Investors win Dh84m claim against developer in Dubai



A Dubai developer has been ordered to pay three men Dh84m after they failed to deliver villas the men had purchased from a housing project near Dubai Land.

The three Asian investors told Dubai Real Estate Court that in 2007 they made an agreement with the developer to purchase 14 villas at a total cost of Dh341.2m from which they paid Dh84m.

The villas were part of a multi-purpose development project in the Dubai Land area covering over 4.15 million square feet, which was going to consist of villas and low-rise apartment buildings surrounding a golf course.

In 2012 none of the villas had yet been delivered so the trio made a new agreement with the developer.

They cancelled their order for 14 villas and replaced it with a new order for five villas on the condition that the new villas be delivered by June 30, 2014 and the difference in price to be returned to them.

Documents provided to the court by the trio’s legal consultant, Hasan Elhais from Al Rowad Advocates, proved that the three men had made the Dh84m payment but had not received the remaining balance after decreasing the number of villas they had purchased.

An expert, who was assigned by the court to perform an assessment of the development project, said the project was pending closure as only 19 per cent of it had been completed over nine years. In addition, the developer was found to have insufficient funds and labour to deliver the project.

The report was backed by a letter from the Dubai Land Department.

The assessment also showed that the investors paid more than the value of five villas and had not been returned the difference in price.

The trio’s lawyer asked the court to cancel all agreements between his clients and the developer and to order the return of the full paid amount of Dh84m.

The court obliged but ordered the developer to return the amount in addition to an annual 9 per cent interest from the date of the original agreement in 2007.

Zakat definitions

Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.

Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.

Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.

Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.

Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest

Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.

Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.

Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.

Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.

Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.

Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia

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Investment stage: Seed

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MATCH INFO

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THE SPECS

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Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
Round 3: Beat Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2
Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
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The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat

What went into the film

25 visual effects (VFX) studios

2,150 VFX shots in a film with 2,500 shots

1,000 VFX artists

3,000 technicians

10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers

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