ALL EGYTIAN PROPERTY OWNERS ESPECIALLY AT SAHL HASHEESH PLEASE READ THIS AS IT SERIOUSLY IMPACTS THE EGYPTIAN PROPERTY MARKET

URGENT!!! SUPERIOR GOES INTO ADMINISTRATION! – RESORT ALLIANCE & SAHL HASHEESH INVESTIGATION!!!

I wanted to let you know about this as soon as possible – unfortunately it appears Superior Real Estate  ( http://www.superiorworldwide.com ) has been forced to go into administration due to  non and delayed payment of substantial funds from their international developers.

 Superior as most of you are aware are a big English agency with over 23 years experience and were major agents  in the Egyptian property market having many dealings with the Sahl Hasheesh development.

This unfortunately has sent huge shock waves around the Egyptian sales community and WILL have huge ramifications to not only Sahl Hasheesh owners but to all Egyptian property owners in general .

Owing two Egytian properties myself plus a third I have been trying to resolve for over a year now from Resort Alliance and the Red Sea International developers at Sahl Hasheesh - I have been shocked to witness what has been going on the past few months and saddened to see this latest development…

I just received the following email from Association of International Property Professionals (AIPP):

“I regret to inform that AIPP received the following message from the Chief Operating Officer of The Superior Real Estate Group Ltd.

MESSAGE SENT TO THE AIPP: 

‘I am directed to advise you:  
- the directors of Superior Real Estate … have presented a Petition for an Administration Order to the Court, this sad situation is the result of non and delayed payment of substantial funds from international developers…

- meanwhile, the Company has ceased trading and all employees have been made redundant.’ “

It has not been officially disclosed whether Resort Alliance and Red Sea International were the international developers mentioned in AIPP’s letter which ultimately forced Superior into administration by non-payment and whether there were others – however some weeks earlier prior to this announcement I had spoken to one of the senior managers of Superior Guy Cowper regarding the situation with Sahl Hasheesh development and why many issues there hadn’t been resolved yet with Resort Alliance and Red Sea International and he reported to me the following statements  (which I have recorded):

 “I (Guy Cowper) took it upon myself to sort this out from November (2006) through to January (2007) and we summoned them (Resort Aliance) formally to explain what was happening and we discussed a few customers … where there were known issues and they made a commitment. … it was a strong frank discussion which was fully minuted.”

“We (Superior) called Marcus Shlupen (Resort Alliance director) in here in early Jan/Feb (2007) to say we were not happy with the service our customers were getting”

“We (Superior) are representing you… bearing in mind of course that we make our money, our market being an agent so this is being done completely at our cost and what I want is you satisfied so that I get my fee.”

“We (Superior) summoned the Chief executive (of Resort Alliance) to say we weren’t happy … the reason we didn’t tell you was very simple because they made an undertaking to us that it would be changed (regarding my apartment contract). “

 “We (Superior) have pressed the case for you and a few other customers on this development (Oceon Breeze Sahl Hasheesh) where we are deeply dissatisfied to the point where our commercial relationship is finished (with Resort Alliance) because of their poor procedures and the fact we are absolutely convinced in a number of occasions that they are just not going to do what they say they are going to do and they have been very economical with the truth.”

“They (Resort Alliance) have been very economical with the truth when they have said they will do things and then haven’t done them”

“Our contract with Resort Alliance is around payments of commissions actually and that they will behave.”

“…all I (Guy Cowper) want to do… I don’t want to work with people like this nor does Sue..(Sue Everson at Superior) and we are not in the business of this…we sell hundreds of properties around the world and we have a few where … you have just been treated in a way we just cannot understand.”

“It’s an unregulated industry and our due diligence in Egypt wasn’t good enough, now I know that now, and we want very badly to deal directly with Red Sea International  but we can’t because it’s not in the contract.

