Al Hamra Village ‘escalates legal action against residents’
Homeowners in Al Hamra Village in Ras al Khaimah are still waiting for final resolution to a three-year, Dh137 million dispute with the developer – the court case has been adjourned several times since July.
In 2015, the gated community switched from a private amenities supplier to the Federal Electricity and Water Authority, Fewa.
The dispute relates to the legality of charges issued to property owners by Al Hamra Real Estate Development.
The developer claims an upgrade fee of Dh110,000 applies to each property, while home owners say they paid a connection fee when they bought their properties. The National reported in July that homeowners were expecting a court order within a week after the dispute had raged for three years but, they say, the case has instead been repeatedly adjourned.
Homeowners said that in the meantime, the developer has continued to bring court cases against them for not paying the disputed upgrade fees, and the number of open cases has increased from 13 in July to 52.
“In a normal professional environment, Al Hamra would wait for the court decision and abide by it,” said an owner who is being sued by the developer.
The owner said that the opening of cases has caused a lot of unnecessary expenses for people, such as lawyer’s fees, translation costs, court time and travel expenses.
“One lady was forced to fly in from Thailand to fight her case,” the owner said.
“Owners have purchased in Al Hamra village to have a holiday home and ultimately a retirement home. They did not expect to be sued by Al Hamra.”
Residents said that the developer is cutting off the water supply of people who refused to pay the fees and is not issuing the no-objection letters needed to, among other things, sell their property, paint exterior walls and carry out modifications. “We are not 100 per cent sure why the court decided to adjourn, but we have been told that the appointed experts could not complete the task given to them by the judge, nor could they provide copies of the required proof and documentation,” said another homeowner who, like the first, asked not to be identified.
The second owner also claimed that the developer had not been truthful with them about the circumstances of the supplier switch.
“Al Hamra Real Estate Development has always claimed that they were forced by Fewa to switch over from the private supplier to Fewa, but we recently discovered that this is untrue. We now have proof that Al Hamra asked Fewa for a connection,” the owner said.
Al Hamra Real Estate Development did not respond to a request for comment, but had previously said that the matter was “now sub judice [under judicial consideration and therefore prohibited from public discussion] and as such it would be inappropriate for Al Hamra to comment. However, we would like to state that this course of action was only taken as a last resort, and after considerable discussion with the residents.”