| Member Options |
|---|
| Property Search | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Real Estate News |
|---|
 |
Azizi Investments confirmed purchase of land at Mina Rashid Arabtech Construction to construct Dubailand Project Radisson SAS Residence, Dubai Marina opens luxury apartments |
Buyers beware of Property Tour Scam in Dubai!
- August 20, 2006, 7:41 pm
The latest practice to emerge in Dubai’s overheated, but hopefully stabilising, property market is that of estate agents charging clients for viewing properties. And, for a change, the accusation of overly greedy estate agents is not levelled at those operating in the residential but in the commercial sector.
It has been brought to the attention of Khaleej Times that some agents in Dubai — and in this instance they are smaller one-man-band type operators — are demanding that clients pay them Dh200 in advance before they will take them on a property viewing. The reason they have cited for making such a charge is that “we do not want to waste our time”. This, despite the fact they would normally receive a hefty commission once the sale has been made.
The practice is affecting not only expatriates, as is often typical, but locals as well. In fact it was a local, looking for land on which he could extend his business, who alerted Khaleej Times to this latest scam. Two estate agencies he approached, one operated by an Indian, another by a Syrian, demanded the Dh200 advance fee. Naturally, he refused and, knowing the country well, said he was happy to view the properties unaccompanied. Both refused to give him details of the properties.
Landlords too are continuing to engage in unsavoury practices. To circumvent the 15 per cent rent capping for incumbent tenants introduced by the government earlier this year, landlords are still asking tenants to vacant the premises on the grounds that family members wish to move in. Rather than being satisfied with the 15 per cent rent hike to which they are legitimately entitled they continue to seek increases of 30 or 40 per cent. A good case in point is The Greens in New Dubai where rental prices have reached levels that will be hard to justify as new developments start coming on stream.
Perhaps, however, this is the last attempt by landlords and agents to squeeze tenants financially before having to accept the return of more realistic rentals. Between now and the end of the year 56,000 properties (perhaps even more) are forecast to become available, with only 45,000 people expected to move to Dubai. Fortunately for those seeking properties to rent some new developments are becoming available now.
A survey by DSL Exhibitions, organisers of the Resale and Rental Property Show, confirmed that Dubai property prices are cooling and that the good news for tenants is that rents are predicted to stabilise in coming months and perhaps even to fall. Executives across 351 real estate brokerages, dealerships and consultants took part in the survey, with 74 per cent of those polled predicting that rental prices would not change over the next year and 21 per cent predicting a slide, although the magnitude of the fall was predicted at less than 10 per cent. Nonetheless, it is still good news for tenants and for companies fed up with continual price increases.
Source - Khaleej Times
Related News
Emaar offers buying leased home options
Emaar Properties launches Command Control Centre in Dubai
Emaar unveils unique duplexes and villas at The Views
Emaar sets new record with 10,000 handovers
Latest News
Dubai Property Prices to fall by 2011
Tamweel announced that it expects higher growth in 2008
Realty Capital cooperates with Al Naboodah to boost i-Rise
Nakheel partners with US food retailer Balducci’s
| Currency Converter | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|