“We are a big business and I want 100% customer satisfaction and we failed and I am not going to do business with these characters again (Resort Alliance) and I really desperately want a regulated industry for all these reasons… it suits me down to the ground…we will not deal with these guys (Resort Alliance)…they owe me a lot of money I have to tell you and I do not want to deal with them…”

Superior had also been due to attend a meeting at AIPP in the next few days regarding the formal complaints made against Superior and Resort Alliance regarding the Oceon Breeze development being developed by Red Sea International at Sahl Hasheesh in Egypt.

Just to let everyone know the background to the AIPP meeting mentioned above is that this is regarding the official report made to AIPP last year detailing 26 specific complaints about Resort Alliance and Superior.

Also just looking at the numerous negative comments through the numerous Egypt property forums there are obviously a large number of people who have been very, very angry about the way their suppliers - Resort Alliance in particular - have been treating them over the selling and organisation of the Sahl Resort development. (you just need to go on the numerous forums to see some of the feedback – (I have listed some forum complaints at the bottom of this email as a sample).  I have spoken to some of these people who have been very hurt by the dealings they have had with Resort Alliance and am aware of the background to some of their stories. For the past six months have tried to arrange mediation with Superior and Resort Alliance and AIPP to solve some of the numerous problems and more recently mediation with Red Sea International through my Egyptian lawyer.

For those who are new to the forums the main concerns around the Sahl Hasheesh resort are:

1                     Pre-release and Pre-agreement forms not being honoured by Resort Alliance or the developer “Red Sea International” the developer at the Sahl Hasheesh development.

(Even though Resort Alliance for months had informed the buyers that there was no problems - including one case that no notification to the buyer for over 8 months that the pre-contract agreement would not be honoured even though Resort Alliance had been aware for over 8 months that the developer had refused to sign the contract )

2.             Peoples contracts showing 2 bed apartments suddenly being changed to be much smaller 1 bed apartments after a floor redesign at the Sahl Hasheesh development plus 3 bed apartments changing to 2 bed apartments.

3.             Amendments being made to the Sahl Hasheesh development floor plans with no notification being given to the buyer that this had been done for over 6 months

4.             Reserved apartments which had previously been on the floor plan suddenly completely disappearing without any notification to the buyer who had reserved apartment there – the buyer not being notified that this had happened for over 6 months – further the original apartment being given another number which was then sold and the original number no longer existing.

(unfortunately this shows the developer Red Sea International appears to also be playing a large part in this –what kind of developer would renumber a floor plan showing apartments numbering 1,2,3,4,5,8,9,10 with apartments  7, 8 being missed out?)

4.             Resort Alliance agreeing to contract amendments but the developer refusing to sign or agree to the amendments - subsequently Resort Alliance not notifying the seller for over 8 months that the seller had refused to sign the contract because of these amendments.

5.             After the redevelopment of a complex buyers are told that there are no suitable similar sized apartments left as replacements even though current price lists showed over 20 suitable similar sized apartments available.

6.             No response from Resort Alliance for weeks to numerous messages left to them via email and to messages left at their reception to contact them back.

7.             Refusal of the Resort Alliance management to provide details of the Professional bodies they are members of so that buyers can make complaints against them.

One request to Resort Alliance asking them to supply these details was:

Dear Mr Schulpen,
“Superior has advised that Resort Alliance are a member of a German property professional association.
Please can you send me the name and contact details including address and phone number of this German association as I will be sending a complaint about your services to them as well.”

The answer from Resort Alliance was:

“Thank you for your email.

Certainly you understand that we are not able to assist you concerning your legal efforts and would kindly ask you to refrain from further queries.

