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Friday 29 Nov 2024 - Dubai - Seat Son Buys A House
Up and on the road by 0830 today for an important appointment in Dubai at the Settlement Office - Seat Son's house settles today!
This was another fascinating cultural insight, starting with the fact that Almost DIL is not officially part of this purchase - as they are not yet married, an unmarried man and woman are not permitted to jointly own a property. The next interesting thing is that all settlement is conducted physically. There is nothing electronic about the transaction except the ultimate emailing of a link to the title once the process is all completed. so strap in for an experience and a half!
When we arrived at the Settlement Office, it was patriotically decorated for UAE National Day. It was a bit OTT, but the entry foyer seemed calm and like any other government office. Ha!!!! Oh, and it was Friday, the last working day before the 4 day long weekend, which is taken very seriously in the UAE. Plus, Fridays mean Friday Prayers - every Friday at about 1 pm, a large proportion of the population goes to mosque for the holiest prayers, which take a fair while, and many don't come back to work afterwards. So it was a bit of a perfect storm of time pressures.
Walk through that arch, and it was like another world, a chaotic, shambolic, frenetic, loud parallel universe. I wasn't able to take photos - I felt awkward doing so, as there were big signs up saying no phone, no camera, so I will have to paint a picture with words. For those who are old enough, get a picture in your mind of the New York Stock exchange in the 1987 market crash - people yelling down the phone and at each other; others running from one end of the office to the other, waving strips of paper; clerks frantically pounding on their keyboards, and people lined 5 or 6 deep at every service position. For the younger, maybe a bit like the last minute tote betting at the Melbourne cup?
The reception area was totally jammed with people. This made me wonder a lot of things. Firstly, I wondered how it was possible that so many people were buying houses. Secondly, I wondered, with naive smugness, why they hadn't made an appointment like we had.
OK here we go. There were so many people because for just our transaction there were 12+ people:
So when we arrived at 1015 for the 1030 appointment, the first step was to check in. We joined the shortest line, with about 5 people and started to wait to check in. The general level of hubbub was loud. After about 10 minutes in line, we heard a piercing shout in a strong Scouser accent "Seat Son, over here". Bless her, Seat Son's real estate agent had earnt her commission by working out that it was likely to be busy for the reasons described above and had arrived at 0930 to line up to check in on his behalf. Clearly not her first rodeo.
So after only 15 minutes in the mayhem, we were ushered into a settlement room with the settlement agent, who told us she would take Seat Son through some of the preliminaries while we waited for the seller to be checked in. I bet you can guess how that went! So the settlement agent starts to run through a long list of documents required for the transaction, asking if Seat Son has them with him. Some he did, but others he had previously emailed to the settlement office on their request and so had not brought them with him. "Tut, tut" she said, "you need to have a physical copy with you. I will look on the email and see if I can find it and we can print it out. Much huffing and puffing and clacking on the keyboard, before she said, "no, you have not emailed the documents to the settlement office." Now this is a red rag to a lawyer, so Seat Son pulled out his phone and scrolled for a while and showed her that the emails had indeed been sent, and that they also said that there was no need to bring physical copies if the documents were emailed in before settlement day. "Oh no" she said, "that's just wrong. You must have physical copies. I will look again." By the time she was on her 4th look again, the seller and her entourage arrived, and it was soon discovered that she too had emailed documents, did not have them with her, and those documents could also not be found in the email system. At about this point, she called IT Help Desk, and in a universal cultural experience, apparently they were not very helpful
, so off she went to find a person who could help with the email issue. she came back soon after with 2 IT people who did the whole did you shut it down and start again thing (even though it was all in Arabic, these exchanges were achingly familiar 
), before some concerned looks, some more keyboard clacking, and the pronouncement that it was actually the settlement portal that was down "overloaded because it is so busy today - almost like the day before Ramadan" and the missing documents were probably on the portal, but the portal couldn't be opened at the moment. So perhaps we would all like some mint tea while we waited?
We all accepted, and waited. And waited, and waited, and waited some more. The noise levels rose as other settlements also stalled and people with later appointments tried to check in. Eventually, at about 1200, they started turning away people with appointments who had not yet been able to check in - come back on Wednesday.
By 1230, the seller was getting very antsy, and started to make like she was going to leave. Seat Son did NOT want this to happen, because settlement could not proceed if she was not physically present and his cheque for $1m was literally burning a hole in his pocket. So we all took turns to engage her in some conversation. As the female next closest in age to the seller, it culturally fell to me to carry the small talk. So of course, I started with questions about her family. "This is my son who will buy your house, and he will get married soon to Almost DIL. Are you lucky enough to also have some children?" So that opened up a useful line of inquiry. She was getting antsy because her children would be home from school at 1300 and she needed to be there to greet them and make their lunch. Thinking they must be quite small children, I enquired after their ages, the be told that her son was 18 years old and her daughter 17 years old
- there's another fascinating cultural difference right there.
