UDC want's a blank check

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I see a lot of talk but no action, The best thing is to pull together at least 3 or 4 Tower 8B buyers and take our case to court. That will reduce our costs. Anyone inetersted?

Technically it is not UDC who are asking for the amendments to be signed or you do not get your apartment as the contract is between you & The Land & not UDC. UDC are clever about this. Realistically we all know it is UDC who are pushing for these to be signed. Why would a developer when they are so close to getting their final handover cheques put forward a new addendum which favors UDC when they know this will annoy their customers more than they already are? They also know others have not signed this (Sabban, First Qatar) & they just want to hand over their apartments, get paid & move on as quickly as possible.

There is no financial gain for the developer, just hassle & delays.

I checked my flat at tower 8B and the quality of material and finishing is sooooooo baaaaad.....

From the cheap kitchen that is done localy and unprofesionaly and according to the subcontactor on site didnt cost more than 4000QR to the kitchen appliances wich was not mentioned in the contract and is forced on us to buy for 18000QR and have been laying there for almost 3 years already and some of it does not work properly(i have video) to the bad quality of the tiles and the tiling job(most tiles chipped and not leveled) to the cheap bathroom utilities (bathrooms do not have any windows or fans to vent the vapor and smells!!)....i photographed everything and also have a video of it...I contacted The Land and asked them to remove the kitchen and appliances and waiting to hear back from them.....

I bought at the Pearl Qatar from The Land in 2007 in tower 8B and yet waiting for completion. I also sought legal advice. Now i have a choice of breaching the contract with them and getting all my money back plus what ever harm or damage if i can prove it (like intrest on loan) he asked for a fee of 20,000Qr... The lawyer already won a case for someone who bought 7 units for 25.5 million and got her back all the money she paid (it was published in AlSharq newspaper and they also published about what UDC is doing and UDC replied with a full page denying everyrhing, but nothing published yet about any subcontractor)...

so my question is: should i stay or should i go..

As Tin Tin said, our addendum was finally cancelled. I sought legal advice who said that it is illegal on a large number of grounds, but they know that already. They also know that to take them to court will cost a bomb for you & likely you are paying your mortgage already and if they lose courts here do not award costs to the winner. Each side pays thier own way.

I would simply say that it is a known fact that Sabban did not have to sign this thing nor did First Qatar so why should we. I've seen an SPA from the Land and it looked very much like ours. They will tell you most have signed, and many would have, but not all. Hold your ground and see what happens. If you do have to sign, also hand them a letter from you which says upfront that you are signing this under duress. This will give a come back later if you wish to persue legal channels later with others.

Our Addendum was finally cancel with First Qatar but it is difficult for me to said since I didn't read your SPA. I had mine read by my lawyer he said that it was illegal to hold your keys if your flat was ready.

Contact a Lawyer

Hi i am purchasing from the land at tower 9b and it is just completed and now they want me to sign the new amendment. now there is a mexican stand off, because i refuse to sign it, because it says basically the master developer Udc has control of everything, but takes responsibility for nothing, and i have no rights. i have already invested thousands of riyalls and now being blackmailed if i dont sign it i dont get the keys. thats blackmail in the real world, right? the land keeps saying everyone else has signed it, and i dont care. i dont sign anything i dont agreee to.

does anyone have any advice? how have other people got on? are people taking legal action? i cant believe that there is not more of an uproar about this. what has happened to other people? what can i do?

Joebloggs how did it go??

Thanks for your reply. we are trying to negotiate something and its our last attempt at solving this problem.

Bloggs,

I feel for you mate, but there is little you can do and no one to turn too for assistance. They do what they like with little impunity down there. The only reason they did not charge these extra additional fees before was they were taken to court and lost, but the court case went on for a very long time. The media will not touch bad news stories about the Pearl - they simply do not exist outside of Qatar Living's pages.

Good luck, but I think you are stuck with a wall unless you negotiate for something else.

Dear all

we bought a townhouse more than 3 years ago and it was delivered few months ago. Before completion we noted that a new wall which wasnt in the plan was coming up blocking our view from the 1st floor of our town house. we have objected to this from the start and got as far a getting the chief engineer to have a look at the place to see if they could do something about it. no one did anything about it. Now all they are offering us is to swap to a newer parcel but we will have to pay the difference of half a million QAR. How is this fair?. what can we do further? This irritates me so much!

can anyone advise?

kitecrazy, tintin, pinelands, hotandsticky, aaa157 and Eve, if you haven't signed the addendum yet and you're intrested in doing something about this, as a group, please send me an email: [email protected]

I'm not sure how much we can accomplish but we should at least try to get together and discuss the options.

FQ will never honour the original SPA. They have no intention of doing so, or if they do, they are stuck between a rock and a hard place by UDC.