 Yours sincerely

 Markus Schlüpen”

I have since found out that the main professional property association in Germany is IVD. People wanting to complain about Resort Alliance I would advise to write to the address below:

IMMOBILIENVERBAND DEUTSCHLAND IVD BUNDESVERBAND e.V. (IVD)

Littenstrabe 10

Berlin D10179

Ph: +49 30 2757260

Email:  info@ivd.net

www.ivd.net  (German website)

http://www.tegova.org/en/p42946fa46225f  (has English translation of german IVD details)

Dear friends - I am now very, very concerned about all this. I have been included in talks with some of the many, many people who have been impacted by the above complaints about Resort Alliance and Red Sea International. I am aware there is talk now of raising a civil court case to litigate against Resort Alliance and the Sahl Hasheesh developer – if the court exercises it’s discretionary right for equitable discipline it could award punitive damages for unprofessional behaviour running into potentially millions of pounds if there are a number of people involved.

I am also aware that a complaint are currently being made up to the Tourism Minister to investigate the Sahl Hasheesh development:

Mr Zoheir Garana

Tourism Development Authority,  1 Mourad Street, Giza, Nile Tower, 12th Floor

This complaint will also be copied to

 - Mr. Amr EL-Ezabi, chairman of the Egyptian Tourist Authority.

- Eng. Mohamed Nosier  - The President of the Egyptian British Businessmen

Egyptian British Businessmen Association

- The British Ambassador Sir.Derick Plambley

If investigation of these complaints goes ahead then there could be significant impact to the Sellers of this development including potentially –

-          Work on some developments on Sahl Hasheesh being closed while this is being investigated by the Tourism Minister

-          Red Sea International at Sahl Hasheesh being forced to close down with buyers being left in limbo for potentially years while court cases are heard

-          Sahl Hasheesh property prices crashing while investor confidence in the development declines due to the bad publicity caused by these complains and impending court case

-          Local Hurghada and other Egyptian property prices being impacted as the stories circulate and investor confidence goes down

Superior has already gone in administration and stopped trading which is sending shock waves through the seller community as they had been a large company trading for over 20 years before they dealt with the Sahl Hasheesh resort.

It’s now time for us as concerned Egyptian property owners to try and take action if we can to help resolve these problems.

I believe we need to take immediate action to resolve these issues - firstly through seeking mediation with the overall owners and project developer of Sahl Hasheesh to force the developer Red Sea International and also Resort Alliance into line to honour the original pre-contract and other contractual agreements that the buyers are so angry about.

For new people on the site the owners of Sahl Hasheesh are “Egyptian Resort Company (ERC)” while the project developers are “Orbit Group”

Information about these companies are listed below:

 Egyptian Resort Company (ERC), Cairo;
ERC purchased the entire site from the Egyptian government, drew up the master plan, coordinated the development and resort guidelines and designed the entire infrastructure; central areas such as the Main Gate, Old Town, Sunken City, Promenade and Piazza were constructed by ERC. ERC also acts as vendor of individual plots in SH to well-known property developers; ERC is listed on the Cairo stock exchange.

Who is the project developer / vendor?

Various Egyptian companies which are managed under the name “Orbit Group“ by the principal shareholders, the Shawky brothers. The Shawky family is one of the best established companies in Hurghada and is active not only in the real estate business, but also has various companies in the tourist sector. The defining characteristic of these investments is that all sites are purchased exclusively in very good locations which are then developed regardless of the sales status.

Dear friends – I already have two Egyptian properties and am very concerned about the impact on this on my equity. I am also very concerned that my Sahl Hasheesh contract still has not been finalised despite having bought the property almost two years ago (in May 2006) – I have been involved with arranging mediation between Superior, Resort Alliance and Red Sea International and have also been the contact point for other impacted sellers of the Sahl Hasheesh (of which there are a number) for over 8 months now.

What I am now proposing is that a petition be made up from people who own Egyptian property which can be presented to ERC and Orbit.

