Overview

Law No.27 of 2007 concerning Ownership of Jointly Owned Properties in the Emirate of Dubai (JOP Law) was issued on 10 December 2007. The recent issuance of a number of Directions (JOP Directions) by the Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) has provided greater clarity for owners of property in jointly owned property developments. There remains, however, a number of unanswered questions over how the JOP Directions will affect hotels and branded operators. Brent Baldwin looks at potential issues.

In brief:
• Mixed use developments such as retail, hotel and residential complexes are likely to be significantly affected by the JOP Directions.
• The JOP Law and JOP Directions are flexible. Developers will, however, need to consider the boundaries of what is acceptable to RERA when their projects are registered under the JOP Law.
• A key part of the implementation of the JOP Directions was to give different owners a fair and equal degree of control over the management and administration of common facilities. Anything that unfairly favours one particular owner or group of owners may be rejected by RERA.
• It is important that issues regarding maintenance and management are properly considered by a developer and are reflected in the JOP documentation with a view to reducing unfavourable changes to the documentation being sought by owners at a later stage.

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