Pearl / Porto Arabia /California Tower ????

Sorry !!!

for some reason my message was duplicated 4 times...

Biggest mistake ever !

I thought we're living in a safe country...been here for a while and everything run smoothly...I never thought there are Realestate Mafias in here ?!

How can you buy property in Qatar! You deserve all the

s h i t that's coming your way now.

Announcement from United Development company to the purchasers in Plots 3A & 3B Porto Arabia in the Pearl Qatar Island.

--------------------------------------------------

In consistence with it's strategic development plan and in order to preserve the purchasers interests, and as promised to the Units Purchasers in towers 3A and 3B in Porto Arabia * California & Florida towers *, United Development Company , The master developer of the Pearl Qatar announces that UDC terminated the contracts with the defaulted developer of the said towers as it failed to fulfill it's representations towards UDC, and the units purchasers that entered with it into sales contracts, also UDC took over the plots in order to safeguard and protect the rights and interests of the said units purchasers. Moreover UDC signed the contracting agreement with the contractor to proceed with the development and construction of the towers California and Florida, which already started. Units purchasers in the above two towers are requested to contact within four weeks of the date of this announcement, the Sales department at tel, No. 974 44953888 in order to submit all necessary papers, proofs and evidences if not yet submitted and sign all necessary papers, proofs and evidences if not yet submitted and sign all required documents. UDC will not entertain any communications after the said four weeks. This is without prejudice to any of United Development Company's Rights.

----------------------------------------------------

So anyway, we went today to the meeting to meet a nice lady, who sounded so optimistic about the whole project, and that we are in safe hands and all...and gave us a new contract to sign, with somehow an extra parking that we didn't buy, and increase of size of the apartment from 73 to 87 Square meter...

Now something is fishy here...I bet they increased the size of the apartment to get more service charges...lol...

Anyone know a good lawyer that we can use for consultancy regarding this case...cause there are so much clauses in the contract that has no numbers...and all states that I have to pay all the charges....WTF ?

Read more: http://qatarliving.com/node/1908259#ixzz1Q64ksXvb

Hava a look at that

http://www.qatarliving.com/node/938800

Tx MSJ and Pinelands ...

I finally found that i'm not the only one...at least there are people I can talk with that they can understand what i'm talking about ?

cause for those who didn't buy in this project, they think it's the heaven on earth, and that I'm the luckiest person ever...LOL...

Maybe that's why they don't want media to hear anything bad about it...they wanna keep that good image in people's mind and keep the ripping off going on...

Well i will listen to your advises guys, and I will hang on maybe till the supposed delivery date on May 2010 or till UDC call me again, cause they promised me a second meeting to sign a new contract with them instead of the old contract with the backrupted developer...

------------------------------------------------------

DON'T BUY AN APARTMENT @ PEARL QATAR...IT WILL BE THE MISTAKE OF YOUR LIFE LIKE IT'S THE MISTAKE OF MY LIFE..

DJoe I will also say just hang in there and hope things workout.Like Msj said to take on the developer is risky and like jumping into a black hole. My suggestion is speak to your bank and see if you can come to some sort of arrangement to defer your interest repayments until handover if that fails tell them you can only afford to repay XXX AMOUNT until handover of your property.If you want more info PM me.

Hi DJoe,

Wow, mate, another horror story.

One of the forums we had running gathered around 300 responses and a lot of information can probably be garnered from reviewing them.

But i will try and give you a summary of what we went though.

We bought from FQ, in June 2008. We were meant to take delivery on November 2008. This was never going to happen but when they said May 2009 we we quite happy.

Its now November 2009 and its safe to say we are still not anywhere close.

Now the big issue came up a couple of months ago when they tried to get us to pay nearly QAR 250 000 worth of connection fees. We and a number of other buyers, were naturally none to impressed with this and so started the big fight for our meagre rights.

We started these forums, we contacted the media, both local and international, we consulted with the Ministry of Business and Trade and lastly we took our contract to a lawyer and got them to review it....for a price i might add.

The outcome: Well the local English newspapers would not print anything negative about the Pearl and they said as much.

We have all seen stories about how great the UDC tower 4 is and all the awards that QatarCool has won overseas but they wont print anything negative about it.

The local Arabic newspapers printed a scathing report on the ludicrous connection fees but the English papers wouldnt touch it. Seemed like they had been warned off.

QatarCool just brushed us off with a press release on their website and the international media werent really interested in a local story.

That leaves the lawyers, we have a get-out clause that says, if our tower is not delivered 1 year after the original completion date we can cancel our contract and ask for our money back. We would have to take them to court though.

Unfortunately this is only on paper, no precendent has ever been set for the outcome so taking your developer to court could be a bit of Russian Roullette.

You may win and the developer cant pay you back because they are bankcrupt and then you are still liable to the bank for all the money they have paid over to the developer on your behalf.

They may counter-sue for whatever they feel like and tie you up in court until you cant afford it anymore.