But inshallah, things went our way when the portal suddenly kicked to life at about 1235 and lo and behold, all the documents were there and could be printed. To this day I don't know why they had to be printed if they were all present and correct on the portal, but that is how it went. Things really started to move along now and by 1250 we all transferred over to the settlement trustee's office so that the legal formalities could be completed - Scanning of Emirates ID cards, fingerprinting of both buyer and seller, and transfer of the funds to the trustee, who in turn would raise a Trustee cheque for the seller. Seat Son had engaged the settlement trustee in a bit of Arabic banter, commenting on the busy day, and how close it was running to Friday prayers and did the trustee need to get to prayers. He smiled at that and said that he would make his peace with Allah later in the day, which was very kind of him. So a lot of paperwork took place, the bank cheque for $1m was handed over and everyone thought we were home and hosed.
But it was not to be - it was now 1315, and the transfer auditor had gone to prayers. What the actual???? Yes, there had to be a physical audit of all the documentation and the cheque etc before the title could be transferred. So transfer of title will be delayed until Wednsday, and the seller will need to return on Wednesday to collect her trustee cheque for $1m. So, at 1345, we left, empty handed.
I will never criticise PEXA again!!!!!
What a truly Middle Eastern cultural experience that was.
Despite the slightly anti-climactic ending to the process, Seat Son and Almost DIL were in good spirits - they have lived here long enough to know that nothing, but nothing, ever runs smoothly. So we headed over to Almost DIL's parents' house. Her Dad was back from Saudi for the long weekend and is a total brai beast, so he had made us boerwurst on the brai, which we chopped up into smaller pieces and put into fresh buns, with some side salads and a bottle or 2 of Mumm to celebrate the almost homeowners! We enjoyed a convivial afternoon of family conversation as a cooling breeze blew gently across the lake in front of their house, picked at left overs for dinner after our late lunch, took an evening stroll and settled in for the night.
Today's steps: 6,150
Temperature: 29 degrees - has the weather turned to winter yet????
Up and on the road by 0830 today for an important appointment in Dubai at the Settlement Office - Seat Son's house settles today!
This was another fascinating cultural insight, starting with the fact that Almost DIL is not officially part of this purchase - as they are not yet married, an unmarried man and woman are not permitted to jointly own a property. The next interesting thing is that all settlement is conducted physically. There is nothing electronic about the transaction except the ultimate emailing of a link to the title once the process is all completed. so strap in for an experience and a half!
When we arrived at the Settlement Office, it was patriotically decorated for UAE National Day. It was a bit OTT, but the entry foyer seemed calm and like any other government office. Ha!!!! Oh, and it was Friday, the last working day before the 4 day long weekend, which is taken very seriously in the UAE. Plus, Fridays mean Friday Prayers - every Friday at about 1 pm, a large proportion of the population goes to mosque for the holiest prayers, which take a fair while, and many don't come back to work afterwards. So it was a bit of a perfect storm of time pressures.
Walk through that arch, and it was like another world, a chaotic, shambolic, frenetic, loud parallel universe. I wasn't able to take photos - I felt awkward doing so, as there were big signs up saying no phone, no camera, so I will have to paint a picture with words. For those who are old enough, get a picture in your mind of the New York Stock exchange in the 1987 market crash - people yelling down the phone and at each other; others running from one end of the office to the other, waving strips of paper; clerks frantically pounding on their keyboards, and people lined 5 or 6 deep at every service position. For the younger, maybe a bit like the last minute tote betting at the Melbourne cup?
The reception area was totally jammed with people. This made me wonder a lot of things. Firstly, I wondered how it was possible that so many people were buying houses. Secondly, I wondered, with naive smugness, why they hadn't made an appointment like we had.
OK here we go. There were so many people because for just our transaction there were 12+ people:
- the buyer (Seat Son)
- the buyer's real estate agent (yes that is a thing)
- the buyer's independent witness (Almost DIL)
- anyone else the buyer wanted to be at the transaction ( me and Mr Seat 0A for instance)
- the seller (a middle aged Indian lady)
- the seller's real estate agent
- the seller's independent witness (her sister)
- anyone else the buyer wanted to be at the transaction (two other female relatives)
- the settlement agent
- the settlement trustee
- a passing parade of IT staff (spoiler alert she foreshadows part of the reason that the settlement too over 3 hours to complete!)
So when we arrived at 1015 for the 1030 appointment, the first step was to check in. We joined the shortest line, with about 5 people and started to wait to check in. The general level of hubbub was loud. After about 10 minutes in line, we heard a piercing shout in a strong Scouser accent "Seat Son, over here". Bless her, Seat Son's real estate agent had earnt her commission by working out that it was likely to be busy for the reasons described above and had arrived at 0930 to line up to check in on his behalf. Clearly not her first rodeo.
