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The group has also become affiliated with a number of international real estate reference, regulatory and valuation organizations in its bid to enhance its international credibility.
These include the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the Asian Public Real Estate Association, the Urban Land Institute, the World Association of Valuation Organization, and the International Real Estate Federation. Rera is also the only Middle Eastern member of the Association of Real Estate Licence Law Officials.
'Dubai's membership in such international real estate entities...is considered a qualitative move towards global standards, since the Dubai Land Department is the regoin's pioneering real estate reference, said Rera CEO Marwan Bin Ghalita.
Unified databse
'We are in the final stages of establishing Menares. We are aiming to build a professional real estate market and are serious about being first, globally,' Mahmoud Al Burei, Rera's director of real estate sector development said at the announcement.
Menares will primarily serve as a reference body, but would be 'happy to assist' regional states in creating property regulatory frameworks.
The move follows the signing of an agreement earlier this month between Dubai's Rera and the Ajman Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Arra), whereby the two would cooperate on a range of issues.
These include provisions for the development of strategies to organize and monitor developers, real estate agencies and brokers and property management companies - including their employees, and centres around the creation of a joint database.
'The agreement will regulate the work of brokers...between the two emirates to be along with the laws and regulations in Dubai and Ajman, by establishing a unified database with all the information and data relevant to the brokerage business, real estate management or real estate development,' said Bin Ghalita.
Payment clarifications
Rera will also replace the Dubai Land Department (DLD) as the new escrow signing authority, overseeing the management of property payment trust accounts in agency-approved banks.
The new agreement will also outline a structure whereby escrow funds can be moved from one Rera sanctioned holding bank to another - although developers will still not have the authority to transfer funds out of the accounts except in regulated increments linked to construction milestones.
An amendment to Article 11 of Law 13, Law 9 of 2009, regarding the damages payable for the termination of sale and purchase agreements, including how much developers can keep in the event of investor defaults, has also been explained by the senior legal counsel at the DLD in a question and answer session with legal firm Lovells.
Law 13 had previously stated that developers would be able to keep a maximum of 30% of the monies paid up to that point in the event of a contract termination. 'Under Law 9, the developer will be entitled to damages strictly according to the progress of construction for the project, regardless of what has been agreed in the sale and purchase agreements,' said Emad Farouq.
'There are five categories of damages, ranging from no damages (where the developer refunds all the monies received), in cases where Rera cancels the developer's project, to entitlement to retain all monies received and recover any shortfall if the developer has completed 80% or more of the construction.
'It is important to note that, although a developer may be entitled to resell a unit, it must account to the purchaser for any surplus monies it receives once it has received any damages it is entitled to, i.e the developer cannot be unjustly enriched.'
Edward Poultney, Editor - English
