature Living is not requesting and not accepting cash payments,” it read. “These practices are against anti-money laundering legislation in the UAE. All payments to or from the company shall be affected [sic] via bank transfers only. Any dealings with cash shall be at your sole liability and our company declines issuing receipts or recognising such payments.”
Clients were asked to reply by email with information on cash payments that may have been requested by or made to Mr Watermeyer. A week later, another email went out, signed “on behalf of Signliving Buidling [sic] Contracting LLC.”, reassuring clients that Signature Living was doing its “best to resolve the matters arisen”.
The lengthy email claimed Mr Watermeyer had misled clients and suppliers and that he had been let go from the company.
Mr Watermeyer told The National: “I deny the allegations made against me and am working with a lawyer to settle this matter that has unfairly harmed my reputation."
"I am working closely with Dubai Police to recover the funds that I have [lent] the company and to resolve outstandings against myself and all the creditors involved."
‘Suddenly things started to fall apart’
Homeowner Kim Gade went through a months-long renovation as a client of Signature Living. He had paid out Dh800,000, about 92 per cent of his bill, when Signature Living closed its doors.
Work on his property started in May 2024. Initially, he was told it would take about five weeks to complete. “By the end of July, things started to be very slow,” he told The National. “I was getting different stories, couldn’t get the sub-contractors to come on time.” A new deadline for handover was set for September 30, but this kept getting pushed back. In the meantime, Mr Gade and his wife had to pay for accommodation elsewhere, although Signature Living had agreed to reimburse them for these costs.
“Then suddenly things started to fall apart,” he said. “They couldn’t finish… we started hearing rumours that they were close to bankruptcy and couldn’t pay suppliers."
Mr Gade started speaking directly to sub-contractors, such as those fitting air-conditioning, stone, glass, waterproofing, ceilings, electrical work and plumbing. “The project was 60 to 65 per cent done and the suppliers finishing the AC, glass and kitchen hadn’t been paid a dime. Some had a bit, but they wanted full payment from us, which is obscene to us. You take your share of the loss and our share and we make a deal, but they didn’t want to do that.”
Mr Gade estimates he’s lost an extra Dh300,000 on top after paying people to finish the work, plus the Dh50,000 promised in rehousing costs has gone.
“It has been a nightmare,” he said.
Mr Gade is now among more than a dozen parties who have filed criminal cases against the company. “All of us owners have a group where we are trying to help each other find a solution,” he said. “Some are worse off than me, some better off than me, but the cost of engaging a lawyer is costly and money is not something many of us have left.”
Contractors count cost
Mohamed Haseen, an operations manager and partner at Dazzle Fitouts and Construction, was the main provider of no-objection certificates and inspections on properties renovated by Signature Living. He said it is owed Dh660,000 from work for 74 of Signature's clients.
“For us, it’s a big loss. As per our calculations, we will take a minimum of two and a half years to recover.”
Mr Haseen and his team, who have filed criminal and civil cases against the company, are now working with homeowners directly to finish renovations.
Another contractor with a long working relationship with Signature Living has hundreds of thousands of dirhams in outstanding payments, they told The National under the condition of anonymity.
“We were told we’d be sorted out, which is why we trusted them and now we’ve been left with nothing," they told The National. “It’s a big hit to any company. It’s upsetting and it’s not right. We will survive, but it changes the way we do operations.”
