In a move to resolve lingering disputes over still to be completed residential projects, the Dubai government is setting up a special legal committee to liquidate cancelled developments and settle disputes.

Hundreds of projects were proposed and marketed in Dubai but were never built, leaving thousands of home buyers and investors in limbo. In many cases, developers were unresponsive to demands for refunds.

The special legal committee is ‘tasked with the settlement of disputes between property developers and investors over cancelled projects in addition to the liquidation of projects that have been decisively cancelled by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA),’ according to a statement released by the Dubai news agency (WAM).

The committee will focus on projects that have been ‘decisively’ cancelled by RERA, but some critics say the agency has been slow to cancel long-stalled projects. Many projects are still listed as delayed indefinitely. And many developers have long argued that they have already spent the investor’s deposits on pre-construction and marketing activities and there is no money left to return.