Lastly, we may all be fighting something much bigger than ourselves and it wont even make it to court...

No one actually knows because it has never been done before. All i can say is hang in there it will probably work itself out. Our situation slowly is...

Lastly, dont spend too much money just yet, PM me if you have any questions and i will tell you everything that it cost us thousands of riyals to find out.

If i wanna create a Group on QatarLiving talking only about Pearl Project all the goods and the bads...what should we do ? I wanna talk with as much people as possible that are suffering, and maybe together we can find a solution to all this rippping off happening in front of everyone without anyone having the power to fight ?!!

------------------------------------------------------

DON'T BUY AN APARTMENT @ PEARL QATAR...IT WILL BE THE MISTAKE OF YOUR LIFE LIKE IT'S THE MISTAKE OF MY LIFE..

This whole thing is very painful for many people. I wish you the best of luck.

Thanks a lot guys for the replies...

I will start working on this in every possible way...Media and Law...and keep it low profile till I know where I'm heading...

And definitely I will update everyone here on Qatar Living, specially the ones with the same situation, maybe it will help them to start a strike against the worst project on the planet...

Tx again...

Another great advert for the Pearl development and another example as an expat how you are not protected if somethink goes wrong.

Unless you can stick it out until 2011, (and maybe later) and you plan to live in it when its finished rather than trying to realise a profit then its best to try and find a way out. Cut you losses now rather than sink any more money into a black hole.

If you want to stay in Doha talk to a Lawyer and show them your contract. If that doesn't work, get on a plan and find another job. There are still plenty of jobs in Abu Dhabi.

all this happening under the dormant eyes of the qatari government!

what an example for the qatar business reputation, it will sure attract (not) many future investors!

It would have been nice from the start for UDC to make sure whoever they sold the land to that they were reputable and honest. Every sub-developer on the Pearl

could showcase a clinic in how to be a scumbag.

The sheer disregard and fleecing of the customers was

unprecedented. Not a single one is straight-forward

and honest with their clientele.

If I was you I would review your contract (sale and purchase agreement). Check for any clauses for non completion. The developer should have insurance that will cover clients in the case of non completion. Although this is Qatar so you can't be sure. I do not believe that UDC or Qatar will allow the building not to be completed as it will be a blur on the whole reputaion of the Pearl. This happened in Dubai a few years ago and the government stepped in and completed the project. Seriously though, I would seek legal advice once you have reviewed the contract and spoken to UDC. Good Luck!

Djoe,

You won't get deported if you get the support of other buyers and report the story without disclosing your names.

The public exposure of such story in the international media, would make the Qatari Authorities act in order to protect/save Qatar's business reputation.

Good Luck!

I'm not planning to leave this country...I was born in here...it's home for me...I just did the mistake of my life and invested in a stupid project...

Like someone above said, best thing to do is to create a lot of fuss and noise about it, in media and in every way possible...

most probably I will get deported...but at least I should try...

If you stop paying the bank & continue staying here,you'll definitely get taken in by the cops for defaulting...happened to a friend,he couldn't pay the first month & was going to pay 2 month's installments together,however on the 2nd month,his source of funds got delayed,around the 3rd or 4th,he got a call from the capital security dept. asking him to come in & when he did,they just told him he had defaulted,was arrested & put in a cell,he was allowed a phone call after a few hours & his money had come in later that day...the next day the 2 installments were given to the bank & he was released that night...This may not be standard procedure because with these clowns,there is no standard procedure,however i would advise you,if you plan to default for more than a month,you better be on a plane out of here...that is if they let you go @ airport immigration,that's another story alltogether,better check on that before you leave...

True, a lawyer is the best choice...but I thought maybe i can get some advises from people who went through the same situation, to learn a thing or two before I start cashing for a lawyer...

A lawyer would possibly be a better choice than QL!

"Love Me or Leave Me"

(MagicDragon)

In case I stopped paying the bank, what's the worst thing that can happen ??? Would I go to jail for that ?

I actually don't care about what I losst...I just don't wanna lose more...Is there anyway I can stop paying and let them take the property back...I would lose like 150.000 riyals but I don't care as long as I don't lose more...

i feel for you mate...it seems highly unlikely these guys are going to give your money back...if nothing else,you won't burn your fingers buying real estate in such an unstable market again,we all live & learn eh?...take it easy...

drink a cup of cold water over it buddy!

Sad news, unfortunately you are not the only one.

I suggest you get together with other buyers and get your story published in local, regional and international media (as much as you can). Try to get public exposure to the problem because this would be the only way to make those who have the power and means to correct the deficiency, to act (a question of saving face)!

Otherwise, if you try the legal means, you would only be wasting even more of your resources.

Good luck!

You will see any money back. Your best bet now is to default on the loan and walk away.

The Tower is unlikely to be finished even in 2010 so you will continue paying for a depreciating assets that you won't see completed till 2011 at earliest.

Count your self very lucky that you are only losing 10% deposit many people have much more.