DUBAI // The property was meant to be PK Bhaskaran's retirement home when he returned to southern India next year.
Now, Mr Bhaskaran says, his dreams have been shattered.
After investing much of his life savings in a home that is years behind its scheduled completion date, he is worried about where he will live when he leaves Dubai.
"We are old people, this is too much tension," said Mr Bhaskaran, 65, who works as a secretary with a Dubai building supply company.
"My wife and I are suffering so much. All my life I had not made a home, so I thought I'll have my own little house.
"Now, I have no place at all."
Mr Bhaskaran has held the same job since 1976 with the single-minded goal of saving for a home where his children, who were born and educated in Dubai, could also live.
He thought he had found the ideal property three years ago, and paid about 700,000 rupees (Dh57,550) for a two-bedroom apartment in Star County near Kochi city, Kerala, developed by Star Homes.
The property, scheduled to be handed over in 2009, shows no sign of being completed.
As with other investors, Mr Bhaskaran believed the global financial crisis was the reason for the delay.
"I thought maybe they have a genuine problem," he said. "They apologised and said they had problems due to the world financial crisis.
"But they just keep saying they are sorry for the delays. I have called so many times for definite answers. It is of no use."
Mr Bhaskaran has decided to join other investors and fight for his money.
"This is our hard-earned money," he said. "We work for what? To build a home for our family. Now what do I have? At the moment I have nothing, absolutely nothing."
rtalwar@thenational.ae
