AJMAN // Owners of flats in the two Ajman One towers stricken by last month’s blaze have spoken of an financial ruin and an uncertain future.
The fire on March 28 destroyed three flats in Tower Six owned by David Vincent, an Australian mechanical engineer who lost the source of income that paid for his properties.
“We depend on tenants’ rent to pay the instalments monthly to the developer. This is my main income and, without it, how can I pay the instalments? I cannot,” the 61-year-old said.
In response to a statement from Ghaleb Jaber, the general manager of the developer and owner of Ajman One, who said he was cancelling old rent contracts to offer tenants new flats, Mr Vincent said: “He cannot cancel the contract, which is between us and tenants. It’s nothing to do with him. How can he cancel our contract and move tenants to one of his flats? Which law says he can do this?
“What annoys me is that we are owners and now we must go [to the developer] to ask what are they going to do. Are you going to repair the flats? And they say go away, go away.”
Rajat Suri, an 39-year-old Indian owner of six flats in Towers Six and Eight, echoed Mr Vincent when he said that the developer has no right to cancel his rent contracts with tenants.
“All buildings over here are freehold apartments and they sold them and they are not the owners of them. He can give new contracts for the apartments he has not sold but, for ours, who is he to cancel our contracts?
“At present, they [the developer] are not discussing with owners, they are discussing only with the tenants, who give them money. Owners only ask what shall I do? What is the solution? So owners are a headache for them.”
The businessman said that he has visited the developer’s office on two occasions and was given little information.
“I asked him what should I do and he told me: ‘Come after two weeks’,” said Mr Suri, who had bought the flats off-plan in 2007.
After the cancellation of contracts, owners were faced with also having to reimburse tenants who had paid rent ahead of time.
“Owners are suffering more than tenants, who have a solution. There is no solution for the owners,” Mr Vincent said.
Mr Suri, who has to pay tenants back about Dh500,000, said: “Some tenants paid me cash and cheques for a year or six months. Cheques are no problem to return them but for cash, I don’t have the money – these [flats] are my only income source.”
Both owners wanted to know if the insurance company would repair both the inside and outside of their flats and would pay them the rent of the period of the repairs.
“Every year, we pay a service charge, which is Dh5 per square feet, to the developer for security, cleaning, maintenance and building insurance, so we are party to the building insurance policy,” said Mr Vincent.
Both owners said they had not been told whether they are covered or not.
Mr Jaber said: “The insurance 100 per cent will repair everything. The apartments are fully insured and everything will be repaired.
“The construction company that built the towers will do full maintenance and it will take its money from us and then the insurance company will compensate us.
“And the owners who don’t have money to pay back to tenants, they can give them delayed cheques or meet me to help them.”
roueiti@thenational.ae
The permutations for UAE going to the 2018 World Cup finals
To qualify automatically
UAE must beat Iraq.
Australia must lose in Japan and at home to Thailand, with their losing margins and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
Saudi Arabia must lose to Japan, with their losing margin and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
To finish third and go into a play-off with the other third-placed AFC side for a chance to reach the inter-confederation play-off match
UAE must beat Iraq.
Saudi Arabia must lose to Japan, with their losing margin and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Super Rugby play-offs
Quarter-finals
- Hurricanes 35, ACT 16
- Crusaders 17, Highlanders 0
- Lions 23, Sharks 21
- Chiefs 17, Stormers 11
Semi-finals
Saturday, July 29
- Crusaders v Chiefs, 12.35pm (UAE)
- Lions v Hurricanes, 4.30pm
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
RESULT
Wolves 1 (Traore 67')
Tottenham 2 (Moura 8', Vertonghen 90 1')
Man of the Match: Adama Traore (Wolves)
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Opening Premier League fixtures, August 14
- Brentford v Arsenal
- Burnley v Brighton
- Chelsea v Crystal Palace
- Everton v Southampton
- Leicester City v Wolves
- Manchester United v Leeds United
- Newcastle United v West Ham United
- Norwich City v Liverpool
- Tottenham v Manchester City
- Watford v Aston Villa
