Sweethomes / Post Dated Cheques

Article from Business 24-7 (Dated Wednesday Aug 19th). See link at end of excerpt.

“Ajman property buyers seek cover for PDCS
Investors in the Paradise Lakes Towers project at Emirates City, Ajman, want their payment plans rescheduled because of delays and the fear that post-dated cheques (PDCs) that were to be banked only on completion will be cashed in.

The project was due to be delivered in December 2008 but master developer R-Holding is now working towards a 2009 deadline.

Sweet Homes, an exclusive selling and marketing consultants, has already cashed cheques dated December 2008 that were conditional on completion, an investor told Emirates Business on condition of anonymity.

Omar Al Barguthi, Director-General of the Ajman Real Estate Regulatory Agency, said work on the project was continuing though it was slightly behind schedule.

Sweet Homes and R-Holding did not reply to enquiries from Emirates Business.”

——

Link to article from Business 24-7.ae

Jun 09 – Post Dated Cheques – PDC – UAE Central Bank

Here’s the link to the UAE Central Bank. I’d urge those whose PDC’s (Post Dated Cheques) are being mis-used by developers &/or cashed at will, without progress, unauthorized endorsements etc. – to write to the bank.

Don’t know if it will work – but they seem to have a well laid out process see;

http://www.centralbank.ae/complaints/complaints.php

Here is the page with specific email addresses:

http://www.centralbank.ae/contact_us.php

Or – Complaints and Suggestions Section

Direct telephone:	02- 6915290 / 02- 6915453
Fax No.:	02-6916004
E-mail:	complaint@cbuae.gov.ae

June 09 – Ajman Facts – “It is about trust……….one commodity in short supply”

Have a look at the article from The National below. Printed on May 4th, 09. Scary.
- Thousands of property buyers invested in more than 900 other towers but most of them are just dusty plots or marks on a map.
- “More than 90 per cent of clients have stopped paying in Ajman,” says Mohammed al Zarah, the vice president of Great Properties, a broker selling Ajman real estate.
- “I believe that not less than 30 per cent of the projects will be cancelled in Emirates Road and I am sure that more than 60 per cent will be put on hold.” (If 30% are cancelled, and a further 60% on hold – or likely terminal hold… that means only 10% stands a chance of getting built).
- “In Ajman there is no big developer, only master developers,” Mr al Zarah says. “They are often individual investors who own one or two towers. They only had a few millions in cash to pay up front and were dependent on investors’ money to finance the projects.”
- Other less scrupulous developers have used buyers’ money for other deals and have no money left to build. Some have been imprisoned for allegedly bounced cheques as they were unable to pay for their land plots, while others have fled the country.
- “I am in the market. I know some of the developers who received money but don’t know if they are going to stay in this country or not,” Mr al Zarah says. “What they have got in their accounts, many have already spent it.”
- Omar Bissar, the legal adviser of dozens of developers in the Northern Emirates, confirms that some have left the country. “I know personally four developers who have taken the money and fled,” he says.
- Serious developers say they are suffering from a bad image caused by a few rotten apples. (This statement should be flipped – a few serious developers have been give a bad image by a lot of rotten apples).
- It is not about prices now, it is about trust.”…… along the Emirates Road, that is one commodity in short supply.

Ironically, the developer/project I am having trouble with is ranked 2nd farthest along……
URL – http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090504/BUSINESS/705049942/1005

Or see PDF file;
Coming to terms with a downturn – The National Newspaper

March 09 – Sweethomes opens an Escrow Account

Here’s a letter I rcvd from Sweethomes on March 29th. Understandably, they are quite proud of the accomplishment, afterall, nothing else had been done at the construction site so far. I’d be looking for small wins too, if I were them.

———————————————————————————
March 29th, 2009

Dear _______

Have noted your message and we would like to inform you that Sweet Homes Real Estate had been registered with Ajman Real Estate Regulatory Authority (ARRA)and we have been issued letter to Open Escrow account. We are in process and it will take for quite sometimes due to comprehensive documentary requirements.
When Escrow account is opens we would endorse all your cheque to the Escrow Account under your property No.
We request you to bear with us, sooner when we received the Escrow account No, we will intimate you for your needful and necessary action
Enclosed the construction status, we are trying our best to meet your requirement as per the mentioned contract. Enclosed todays news for your reference.
Thanking you
With Best Regards / Mit Freundlichen Greussen / Meilleures Salutations
For Sweet Homes Real Estate LLC, Dubai
Sales Representatives
___@sweethomesuae.com

Request to ARRA for help with Post Dated Cheques being cashed by Sweethomes

Exasperated by funds just being drained – total of AED 357,000 (35% of total purchase price) and no construction start 20 months after the purchase – I wrote to ARRA again for help. I knew Sweethomes didn’t care for the earlier letter from ARRA, so I wrote to ARRA once again – specifically asking for help stopping Sweethomes from cashing the Post Dated Cheques.