They have told so many lies in the past it is hard to know what is true and what is fiction with FQ.

This changing of the contract just before you are about to move in and sign or we will not give you the keys just really shows what kind of organisaiton they are and the value of a written contract --- nil.

Now that First Qatar recieved the completion certificate from the Master Developer UDC, we can finally move into our apartments without signing the addendum (according to our original SPA).

I agree with pinelands. You really do not need an attorney to know that they cannot just decide to change the contract whenever they feel like it. We are now past the orginal completion date of Nov 1, 2008 by 16mths and 20 days. The contract allows for 12 months under certain conditions, none of which FQ met to be honest, but it is now 16mths and 20 days and no written comments from FQ about when the apartment will be ready.

I signed the original documents in good faith that these were the charges payable not these are the charges payable now, but we can change them at anytime later. I think I will be looking closely at jointly taking UDC and FQ to court. UDC supplied the original contracts, they also supplied the addendum, so they're also to blame. If they are not, let the courts decide.

I agree, FQ give me my apartment, if not give me my money or we go to court - you and UDC.

Apparently there is a new addendum now - as apposed to the other new one. This one is some 77pages. Given the old contract was only 140 odd pages this would mean that they have changed more than a reasonable percentage.

Yes we passed Completion date.I will not sign anything. We signed SPA if they cannot honour give me my money back or see you in court they can decide. I dont even think you need an attorney.If you can read and understand you SPA attorney will tell you same things you already concluded.

So FQ give me my apartment, If not give me my money or we go to court.

My understanding is that we have pass the completion date

I just noticed something very interesting on page 11 of the SPA i signed with First Qatar. Clause 3-2 says:

"the seller confirms to the purchaser that the form of this agreement has been aproved by UDC as required by the Principal Agreement and that it has fulfilled all its obligations contained in clause 13.5(h) of the Principal Agreement"

ALSO, on page 15 clause 7-2 says:

"Notwithstanding that a certificate may not have been issued, the Purchaser may occupy the unit from and including the completion date:

SO, LET'S JUST ALL IGNOR THE ADDENDUM AND JUST MOVE IN ONCE THE COMPLEION CERTIFICATE IS ISSUED.

I sent you a private msg.

I will work on the english newspaper soon.

Indeed CM and like I wrote earlier it's gonna be on all cost and expense not on the expediture..

aaa157 thanks this is a good news after all 80% of the prospective buyer are arabic speaker. But the english media are in Bed with UDC or they stay away from any negative press for Qatar I don't know.

I just noticed that the new addendum has a clause which increases maintenance fees from a maximum of 5% of expenses to a minimum of 15% with no maximum limit set.

This would enable UDC to basically charge whatever they like over the stated minimum of 15% - This could be 20% or it could be 200% or more like 1500% - the sky's the limit.

This is actually not allowed under the law to not set a ceiling.

I understand many of you are not Arabic speakers, but for those who are, I hope you watched today's show on Qatar TV (احداثيات اقتصادية). In this show, they usually discuss things reated to the country's economy, and today it was about real estate rental policy. The show hosted a local lawyer and a real estate advisor. In the middle of the show someone called and talked about this contract issues we are having with the pearl developers. I couldn't tell whether he bought from UDC or a sub-developer, but it seems that the guy is also mad at the situation. The lawyer made it clear that It is completely illegal to change the cost of a service or a product whatsoever if the original contracts specified the costs initially. It seems that the lawyer is already familiar with what is going on at the Pearl. I think he was referring to things like FQ specifying 150 QR/sqm capped for 3 years and then trying to change them. Also, the extra "registratoin fees" they've added once apartments are delievered ...etc

The addendum that Tin Tin is discussing is now posted online and is viewable here

http://thepearlcommunity.com/addendum-FQ.pdf

I have seen the original SPA contracts that the Land has and they are the same as FQ's. These contracts were originally supplied by UDC to the developer and they were required to use them for all sales so they are all the same.

This is just another scam. How can they make you sign a new contract that is different from the previous contract. FQ are already in breach of the contract on so many different levels so I guess they figure why not just re-write it and start again.

There is nothing that is right about this. Why would you want to give control to what has proved to be a less than honest and transperant developer.

I agree with hotandsticky, there will be no end to the fees and new fees will be introduced daily. The term "unreasonably exceed the tariff of other providers" should not be allowed under contract law.

Basic contract law does not allow for one party to charge a open ended, non specific series of fees that put the other person at a disadvantage. It is designed, in theory, to protect both parties. How can you clearly define "not unreasonably exceed"? It means different things to different people and is indefinable.

It is not reasonable or acceptable for me to accept paying more than market price, so how can we then enter into a contract where I'm guaranteed to pay more with no upper limits. A reasonable amount in this case for FQ may be 25% or more than the current market price. For them this would be reasonable and for me unacceptable.

