The basic thing here is that whatever you believe about the 8% offer or not, whether you have any chance of getting out of the rental guarantee with furniture package deal of 8% all depends on how hard you are willing to fight and how much money you want to spend. It also depends on whether or not you signed and returned their Supplementary agreement document or not.
You all know which company (The Company) I am refering to, so I will not mention them here becuase I wouldnt want to get into any trouble .....
Just to be clear, further to my own investigations, the various names of companys commonly refered to as the owners in your documentation are all related in ownership, as they are just off-shore companies set up by the owners of The Company ( who by the way are 2 brothers one based in London and one based in Dubai ) – All of these companies are owned by the same individuals – just methods of tax evasion or tax avoidance – depends on your point of view.
They allege the Reservation form, an excel spreadsheet form with some very very basic terms on it that I signed back in March 2005 is a legally binding document. Any solicitor will show you it is not a legally binding document, because it doesn’t state legal jurisdiction or any detailed terms of agreement or contract.
I signed the agreement in London from a UK sales agent and all documents stated the name of The Company (the seller) and the deposits etc were paid in sterling £ in the UK. So how does that make the piece of paper I signed which was to reserve a unit for purchase from Nakheel ( via a seller in London with a London address ) a legal document in Dubai, and that the Court of Dubai will uphold as legitimate??? Doh!
In addition, My solicitor ( quite an abrupt and unhelpful guy – the type of lawyer who wont talk to u unless you agree to his hourly rate !!!) in Dubai said that ,
“you are not however legally obliged to sign the Unit Sale and Purchase Supplementary Agreement (“Supplementary Agreement”) because:
a. The [Name of offshore holding company] (whose name the Supplementary Agreement was in) is a third party and is not privy to your previous agreement with The Company under the terms and condition of the Reservation Form;
b. The Supplementary Agreement is unduly onerous and could not have been contemplated when you signed the Reservation Form, these provisions in particular:
i. Section 2.2 – requiring Purchaser to pay for damage due to intentional and negligent acts or omissions of the users/lessee who were authorized by the Seller;
ii. Section 2.4 - compelling Purchaser has to indemnify the Seller for damages and losses incurred in connection with the lease unless damage is directly caused by Seller. Purchaser only need indemnify Seller where loss is directly caused or is attributable to the Purchaser.
When the Nakheel Sales Agreement was sent to me in October, along with the Supplementary Agreement, I signed and returned the SPA as requested but I held onto the Supp Agreement as I wanted to renegotiate the 8%. The lady there, whom I am sure you know, was exceptionally rude, unhelpful and evasive and downright refused to help me speak to a member of management. I complained, received the same treatment from the Director of Operations and owners of the business, and decided to pursue the matter through sheer bloody-mindedness.
I did not sign the supplementary agreement document and started communicating with The Company from last October by email. They always refused to enter into discussions with me and over the time, showed their true deceitful colours. I enlisted the advice of the sales agent whom I bought from in London, and through him they intimated to me that they would give me the property back if I paid them 50,000 dirhams as a compensation payment for the furniture pack… I just ignored the extortion and went ahead and engaged a solicitor firm in Dubai.
They continued their very rude behaviour and ‘don’t give a damn type’ attitude, and by this time I had promised the flat to someone else who was moving to the UAE. I decided to ask for the apt back empty with no rental agreement . They sent me 3 or 4 letters saying I was legally obliged to sign the Supplementary Agreement but I refused. So when I appointed the solicitors, he reviewed all the info, suggested the above, wrote them a letter – they sat on the letter for 2 months before finally agreeing to hand me the keys ‘to bring the matter to a close’.
Their solicitors must have told them it would be too expensive to fight it in the courts – which is the only real option available to you if you want to really pursue. It cost me 6000 dirhams in solicitors fees ( which I found extortionate but then I despise solicitors as worse than the criminals they defend ),and I didn’t even get as far as a court door. But I got my keys back finally in late May, and handed it over to a rental agent who has last week rented it out already. I will receive more money ( after management fees) for the unit in 9 months than if I had kept it with Minc for the 2 year rental agreement.
That’s my sorry story …. I don’t know if it helps you but its not so easy to get it back – I count myself lucky that I didn’t sign the Supplementary Agreement and also that I’m an easy going guy , but they really managed to p*** me off with their couldnt care attitude.
In the end they lost out because if they had only had a discussion wth me when I asked for it last October, I would have probably blissfully agreed to the 2yr rent and just kept my mouth shut!
Good luck guys, if I can help more, please let me know, but please dont ask for my opinion, as its probaly not relevant to the facts of your individual case....
