Emirates City Forum

can i gave ur phone no to a journalist nathilie .she is doing all research on ajman

lets wait for something to appear soon in paper

Sawajeed, Am sorry about the problems you have had with Junaid but your accusations that Palm are "broke" and just wanting to "extract money from investors" are not helpful - Sajid at Palm informed me 2 weeks ago that they are completing the required auditing for registration and the escrow account should be ready by end of this month - lets see what happens then. The Arra guy himself states (see Streetjab post) that they are in the process of registering... But I agree with you that construction is far too slow and we should definitely start making some noise about that..

I think it would be far more constructive to think of positive steps to affect changes (such as petitioning the Ajman government directly, contacting the press etc..), than just throwing unfounded accusations and depressing everyone on this forum !

Dear Bahia,

Please do not put words in our mouth. The email from Mr.Kabi merely states "No they still under process.." and your post says "Mr Kaabi of Arra confirming that this project is under registration and that escrow account will be ready soon" when did Mr.Kabi say this?

I do not wish to spread negativity about this project after paying over 198K. I would like to see this project go forward and will shut up, curl up and sleep if the developer led by his hunchmen stops harassing me on a daily basis for payments despite not having an escrow account as yet. Why not tell your friend Sajjid to stop bothering me till an escrow account is operational and be transperent about what is happening. When this happens I will write something positive, I have done that in a recent post on Ajman Bolevard. By the way did I tell you, that my payment plan was changed and brought forward, the developer extracted 54K out of plan before parting with the contract, I have never defaulted on any payments, yet owe the developer over 90K in back payments because the payment plan was changed and brought forward.. they will give me 48 hours notice and forfeit my money if I stop paying..

But no, lets think positive.

Sawajeed, Yesterday, 18 May 2009, I received a personal email from Mr Al Kaabi confirming Crystal Residency is being registered and the escrow account will be available shortly. This is a fact direct from Arra. I cannot comment on why your payment plan was changed, this is for you to sort out with the developer - All I wanted to say is that we are all in "the same boat" and always reading about alleged and unfounded fraud, lies, accusations and worse is just not helpful.

Yes, Ajmanflat is right. No escrow no payment. Actually, I am still thinking about my future payments even with the escrow a/c, so the question of payment does not arise without an escrow a/c at all.

A lot has been debated about negativity on this forum, I think negativity is indispensable, especially in the current scenario wherein there are no assurances from the developers or ARRA. No transparency whatsoever. Negativity can lay the foundation for unified action positive developments.

Am sure all of us would certainly like to hear positive things about EC. So people, start writing your positive comments however big or small they are, to balance out the negativity in air, if it is going to comfort some of us, why not. Although the facts will remain facts, irrespective of whether the forum is filled with negative or positive comments. It is for people to decide what steps they need to take depending on their developer.

Does anyone has any update on GCD 2? Looks like Stargiga has stopped replying to emails.
Please share. Thanks.

I had given the contact details of Junaid and Palm to Mr. Nouf Al Kabbi from ARRA, I had received a call from Junaid Real Estate inquiring if I had complained to ARRA, they said that ARRA had asked him to come to ARRA along with the owner of Palm, Mr. Ahmed Owasis (excuse me if the name is only partially correct). They said they are going to ARRA today. I do not know what happened today, but I had a peaceful day today without any calls for payment.

ARRA has started responding to emails as is evident from various posts on this forum, and the fact they have acted upon my complaint show that ARRA is slowly gathering steam. How's this for some positive news!

i do agree to all my friends, but i just would like to ask you , i have given PDCs ( Post Dated Cheques) What should i do in this case. if PDC is dis-honoured, than i will be in mess.
anyways, i am greatful to you guys that all of sudden, got so many response. ( May be every one was on Holiday).
We all must push them (Crystal) for our Right by all possible soever means.

hi all, i think we need to ask arra to keep passports of junaid and owaisis as i got information from one of my relative that these people are setting business in pakistan and they will run away. i believe arra for next payments but what is the security of our paid amounts. if tommorow they are disappear with their companies and staff remaining so what is in our hand. we need to push them to clear their account with arra and then they can leave this country so at least our installments could be in the hand of governement authority who can care the rest.

