Developers react positively to new realty authority

By Robert Ditcham, Staff Reporter
Published: August 02, 2007

Dubai: Several more leading Dubai-based developers have reacted positively to this week's launch of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), a subsidiary of Dubai Land Department that will regulate the property sector.

"The initial statements coming out from the RERA make the entire real-estate community happy and hopeful of better things to come in Dubai, be it consumer protection or discussions over Home Owners Associations," said Darshan Hiranandani, managing director of Hircon International, a joint venture between Hiranandani Developers and ETA Star Property Developers.

Hiranandani welcomed additional regulation of developers, but said any belief that that the real-estate market is currently unregulated is 'untrue'.

He said the market is self-regulated through competition between private developers and additional pressure from master developers such as Emaar, Nakheel, and Dubai Properties.

Meanwhile, Gassan Kachouh, valuation manager at Limitless, a Dubai World company, said a key role of RERA will be to licence and regulate the real estate brokerage industry.

"We have long been calling for brokers to be qualified and licensed in order to protect Dubai's reputation as a property investment hotspot. Now, under the watchful eye of the new authority, unscrupulous and unprofessional players in the market will be weeded out," he said. "At the moment, too many brokers are operating with little or no experience, often giving property buyers bad advice, poor service and underhand treatment.

Many other companies have welcomed the introduction of an agency that will focus on regulating Dubai's maturing property sector and oversee the implementation of several new property laws.