A warning has gone out to expatriate property buyers in Bahrain to beware the small print in their contracts.

It follows several complaints, received by the real estate committee at Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), of developers abandoning maintenance responsibility at residential buildings, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Businessman Nasser Ali Al Ahly, who is a senior member of the committee, has urged people to carefully read the terms and conditions of their contracts to ensure the existence of a maintenance clause, which would be covered by the developer or a third party.

“We have received several calls from people who bought new flats in different areas across Bahrain complaining about no one maintaining these properties,” Al Ahly told the GDN.

“Most of the complainants are expatriates who spend thousands of dinars to buy properties and now, for example, there is no one to maintain the lift of the building.

“In many new properties, the owners are not liable to maintain these facilities because it is not stated in the contrac,t which raises the question who is responsible then.

“So, now we have flat owners carrying out maintenance at their own cost or have to wait for days until someone addresses their problem.

Contracts

“We stress buyers to make sure their contracts clearly state who is responsible for the maintenance of their properties.”

The issue was also discussed during a two-day forum on the real estate sector and its economic impact, which ended yesterday at the Four Seasons Hotel.

The forum also highlighted the ongoing problems with stalled development projects.

On January 19, the Cabinet set up a Ministerial Committee for Reconstruction and Infrastructure, which has since investigated a number of stalled projects and referred them to a judicial committee under the Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Ministry, known as the Committee for the Settlement of Real Estate Projects Facing Hardship.

Two stalled projects, Juffair Views and Landmark City View, were referred to the panel following delays in construction work, which was supposed to be completed respectively by mid-2009 and October 2010.

The stalled Amwaj Gate and Marina West real estate projects were also referred to the judicial committee earlier this year to be settled within 18 months.

The committee is also following up the completion of Riffa Views and Villamar.

“It should be made clear to all those buyers who invested in stalled projects they have not lost their money,” said Kuwait Finance House executive manager Mohammed Fahmi, who submitted a paper on stalled projects.

“The ministerial committee is working to find solutions and one of the options is the sale of these projects and the distribution of the money among the concerned parties.”

The GDN reported in April that a BCCI study found that it would cost between $350 million to $400 million (BD130 million to BD150 million) to finish work on stalled projects.

To put that in context, $400 million is a mere four per cent of the $10-billion GCC Development Fund, which was set up in 2011 using money allocated by the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to finance development plans in Bahrain over the following 10 years. - TradeArabia News Service