Most investors have paid around 48%, I did some calculations to arrive at the approximate amount collected by the developer to date, it's a staggering AED 188 million or USD 23.9 Million. The formating in this post is getting messed up, I will be glad to email the worksheet to you, sawajeed@hotmail.com

Basic Facts 25 Floors + 5 Parking
Apartments Per Floor 16

Assumption 1: All prices as per their website
Assumption 2: Some apartments have been sold at less than stated price
However, floor charges have not been considered in the workings
This will compensate for variations in price

Apartment types and numbers per floor
Type A Type B Type C Type D Total
Lake 2 2 4
Road 2 2 4
Partial 4 4
Central 4 4
Total 4 4 4 4 16

Cost per apartment as per web site (AED)
Type A Type B Type C Type D
Lake 614,389 411,075
Road 582,053 389,439
Partial 369,387
Central 385,907

Total AED Value Per Floor: (No. of Apts x Price)
Type A Type B Type C Type D Total
Lake 1,228,778 822,150 2,050,928
Road 1,164,106 778,878 1,942,984
Partial 1,477,548 1,477,548
Central 1,543,628 1,543,628
Total 2,392,884 1,601,028 1,477,548 1,543,628 7,015,088

Total Number of floors 25
Total Number of Apartments (25 Floors x 16 Apartments) 400
Total Value of Building 175,377,200
Cost of each parking slot 20,000
Cost of 400 parking slots 8,000,000

Total sale value of building excluding floor charges (Apt cost + Parking) 183,377,200

Down Payment 15% 27,506,580
1st. Year 12% 22,005,264
2nd.year 23% 42,176,756
3rd.year 25% 45,844,300
4th.year 25% 45,844,300
100% 183,377,200

Approximate collections from investors as on Apr 09 48% AED 88,021,056

in US$ 23,983,939

Hi Bahia, how come Palm only updates you? How come you are always defending Palm? I find this a little strange!

Folks

I received this email yesterday from Nouf of ARRA when I re-enquired about the status of the registration.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The developer (Bonyad) is under process to register with ARRA
Palm real Estate is not register and they don’t have escrow account

Nouf Al Kaabi
Tel: +971 6 744 4144
Fax: +971 6 744 4145
P.O. Box: 2333, Ajman - U.A.E.
email: nouf.k@arra.ae
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So this means the developer is under registration which is probably a good thing. But doesn't this contradict Ms / Mr Deya's claim that Palm is registering? Perhaps the ARRA people must reach a consensus amongst themselves first.

Wouldnt this also mean that going forward, should there be an escrow account, it should be with the Developer to whom we should be making the payment?

Any thoughts on this ?

Ideally, if someone is in the UAE region , it would be great to check with ARRA on this matter so that we can settle it once in for all.

One thing seems sure, the project is definetly going forward, since they have proceeded with registration etc. When it will materialize is a different story.

Below my recent email from Mr AlKaabi of Arra:-

This project is under process to register and open the escrow account

Nouf Al Kaabi
Tel: +971 6 744 4144
Fax: +971 6 744 4145
P.O. Box: 2333, Ajman - U.A.E.
email: nouf.k@arra.ae

I have also just phoned Mr Deya of Arra who confirms Bonyad are "in process of registering", with the opening of escrow account being the last step of the process. He said that applications for registration had to be submitted to Arra by 1st May latest and no applications were accepted after that date - That doesnt mean developers had to be registered by 1st May.

I asked him about the rumoured 6-months (instead of 3 years) residence visas (and only for properties worth 1 million dirhams and over) - This would be a really worrying change for all investors and as no-one at Arra seems to know what will happen about this, I suggest all investors petition the government now to prevent it from becoming law.

I visited the site today and have posted some pictures in the gallery section
http://www.emiratescity.org/category/image-gallery/towers-row-b/b16-crys...
Compare these with pictures of Jan/Feb 09 and you will notice that the pillars went up by 3 ft before construction was stopped
http://www.palmfreehold.com/Constrution_CR.aspx
Some construction workers in nearby sites said they took all their materials and left
Ironically, I tried accessing crystal-residency.com and could not get through

Sawajeed Thanks for the pics even though there has been no progress since february... Bearing in mind a new building team is due to commence construction by the end of this month (no idea as to why the first team was dismissed..) and Palm have moved to Ajman to hopefully keep an eye on construction, maybe there will be real progress soon !

