JamesPenguin

Flippers - you mean we could sell it at a profit? We see lots of listings for about 800,000 AED less than we paid, but we don't yet know if they are real, or clickbait. We're trying to find out from various agents.

We will get 3 residencies with the villa if we complete the sale. Emaar has a 3-year 0% finance plan, which they gave to us without any form of credit/income checks. In the UK, the banks would have prevented my purchases because without an income I would not qualify.

JamesPenguin

10% paid. We can't sell without paying 15% at handover, but then if we can't sell it for what we got it for then we lose, potentially more than the 10% deposit. We have several weeks to make a desicion.

JamesPenguin

Thank you for all the advice everyone. Are there any lawyers who can comment on my competence to sign a contract, and the likelihood of getting out of the sales contracts?

Millhouse

As it is offplan I'm afraid to say that you have near zero chance of getting out of this clean.

I defaulted on an off plan in 2009. I was happy to lose the deposit and after about 18mths I got a release letter. The laws have changed a lot since then, Emaar will keep everything and maybe you can get that release letter sooner.

The laws also changed about selling during construction making flipping impossible for offplan.

The legal path is going to take a very long time and will be expensive. I also think you have a zero chance of success.

HiHo

Loosing 10% in the UAE property market is getting off light. The longer you keep a property the more it devalues. Be thankful you have your health and well being and head for the hills kimosabe.

captainflack

IANAL, although my wife and brother are (but not in UAE).

I don't want to sound cynical, I am not a mental health expert. But I would imagine that trying to overturn a financial decision after a few months, that turned out to be rather bad, on the basis it was made while under some kind of mental impairment, is not going to be easy. If it was, everyone who took financial risks that went south after a few weeks would be taking that route. Bi-polar isn't diagnosed with a blood test, it's done via an assessment with a psychiatrist, so anyone who'd done their research could probably convince a doctor who was not aware they might have an ulterior motive for getting a diagnosis.

I am not doubting that you are bi-polar, or implying that it isn't a serious condition. Without going into detail, I know someone who was recently diagnosed and it has been traumatic. And everything I have read about bi-polar suggests that the circumstances you describe fit with that. The problem is, plenty of other people who have made bad life decisions like these aren't bi-polar but with some basic research could probably convince a doctor they were and so would be able to fit the pattern too.

Another thing noted is that your original post very clearly makes a point of saying that "I" made reckless decisions. But in response to other posts, you then talk only about whether "we" could sell at a profit, or that "we" will get residences with the sale.

That rather suggests you have a partner involved here. It's going to be virtually impossible to argue you made decisions alone that were obviously so rash and unwise that they could only be the result of mental impairment, if you had a partner that was either jointly signing the contracts, or at the very least, alongside you while you were making decisions and apparently doing nothing to stop you.

I would agree with others who said your best bet is to write off your deposit and run.