So after only 15 minutes in the mayhem, we were ushered into a settlement room with the settlement agent, who told us she would take Seat Son through some of the preliminaries while we waited for the seller to be checked in. I bet you can guess how that went! So the settlement agent starts to run through a long list of documents required for the transaction, asking if Seat Son has them with him. Some he did, but others he had previously emailed to the settlement office on their request and so had not brought them with him. "Tut, tut" she said, "you need to have a physical copy with you. I will look on the email and see if I can find it and we can print it out. Much huffing and puffing and clacking on the keyboard, before she said, "no, you have not emailed the documents to the settlement office." Now this is a red rag to a lawyer, so Seat Son pulled out his phone and scrolled for a while and showed her that the emails had indeed been sent, and that they also said that there was no need to bring physical copies if the documents were emailed in before settlement day. "Oh no" she said, "that's just wrong. You must have physical copies. I will look again." By the time she was on her 4th look again, the seller and her entourage arrived, and it was soon discovered that she too had emailed documents, did not have them with her, and those documents could also not be found in the email system. At about this point, she called IT Help Desk, and in a universal cultural experience, apparently they were not very helpful
, so off she went to find a person who could help with the email issue. she came back soon after with 2 IT people who did the whole did you shut it down and start again thing (even though it was all in Arabic, these exchanges were achingly familiar ), before some concerned looks, some more keyboard clacking, and the pronouncement that it was actually the settlement portal that was down "overloaded because it is so busy today - almost like the day before Ramadan" and the missing documents were probably on the portal, but the portal couldn't be opened at the moment. So perhaps we would all like some mint tea while we waited?We all accepted, and waited. And waited, and waited, and waited some more. The noise levels rose as other settlements also stalled and people with later appointments tried to check in. Eventually, at about 1200, they started turning away people with appointments who had not yet been able to check in - come back on Wednesday.
By 1230, the seller was getting very antsy, and started to make like she was going to leave. Seat Son did NOT want this to happen, because settlement could not proceed if she was not physically present and his cheque for $1m was literally burning a hole in his pocket. So we all took turns to engage her in some conversation. As the female next closest in age to the seller, it culturally fell to me to carry the small talk. So of course, I started with questions about her family. "This is my son who will buy your house, and he will get married soon to Almost DIL. Are you lucky enough to also have some children?" So that opened up a useful line of inquiry. She was getting antsy because her children would be home from school at 1300 and she needed to be there to greet them and make their lunch. Thinking they must be quite small children, I enquired after their ages, the be told that her son was 18 years old and her daughter 17 years old
- there's another fascinating cultural difference right there.But inshallah, things went our way when the portal suddenly kicked to life at about 1235 and lo and behold, all the documents were there and could be printed. To this day I don't know why they had to be printed if they were all present and correct on the portal, but that is how it went. Things really started to move along now and by 1250 we all transferred over to the settlement trustee's office so that the legal formalities could be completed - Scanning of Emirates ID cards, fingerprinting of both buyer and seller, and transfer of the funds to the trustee, who in turn would raise a Trustee cheque for the seller. Seat Son had engaged the settlement trustee in a bit of Arabic banter, commenting on the busy day, and how close it was running to Friday prayers and did the trustee need to get to prayers. He smiled at that and said that he would make his peace with Allah later in the day, which was very kind of him. So a lot of paperwork took place, the bank cheque for $1m was handed over and everyone thought we were home and hosed.
But it was not to be - it was now 1315, and the transfer auditor had gone to prayers. What the actual???? Yes, there had to be a physical audit of all the documentation and the cheque etc before the title could be transferred. So transfer of title will be delayed until Wednsday, and the seller will need to return on Wednesday to collect her trustee cheque for $1m. So, at 1345, we left, empty handed.
I will never criticise PEXA again!!!!!
What a truly Middle Eastern cultural experience that was.
Despite the slightly anti-climactic ending to the process, Seat Son and Almost DIL were in good spirits - they have lived here long enough to know that nothing, but nothing, ever runs smoothly. So we headed over to Almost DIL's parents' house. Her Dad was back from Saudi for the long weekend and is a total brai beast, so he had made us boerwurst on the brai, which we chopped up into smaller pieces and put into fresh buns, with some side salads and a bottle or 2 of Mumm to celebrate the almost homeowners! We enjoyed a convivial afternoon of family conversation as a cooling breeze blew gently across the lake in front of their house, picked at left overs for dinner after our late lunch, took an evening stroll and settled in for the night.
Today's steps: 6,150
Temperature: 29 degrees - has the weather turned to winter yet????
. It was by now 1130.