I envy your trust and confidence in the project! Their construction has stopped and they do not have an Escrow account till now, and yet you have paid the June installment!! You don't seem to be so poor after all!

I personally will not pay them till they have an escrow account and as you suggest we should wait till Sep and see how things go from there. It will be much easier to form an investor group if nothing happens by then.

I had paid almost 40% of the amount so far and post dated cheques are already with Palm real estste for the ramianing monthly payments. Last week I came t know that they had closed the Dubai office and shifted to Ajman. Before the cheque date when I contacted Sajjid, he said new contractor will be appointed within a couple of weeks and the escrow account also will be ready soon. I had gone to the bank in Dubai to stop the cheque , however bank informed they need letter from police to stop the cheque. I did not gone further. But they cleared the cheque inspite of assuring me. Can any one tell me how I can block the cheque provided to them? I am really worried and we need to get them to agree payment based on construction as suggetsed by one of the guy earlier.

Jai
056 6033130

Dear All;
Does anyone knows how many investors bought flat at Crystal Residency? How can we get everyone in order to communicate. I got to this website by accident & thanks God I did. We need to get to most of the investors in order to find a solution. It looks like until now no action is taken. Maybe it is a good idea if we find an attorney in UAE even if we have to pay him, but6 at least we get our money back. If you like I have a friend in Dubai maybe he can help us to find a good attorney. Or pls. if anyone knows an attorney in Dubai or Ajman. Last Thursday I wrote to Miss Nouf Al-Kaabi asking her about Arra, but I did not receive any feedback from her yet. Maybe I will give her a call today.

According to Arra you can stop all your checks until they are registered. it will be good for you to call Arra, they will email you that you have the right to stop all payments until they are registered. And maybe you can use their email to presented to the bank.
Pls. keep us posted

what about those investors who are outside the country. How can they participate in anything just let me know cause i cant do anything am just reading your comments everday.

Well, i have been to B-16 today evening and its true that there was no progress in last three months. There are pillers and a steep slope for parking but there is no roof so far. There were even no sign of any activity in that area as well. But apart from that, Emirates city was progressing well, there are already many high rise building standing beside (Sweet home) in C & D rows.
I have some four other investors in company i work for and we all have given post dated cheques. So i am urging them to stop payment at least by August until the clouds of un certainity are clear. But lets all have a single voice and single opinion. I still dont think, Attorney will be good option at this stage as we should not waste more money but we need to push them,so if any one can do it trough Newpaper, media that would be fine....
Have peace.

Sanan

I was lucky to find this forum.
I see there are others just like me unsure on what is going on
There has been no development for last 4 month

They are encashing the post dated cheques on time but there is no news on the development

I have also been reading they are in process of registering with ARRA for more than 1 month. Every week passing by, someone updates on the forum that it will take 10 more days, which is very weird

I suggest that investors in this project residing in U.A.E should take some action and meet each other to discuess possible outcomes

Dear All
It looks like we are going into circle & no decision yet have been agreed on. Again according to ARRA the last day is July 1st (today) for registration. For investors how lives in UAE pls. call ARRA and ask for an advise. As I mentioned in my previous input they told me that if Palm do not register, we do have the right to stop payments & we can file a lawsuit. Now usually we do not pay the attorney until he get us our money back. Shall we agree to all of us meet in Ajman after summer holiday and investors who lives in UAE can look for a good attorney that we can work with. Pls. let us have feed back on this suggestion.

Have just spoken to Arra who say that their committee is now reviewing the Bonyad / Crystal Residency file and once it is decided all documents have been submitted etc.., registration is then finalised and the escrow account can be opened. The decision will be given in about 10 days according to them.

Also, here latest email from Palm:-
“we already submit our documents with them (arra) and we just waiting for our audit report so the ARRA registration people know that we dont have any problem to meet the deadline, and we already finalize the contractor we just waiting for the approval from the municipality- by the end of this month both things will be done. “

Shen, I am not based in the UAE, am an investor in an apartment in Crystal Residency, and am only reporting for those who are in the same situation what I am getting directly from either Arra or Palm after chasing them on a regular basis either by email or telephone - You are welcome to do the same....