This is wrong and I will not sign. This is something I would be prepared to go to court for and challenge. Enough from this developer and their conniving ways.

Just dont feel right about developer who, beyond selling you your property, wants to control and market everything you require to live in that property at an extortionate profit. Do not be lulled that any entity who wishes to retain control will provide a service at the customary and reasonable cost. You will be squeezed beyond belief and beyond what you can bear. You will be greeted every time you come home to another master developer bill. Good luck.

Can we all discuss the fact that we do not HAVE to sign the new addendum.

It is important that we do not sign. Even if 1st Qatar get the signature from some of the owners (at least from the apartments they did not sell yet)they need everyone to agree or this will not fly!

Think twice about this new addendum. I hope someone post it soon so we can discuss as a community the negative aspects of this document. Remember it is a letter and is not legal till you sign it!

By the way, does anyone know when they plan to handover the apartments? What happens if someone doesnot sign the new addendum? Will this means he cannot move in? We surely need a legal expert on this discussion that is familiar with Qatar law.

I just took a quick look and noticed there is a new clause requiring us to enter into a new agreement with the Master Developer (UDC) or its nominee for exclusive installation and utilisation of information technology and telecommunications.

One of the developers at Lusail had this clause and I personally know someone who managed to get it waived (by suing them ofcourse) as it is against the Qatari Law.

Again, all we need to do is show some resistance and patience.

..Let me come home sunday and I will find a way to make it into a pdf..

tintin, I sent you my email address, but i haven't recieved that new contract !!

camelme, trust me, i will make sure the newspapers publish those storie soon.

I just hope nobody signs those new contracts with First Qatar. Just remember that there is nothing will force you to sign it.

Obviously, First Qatar's old contracts are not consistant with what UDC is requiring from all sub-developers. Therefore, UDC wants FQ to fix their contracts with the clients.

Bottomline, we as cliets must refuse to fix FQ's mistakes. They screwed up from the beginning, let them deal with it themselves.

Im a owner and I was just waiting for another rip off to come along. I don't know why they (UDC or any other developer) bother to get lawyers to draft the "contracts" in the first place as they mean nothing. They can change them at will and there is nothing you can do about it and they know it.

The banks, the developers, the master developers they are all out to rip off the real estate buyers of Qatar. The so called media will not report anything to do with negativity related to the Pearl. Let face it, it is not as though the media don't know what is going on.

It is just one giant scam and cover-up.

Yeah you need to get all the facts before going to the paper. Who knows who is trying to pull a fast one. Could be First Qatar as we all know due to last summers fiasco of trying to charge owners extra for essential services that they are dishonest thieves. Cant trust them for anything they say.

Send me a private message with your email I will email you the addendum.

It's for all sub-developer they told me but that remain to be seen....

That's very very very very very unprofessional...

tintin, once I come back to Doha (~end of March) I will make sure I raise this issue to the public. I've already talked to Al-sharq newspaper and they are willing to publish it but they need to see a proof that UDC is requiring us to sign new contracts before moving in. When I arrive and get that letter, first thing i will do is drive to Al-sharq.

By the way, do you know if UDC is doing this to all developers or just First Qatar?

If what you say is true that is truely outrageous. Unethical beyond belief and a warning to anyone who wants to deal with such companies. Actions like this will also drive down the resale price.

I've seen some one sided deals in my time by this is shocking beyond belief!

Keep us posted on this change in the SPA. yeah I would love to write my own contracts and force them on people saying they have no choice. The simple fact that people sined a contract which is not now being honored is just a disgrace. Shows plainly the level of honesty and integrity you are dealing with here. Too bad newpapers like Gulf Times are too scared to print these injustices for everyone to know and see. If anything should be in the paper it should be this. people are getting ripped of left and right and it goes unpublished.

ka3edwarach,

We have a contract/SPA with UDC. We bought a flat in Nov.2007.

Could you please tell me if it is still valid to get our contract registered with the court?.

I really appreciate your input.

You can bet 1000% that if allowed to charge anything they want... you will be raped to no end. I feel so sorry for buyers who are now being forced to sign new SPAs. It is atrocious and disgraceful thay developers are abusing and manipulating the very people that trusted them. Trust that things are being changed for a reason and that reason is MONEY. Money to be further extracted from your pockets into the developers. Pear owners will face and continue to face huge runups in cost that will far exceed the normal and reasonable.

If my original contract was like that I will never have bought the flat.

UDC are dishonest and they will pay for that sooner then later see you in court

as an advice, when ever you have an agreement or a contract

regarding appartments or plot...ect

i recommend as an additional self security, get it approved by the Qatari cort.

as i did , now UDC cant change the contract because the first contract is already registered in the cort.

(hope everything goes right with you)

regards,