The petition will be taking this form:

To: ERC/Orbit

CC: Mr Zoheir Garana (Egypt Tourism Minister)

CC: Mr. Amr EL-Ezabi (chairman of the Egyptian Tourist Authority)

CC: Eng. Mohamed Nosier  (The President of the Egyptian British Businessmen Association)

CC: Sir.Derick Plambley  (The British Ambassador)

Dear ERC/Orbit

As Egyptian property owners and investors  we are very concerned at all the numerous complaints directed at Resort Alliance and Red Sea International. In particular we understand a significant number of buyers at the Oceon Breeze development at Sahl Hasheesh have been impacted. This has caused and is causing a huge amount of negative publicity for Sahl Hasheesh which will impact our future equity and investment not only in Sahl Hasheesh but in the overall Egyptian market.

We are asking you to step in to organise a resolution to the disputes with Resort Alliance and  Red Sea International. The resolution should cover:

-          An agreement by Red Sea International and Resort Aliance to honour all outstanding pre-release and pre-contract agreements for apartments on their developments

-          Red Sea Itnernational and Resort Alliance to provide similar apartments in terms of size and number of rooms to those detailed in the pre-release, pre-contract and contract details or alternatively provide suitable compensation if alternative apartments provided were smaller or had less bedrooms

-          A written contract to ensure that a suitable administration is in place for Sahl Hasheesh buyers (including a 24 hour helpdesk) so that enquiries and complaints can be  professionally and responsibly responded.

-          The organisation and payment of an independent and free Egyptian lawyer  who will handle and investigate specific complaints regarding Sahl Hasheesh.

This implementation of the above points should recover some confidence in the Sahl Hasheesh community regarding investments done there.

We are also shocked at the news that Superior has gone into administration and has stopped trading. We are aware that Superior was a major agent in the Egypt market including Sahl Hasheesh and it is due to result of non and delayed payment of substantial funds from international developers to them that have caused them to collapse. We ask that you also investigate this matter of non-payment and if any Egyptian developers in the Sahl Hasheesh development are involved please can you  see if you can negotiate to recover any monies that are owed to Superior as soon as possible.

Please can you attend to this matter as a priority and as a matter of urgency.

Yours sincerely

Cconcerned Egyptian property owner and investors

Dear friends – if you wish to join this petition to try and protect the equity we have built into our Egpytian properties then please send an email to: sahlhasheeshpetition@yahoo.com   

(If you cannot see this email address due to message board restrictions then send a private message to me and I will forward it on)

All you will need to do is to copy the above petition letter and send it with the following details:

Name: (put your name here)

Nationality: (put your nationality here)

Who you are: (property owner, prospective property owner, concerned world citizen wanting justice)

Your property address in Egypt: ( if applicable list number of apartment on which Egyptian resort at Sahl Hasheesh or another resort – if you are not a property owner just put N/A)

Problems encountered with Sahl Hasheesh Resort: (if applicable also list here any problems you personally have encountered)

If you have further information about the way you or other buyers you know of who have been impacted by the above buying process at Sahl Hasheesh then please send these details through as they will all add weight to the process.

I will then collate the responses and forward it to my Egyptian lawyer who is already mediating with some of the relevant local authorities at Sahl Hasheesh regarding Sahl Hasheesh development problems and he will pass these onto the relevant authorities including ERC and Orbit.

I hope that with your support we can resolve this situation for many impacted buyers (with myself also included!).

Note that as I am putting this request on numerous online message boards I may not be able to respond to all questions directed back on this particular message board.

However if you have any enquiries please send any enquires to the above email address sahlhasheeshpetition@yahoo.com  and I will attempt to answer them. (and please only serious concerned property investors and buyers please)

(Note I have also put down a sample of some complaints noted on some message boards below this message as well for your information)

Comments of course always welcome on any forum board! 

WARNING: -  there are a large number of Agents on the message board who have a personal agenda in trying to downplay any message of this kind – the reason being is that they don’t want people to know about these problems when they are trying to sell to buyers – None of these sales agents have assisted me or any other person I know  in sorting out these disputes at all –  I would recommend to take any comments from these known sales agents with a grain of salt for what they are – an attempt to try and block the truth of what has been and is currently happening on the Egyptian resorts.

