Go on. Name and shame them.

Go on. Name and shame them.

Rera has vowed to publish names of developers in Dubai who fail to meet their contractual requirements.

February 19, 2009 12:09 by Dana El Baltaji

The Real Estate Regulator Authority (Rera) vowed to “name and shame” property developers who fail to adhere to their schedules or skimp on quality, says Rera CEO Marwan bin Ghalita.

Low investor confidence prompted the authority to take action against developers that have not delivered on their promises in a bid to improve the market’s credibility.

Ghalita also informed developers at a briefing on Tuesday, organized by Badr Al Islami, the Islamic banking arm of Mashreq Bank, that they will keep 30 percent of all payments made by investors if they choose to break their contracts, but Rera will be mindful of investors’ circumstances given the credit crisis, reports Gulf News.

“We’ll be flexible. Exceptions could be made if the investor is unable to continue to pay due to some genuine reasons, such as loss of pay, job loss – which we will have to consider,” he said.

“These will have to be approved by Rera and will be handled case-by-case.”

The meeting also touched upon the issue of freehold visas, which has been a controversial issue since the launch of freehold properties in Dubai. Ghalita stressed that the government is working on the details, which will be made public shortly.

Last week, Ghalita reacted to negative news reports on Dubai’s property market by saying that “Dubai is like a movie star, and just like a movie star everyone is looking at us, adding more pressure.”

He also stressed that negative perceptions of Dubai’s property sector are unjustified: “We understand the feelings of worry resulted from the impact of the global financial crisis but we are against the unjustifiable panic, exaggeration and hitting under the belt by some for the sake of making illegitimate ends,” he added.