The real estate trajectory in Dubai is expected to continue moving upward during the next year.

Data from the Dubai Land Department (DLD) showed that real estate sales topped Dhs132.6 billion since the beginning of the year until now.

The Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) provides a supportive investment environment to attract investors, and regulates the cancellation of unfinished projects to protect real estate buyers.

Real estate expert, Mohammed Al Hafiti, said that said that some real estate projects may be exposed to crises during their implementation, resulting in delays or stumbling so as RERA opt to project cancellation.

He pointed out that many real estate reports issued by a number of advisory institutions specialised in the real estate sector confirm that the real estate trajectory is expected to continue moving upward during the next year. He noted that these expectations depend on Dubai real estate sales data since the beginning of the year.

Al-Hafiti stated that the cancellation of any project is preceded by several procedures representing the supervision of the Real Estate Regulatory Agency and noting the absence of a noticeable development in construction works through the periodic examination of real estate projects, followed by summoning the developer to discuss the reasons for the delay and address the project problems.

He revealed that when it is confirmed that construction works cannot be moved up, the decision of cancellation may become the only choice to reserve the interest of the current buyers and to avoid obtaining more unnecessary payments from them.

“The decision follows procedures such as referring the project file of unfinished and canceled real estate projects to the Special Judicial Committee in the Emirate of Dubai,to consider the grievance that may be submitted by the developer and the possibility of assigning the project to another developer,” Al-Hafiti continued.

Looking into the lawsuits, requests and orders that are in place of a canceled or unfinished project, and determining the rights of buyers and offer peace and reconciliation, may be other procedures,” he said.

Al-Hafiti referred to appointing auditors and specialists with experience, issuing any necessary orders to the escrow account (the bank) and other procedures and powers aimed at limiting the project’s funds and assets, leading to refunding part or all of the paid amounts to buyers, as the case may be.

He confirmed that the Special Judicial Committee for unfinished and canceled real estate projects was formed in the Emirate of Dubai under Decree 33 /2020. Previous to the decree, there were two committees, one was specialised in liquidating canceled real estate projects (in which no construction works had been done), and the second committee was concerned with real estate projects of unfinished construction works and have not yet been fully completed.

The real estate expert indicated that when announcing the cancellation of a real estate project, the jurisdiction is to consider the buyers’ claims to this committee and not to the court, as was the case before and without fees, so that the committee’s decision is now non-appealable and enforceable.

“There is an important procedure where buyers of canceled or unfinished real estate projects must follow, which is to download the Dubai Rest application and choose the name of the project to register their contact data and the purchased real estate unit in, download the agreement, payment receipts, and evidence of registration in the contract system, for ease of communication with them and informing them about the project liquidation procedures developments,” AlHafiti said.