Wouldn’t it be much, much better if we can  work together and try and resolve all these issues so all the investors in these potentially great resort come away happy! Please - iIf you can assist us with the petition that would be very appreciated!

Yours faithfully

John Fletcher

(BE, GDMM, PMP, MSP)

Examples of complaints:

“We have bought on El Andelous and we thought Ocean Breeze as well , the
block was then  redesigned and we was offered NO alternative at all.After 9
months of promises telling us to sit tight all would  be OK. Also we do not
have our deposit back so we are just a little bit upset with everyone
involved, including the developer, builder & the UK agent. I believe there
are 2+ other  (now) ex- ocean breeze owners in the same position? It really has left a sour taste in our mouths,  how we have been treated, as one of the earliest investors in the area and  the 2 specfic blocks.“

 “was on a different forum today there was people complaining of not getting there contracts through and some got them with the wrong apartments had asked for three bed but only got a two reason was that the company had changed around the rooms when building some was changed from the front to the back of the building”

“Hi all we had the same experience of our apartment being sold too two different people??
We first paid the 40% deposit on the first day of sales and where the third people to do so.We got details etc from the Spanish side after a few angry phone calls.All the paper work was completed wrongly in Spain and so when it was transfered to the UK side of the business alot of people had no contracts or found that there apartments had actually been DOUBLE sold.”

“I know of an investor losing his very expensive overseas  property  through a few days delay on the complex payment schemes with no recourse after the additional time of 6 weeks has passed. It might be worth re-reading  our contracts! as the next payment is due soon. “

“I too, have reserved an apartment in this complex (3bed), but have been totally hacked off with the response from Worldwide Destinations. We reserved back in October and it took us 2 months to get any receipt for the deposit we paid. Once they sent the contracts to us, I thought it best to get them checked out by an English speaking lawyer in Egypt. She came back with lots of changes and questions that needed answering of which I forwarded to WD back in Feb. After numerous emails, we still received no response by the end of May. I have now issued a letter to WD, telling them that I now wish to get my deposit back as they obviously do not value my investment and I have instructed my solicitor to start proceedings.”

“I have had an apartment reserved for about 8 months now, I was one of the first in. I have recently found out (not through the developer) that the floor layout has been changed and my apartment is now on the other side of the building. If mine has moved so have a lot of others. You can not speak to the developer and all there agents are told that under no curcumstances should they pass on the developers details to clients. I will be pulling out of this one and my best advise is for all of you to do the same.”

“My wife and I went to buyt at El Andalush in Sahl Hasheesh and cancelled because the developer would not change anything in the contract which is VERY one-sided. That tells me a lot about who you are buying from. The resort is really good but like lots of beaches on the REd Sea it will NOT be natural sand,”

“Hi, new to this forum - looking for some feedback - I purchased a two
bed apartment at Sahl Hasheesh - Oceon Breeze a year ago from Superior
group, put down my deposit and subsequently received the contracts in
July 2006. However the contract plan showed that it was only a one bed
not a two bed, plus the contract detailed that if I wanted any change
to the room design layout that would cost extra. On asking my Superior
agent I  got assurance via email from them that any modifications
would cost nothing and it was indeed a two bed apartment - I just
needed to sign the contract and send it back and they'd send me out a
revised plan. Being somewhat cautious I crossed out the parts in the
contract detailing it would cost to have the apartment modified,
signed the contracts and sent it back. I have since then been in
contact several times with the German agents handling the contracts
and they assured me several times via email and phone that the revised
contracts would be sent out once the agent had been out to Egypt and
got the architects to draw up the revised floor plan. However they
have given two dates now, first November of last year and then April
this year and still have not delivered. When I leave messages now at
the German office no-one gets back to me. I have last week asked my
Superior agent to investigage this for me and try and find out whats
happening. I am just wondering if anyone else has had problems with
this?”

