As Wayneis has pointed out there are no real laws that protect the consumer or purchaser. I just got back from Dubai after getting the keys to my apartment in JBR. It looks nothing like the brochure or even the video they gave me when I paid my deposit. All developers need to stop using the word "luxury" in their promotions because my fittings are so bad, that I will have to spend a few thousand pounds replacing the electrical fittings, sanitaryware, bathroom tiling, and maybe the cheap kitchen. I raised this with JBR and they siad that these were the standard fittings they put in all their luxury apartments except for the penthouses and villas. I spoke to another owner who had just gotten his apartment and he was as annoyed as I was. Whilst furnishing it, I found no one gives you any kind of warranty for beds, sofas, furniture etc. I was even blantantly lied to by shop assistants who told me a bed was made of solid wood and had a three year warranty and it turned out to be made of MDF and had no warranty. Suffice to say, I ended up buying Silentnight beds from Debenhams with a five year warranty but paying considerably more for lacklustre divans and not huge trendy ones.

As for my IC stuff, we managed to got to see a similar apartment in Persia as Nahkeel would not let us see our ones in Spain, and the balcony does not add much to the benefit of the apartment. It is built into the lounge and therefore reduces the internal size by around a metre. We have purchased a number with balconies. It is pot luck to see how many do actually have them.

I think what I'm trying to say Beta is that we are learning the hard way that no one cares to tell you the truth in Dubai. They tell you what you want to hear and what gets them the sale. After that, your of no more interest to them. We could always pay the cancellation fee and walk away, but they win either way and they know the majority of us will put up with all the crap they dish out because we want our investments to do well.

Have heart, your not the only one that gets treated like this. Maybe, a class action will emerge but in a non democratic Sheikdom, and with such deep rooted indifference especially amongst the Emratis, (I've been going to Dubai since 2000, and this trip was the first time a local spoke to me in a normal manner) dont count on it achieving much. My only advice is not to trust anyone unless they put it in writing and leave out any get out clauses.