UAE president issues law regulating real estate sector in Abu Dhabi

President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in his capacity as the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, has issued a law regulating the real estate sector in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

The new law specifies in detail the jurisdictions of the Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) regarding all real estate issues. The most important jurisdictions include preparation of a real estate register to save all data and documents relating to any real estate development, and creation of a project guarantee account, to be opened by the developer for each project upon approval from the DMA to deposit all amounts paid by the buyer of real estate units, in order to protect the rights of buyers in case the units are sold an off-plan property.

The law also provides details regarding the involved licensed individuals including the developer, the mediator and his employee, the seller who sells in auctions, the appraiser and the surveyor. The law explained the rights and commitments of these individuals.

To address the issue of selling off-plan, the new law created a new register, to be named "initial real estate register", to record all transactions related to the real estate units sold off-plan. The aim is to cover all previous issues like failure to implement the sale contract and failure of developers to implement the project and to protect the rights of developers and buyers of real estate units.

The new law also tacked the regulation of the union of owners, which comprises all owners of real estate units and ensures that all the rights and commitments of owners are clear depending on the percentage of ownership.

The new law also covered a number of other issues to protect all those involved in the real estate sector.