First community title management consultancy company formed in Dubai

AUAE Strata Global was formed in anticipation of the recent enactment of the Government of Dubai's new property law, which has paved the way for the establishment of "Strata or Community Title" in the new residential developments and guaranteed all purchasers will be issued title. Typical developments using this form of co-ownership are found at Jumeirah Beach Residence (4,000 units on a stretch of beachfront 1.7 kilometers long), Dubai Marina (eventually comprising over 200 high rise buildings), Jumeirah Lakes, Arabian Ranches and Emirates Hills and more recently the announcement of the Elite Towers at New Dubai (City of Arabia) which consists of 34 high rise buildings, the Wadi Tower and the Wadi Walk. City of Arabia is being developed by the Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group and is due for completion in 2008.

"Owners in these developments, following hand over by the developer, do not wish to concern themselves with the day to day affairs of the Co-Owners Association (formed between all the owners of Units in a building) and the common property and resolve to appoint a company such as AUAE Strata Global on their behalf. This form of community management has been undertaken by specialist professional consultants in Australia for several decades. AUAE Strata Global brings together a combination of extensive management and consulting experience and expertise from Australia's Gold Coast and Better Homes, to fill an emerging gap in the new community title management and consultancy environment in Dubai," said Ryan Mahoney, Better Homes Managing Director.

Investment in Dubai's real estate sector now stands at AED165 billion, up from AED11 billion in 2000 as reported recently by the Middle East Real Estate Society. A major proportion of this investment is in the freehold communities (areas designated by the Ruler of Dubai) with the number of projects both commenced and planned amounting to an estimated 750,000 new units. According to the same reports, the Dubai Government expects AED184 billion in real estate investment by the year 2010.

In the next year, Dubai will see the completion of a minimum of 120 residential high rise buildings (comprising upwards of 15,000 units) due for commissioning and hand over to the Co-Owners Associations vested with responsibility for control and administration of common property assets and facilities. And in the Dubai Marina - Jumeirah Beach residence precinct alone - an estimated population of 120,ooo people will be housed once all developments are completed according to the planned master community established by Emaar.

"Appointing a Community Title Manager to undertake the duties associated with the administration of the Co-Owners' Association, or in ccombination with the duties of a building/facilities Manager, removes the often unpleasant disputation and the conflicts of interest between the individual owners, the Co-Owners Association, Developer, Contractors, and Occupants and the other related entities involved,"

said David Yeates from AUA.

AUAE Strata Global's mission is to provide value added management and consultancy services to the Developers and Co-Owners in this transition period and for the ongoing management of the Community Title environment for the Co-Owners Association.

"AUAE Strata Global aims to also provide a comprehensive consultancy services to developers and all owners on the issue of key building and facilities management performance indicators and forecasting for long term capital expenditure budgeting known as Capital Reserve Funding," commented Kent O'Brien from K&G Strata Consultants of The Gold Coast. "Over the years we found that these two issues most commonly are the source of disputes in community title property."

AUAE Strata Global will be backed by cutting edge technology designed around experiences from Australia in relation to community title management which allows investors living in the UK, India or Russia for example to make payments of their 'Service Charge' contribution via the internet and view building details, budgets, financial performance information in relation to the community assets and common property facilities from their home computer.

Projected growth rate for Dubai shows a population of 4 million by 2010 made up of a high percentage of expatriates living in community title complexes and in light of this a series of articles and publications with legal assistance from Al Tamimi & Company, Advocates and Legal Consultants of Dubai is proposed, primarily directed to educating developers and all owners on what they should know about the living environments in the context of the new laws.