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Saturday, November 28 - 2009

RICS announce regional version of international standard service charge code

  • United Arab Emirates: Wednesday, January 16 - 2008 at 13:16
  • PRESS RELEASE

Aldar today announced that its ongoing partnership with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), signed in an MOU during 2006, will now result in a localized version of the RICS Code for managing service charges.

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The international standard was released to RICS members worldwide in April 2007, and this regional version will be available in early 2008. Voluntary for commercial property providers, the Code will offer strict guidelines designed to demonstrate transparency and ethical management for purchasers, tenants and occupiers.

"When we partnered with RICS last year, we were already committed to ensuring that our practices were in line with international standards, across our business units. Our work with them has meant that service charges have already been levied in completed and occupied properties, and so this is the right stage for us to begin looking at what can now be improved to standardize these practices for our other developments, and indeed, whether this can be used industry-wide,"


commented Ronald Barrott, CEO, Aldar.

"Creating a Gulf Region version of the international code will give landlords and owners of property and their managing agents a clear guide to structuring and managing service charges whilst protecting the consumer. This document drafted by an independent, representative professional body, based on an existing international standard will be localized to take regional concerns and information in to account. This will be a huge benefit to buyers conversant in international property markets, looking for the reassurance of international standards," Barrott concluded.

The Code of Practise will set out best practise guidelines which will allow practitioners to meet the international standards. Some specific areas of best practice include:
• Providing guidelines that can resolve conflict areas in a potential dispute
• Advising fee charges for developers and managers to ensure service charges are not a source of unreasonable profit
• Encouraging transparency by allowing the invoices and accounts from service charges paid, to be fully accessible by the tenants purchasers and owners, - as laid out in the purchase or lease documentation.

"Partnering with Aldar on this regional version will allow us to bring together the specialist knowledge of some of the leading consultants in this field, who drafted the original RICS Code of Practise, with regional specialists from ALDAR who have experience in implementing service charge agreements in the UAE," We know that Aldar are already well ahead in this field and the RICS is looking forward to working with Aldar to further fine tune their approach," commented Alan England RICS Regional Development Manager, AIME.

"We aim to promote the Code as an industry standard for the entire Gulf region, and so we looked to our partners in Abu Dhabi for their local and regional expertise in this rapidly expanding industry. We are confident that the Gulf Code of Practise will be a benefit to developers and consumers alike."
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Notes and media contacts

About RICS
RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) is the leading organisation of its kind in the world for professionals in property, land, construction and related environmental issues. As part of their role they help to set, maintain and regulate standards - as well as providing impartial advice to Governments and policymakers.

RICS has 140,000 members who operate out of 146 countries, supported by an extensive network of regional offices located in every continent around the world.

To ensure that their members are able to provide the quality of advice and level of integrity required by the market, RICS qualifications are only awarded to individuals who meet the most rigorous requirements for both education and experience and who are prepared to maintain high standards in the public interest.

The RICS established a full time presence serving the property profession of the UAE in June of this year.

About Aldar Properties:
Aldar Properties PJSC is a premier real estate development, management and investment company with headquarters in Abu Dhabi, UAE. ALDAR was created to spearhead developments of Abu Dhabi's strategic sites was created to fast track real estate investment opportunities within Abu Dhabi and the Emirates in order to offer an opportunity to participate in the prosperity of this increasingly important industry in the UAE.

Since its inception in 2004 through a share offer (IPO) of Dhs1.5bn ($408m) on the Abu Dhabi Securities Market, ALDAR has already announced more than USD 60 billion worth of developments. The Aldar issue, the largest IPO in the history of the UAE, was 448 times oversubscribed and raised an unprecedented Dhs373bn ($102bn) in demand. Aldar's market capitalization is $3.5bn as of May 30th 2007. Total retail area across all developments is currently over 1.5 million square meters. The company is owned by leading Abu Dhabi institutions, founder shareholders and individual investors.

The current property portfolio includes major developments and re-developments within Abu Dhabi Emirate such as Central Market, Al Raha Beach, Coconut Island, Noor Al Ain, Al Gurm Resort, Al Mamoura - the Mubadala Development Company and Environment Agency Abu Dhabi Headquarter Building, and the YAS Island project which is to include a Warner Bros and a Ferrari theme park.

Aldar's first international expansion was announced in August 2007 via a tie-up with South Johor Investment Corp (SJIC) in a deal that represents the largest foreign real estate development in Malaysia. This was followed in October 2007 with plans announced to build a mixed-use development in Kazakhstan.

For more information, please contact:
Shali Akkaraju
Buchanan Middle East
Mob: +971 50 250 5410

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