What they were trying to say – beyond “You’re on your own” I will never understand;

ARRA Response (scroll below the response for my requests…)
————————————————————
Dear,

Sorry, I can’t return your post dated cheques, because they are in a legal way ( they are register ).

For more inquires and clarifications don’t hesitate to contact me either by email or phone.

Kind regard,

ARRA
Ajman Real-estate Regulatory Agency
Tel:06-7444144
Fax:06-7444145
www.arra.ae

————————————————————————————–
Request to ARRA – for help
————————————————————————————–

Dear Ms____________:
Thank you for your quick response. I just got the letter translated. My developer – Sweethomes (Ajman Uptown) – will not stop cashing my post dated cheques with this letter.

Do you have any letter / law that requires Sweethomes to return my future Post Dated cheques?

If I cancel – completely – can ARRA force them to return future cheques?

Even if I loose all the money invested until now – I don’t want them to cash any more cheques. Can you please help?

Thank you
Buyer B###
——————————————————————————-
Yet another request to ARRA – for help
——————————————————————————-

From:
To: ARRA
Subject: Re: Ajman Uptown – B

Dear Ms. _____:

Thank you again.

Can you help me get my post dated cheques back from Sweethomes?

As long as Sweethomes is holding my post dated cheques – they keep cashing it – regardless of ARRA rules etc.

Thank you in advance
Buyer-B###
———————————————————————————

ARRA Response

When I had enough of the developer Sweethomes just cashing Post Dated Cheques at will, I approached ARRA (the newly created regulator).

The letter in Arabic, is something like a request/or suggestion that the buyer doesn’t have to pay into a non escrow account. If the paper was a bit softer, the developer could have used it in the toilet… or at least that’s how the developer responded.

Email to ARRA (repeat from the previous post), and ARRA’s response.
————————————————–
Letter to ARRA (I wrote similar stuff several times):
From:
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:39 PM
To: ARRA

Subject: Ajman Uptown – B ###

Dear Ms. _________:


I need your assistance. I purchased a townhome, in the Ajman Uptown project – Al Helio – by Sweethomes. The purchase was made in August 2007. Purchase price was AED 1,020,000.

So far, I have paid a total of 35%. 

Construction has just started.

The developer (Sweethomes) is holding my post dated checks. They will continue to present these checks to a non escrow account, unless I can get a letter or email from ARRA that I can take to the developer. 
 
If such an instruction is not possible, could you kindly let me know – if you have any alternate suggestions – ie to stop the developer from using post dated cheques? Is cancellation the only way to stop in the case of post dated cheques?



Thank you in advance


Purchaser: B###
Project – Ajman Uptown, Al Helio

Developer – Sweethomes 

——————————————————–

ARRA Response:
From: ARRA
Subject:
Date: 26 February 2009 12:10:55 PM GMT+07:00
To:

Please find attached

ARRA LETTER

Kind regard,
(individual officer name & id deleted)
ARRA
Ajman Real-estate Regulatory Agency
Tel:06-7444144
Fax:06-7444145
www.arra.ae

PS – I changed the file name from Arabic to English.

Ajman Uptown Recap (Aug 07-Aug 08) & Letter to ARRA

1) Purchased into Ajman’s first villa development – Ajman Uptown by Sweethomes.
2) No Sale Purchase agreement, no construction start.
3) Developer Sweethomes cashing cheques with regularity – 35% paid, no construction.
4) In between, Sweethomes made some noise that they had awarded the construction project. Guess who – to a new division they created from scratch. Who really watches these guys?
5) No way to stop the crooks from cashing cheques because of the UAE’s laws.
6) In 2009 Ajman Real Estate Regulatory Authority (ARRA) was launched. I approached them – they are about as helpless as I am. Most developers in Ajman don’t give a toss about ARRA…. so much so that, ARRA had to set new deadlines to give developers more time to comply with the laws.

——————————————————————————–
Here’s my letter to ARRA (I wrote similar stuff several times):
From:
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:39 PM
To: ARRA

Subject: Ajman Uptown – B ###

Dear Ms. _________:


I need your assistance. I purchased a townhome, in the Ajman Uptown project – Al Helio – by Sweethomes. The purchase was made in August 2007. Purchase price was AED 1,020,000.

So far, I have paid a total of 35%. 

Construction has just started.

The developer (Sweethomes) is holding my post dated checks. They will continue to present these checks to a non escrow account, unless I can get a letter or email from ARRA that I can take to the developer. 
 
If such an instruction is not possible, could you kindly let me know – if you have any alternate suggestions – ie to stop the developer from using post dated cheques? Is cancellation the only way to stop in the case of post dated cheques?



Thank you in advance


Purchaser: B###
Project – Ajman Uptown, Al Helio

Developer – Sweethomes