“With all the problems I  had with Ocean Breeze and the unsatisfactory
conclusion ( ie  I was left after  9+  months later of  taking my original
depoist back and not being offered any appartment option at all after the
redesign),  I do not feel confident dealing with everyone involved. hence
the group e mail. “

“This is regarding a formal complaint which has been made to the
"Association of Property Professionals" regarding the actions of
Resort Alliance in the way they have been selling the resort Oceon
Breeze at Sahl Hasheesh.

Any information or support in this case would be appreciated from the
owners of this resort or from anyone else who knows anything about
this resort. You can support us by placing your comments on this website, replying directly to me and/or writing to Resort Alliance yourselves.

For those who are new Sahl Hasheesh is an Egypt development which
contains several resorts including Ocean Breeze, Serrenia, Palm Beach
Piazza, El Andalous, Veranda, hotels and amenities such as The
Pyramid, Hotel Pyramisa, Oldtown, Hotel Alexander, Hotel Ibrahim
Pasha, Old Palace Hotel, Hotel Pharaonic, Piazza, Sunken City, Pier.

I bought a 2 bed 102 sq m. apartment 7.1.07 at Sahl Hasheesh over a
year ago through the Superior Group in England. However when my
contract got sent out it just showed a one bedroom 102 sq m apartment.
I gained assurances from Superior and Resort Alliance that I would get
the amended floorplan sent out to me to make it into a two bedroom and
there would be no charge for any change or any future change to the
apartment layout. So I signed my contract and sent it back with my 40%
first stage deposit noting on the contract that I was waiting the
amended floorplan at no extra cost. From August to January Resort
Alliance kept promising me I'd be getting my amended floorplan back
within a short period of time. Then from April to May Resort Alliance
stopped returning my emails and voice messages I left with them at the
office. I escalated this up with Superior in June and to my shock
found out that the Oceon Breeze plans had been considerably amended a
few months back - with the result that the place where my apartment
7.1.07 had been, had now been changed to now be another number 7.1.08
which had been sold to someone else!!! My apartment 7.1.07 did not
exist anymore!!! After considerable pressure over the last few weeks
Resort Alliance finally came back with an offer of a replacement.
However this was only a 1 bed 70 sq m. apartment which was not only 32
sq m. less than what I had payed for (30% less) but wasn't even a two
bed. Naturally I was shocked and asked why I couldn't at least have
one of the large number of apartments over 89.5 sq m. that were still
available. To my amazement Resort Alliance then told me that my
contract had never been signed by the developer so I had no right to
claim anything. Later to my greater shock Superior advised me that the
reason my contract had never got signed by the developer was because
they had never agreed to the alterations that I'd made to the contact
to say it was pending a two bed floorplan at no extra cost. I had
never been informed of this previously and had never been informed of
any of the changes to the Resort even though Superior and Resort
Alliance had known about this for months previously. I subsequently
then filed a complaint with Resort Alliance to their directors with
many questions but they declined to answer any of the questions.

I have now formally placed a 16 page complaint about Superior and
Resort Alliance with the Association of Property Professionals (AIPP)
in England regarding this whole debacle. Superior have also advised
that Resort Alliance are also a member of a German Property
Association but declined to provide the details. I have asked Resort
Alliance which association they are a member but am still awaiting a
response. If anyone else knows who they are can you let me know.

I am sincerely hoping the AIPP will be able to resolve the situation. I am already aware of other people who are in a similar position like me. If you have also been affected I suggest that you write to them as well listing your complaints. You can contact me for more details who they are or you can search for them on Google. The more visibility and pressure we can put upon Resort Alliance and their agents the more they will be forced to start acting professionally and start being accountable for their promises.

If any other people who did manage to get their contracts signed and now own apartments on this resort also want to support us on our claims that would be appreciated too. You can support us by placing
your comments on this website and/or writing to Resort Alliance yourselves.”