For six years, the group of buyers of Azembay have been confronted with the postponement of the signing of the deeds of transfer of ownership. Since then, tensions have risen to the point where the promoter of the project located about fifteen kilometers from Azemmour, between Casablanca and El Jadida, would have prohibited the access of the owners (Moroccans from here and from the diaspora) to their property. . The houses in question have been put under rental management, without respecting the law on real estate residences for the promotion of tourism (RIPT). However, “everything was going well at the beginning, when the project was presented as a residential complex carried out according to the terms of the sale in a future state of completion (VEFA), for an exploitation within the framework of this RIPT law”, has said one of the buyers contacted by Yabiladi.
In the recent actions carried out by the buyers, several of them have decided to set up a collective legal case, the admissibility of which has been confirmed in criminal proceedings. Thus, an investigation is underway to define the damages of which the plaintiffs say they are victims. In addition, an interministerial commission, already meeting last July at the Ministry of Tourism, decided to withdraw the RIPT license from the Azembay project, “taking into account the irregularities noted” and “following the complaints of the buyers”. Requested on several occasions by the complainant, the governor of the Province of El Jadida, meanwhile, “announced his agreement to receive the representatives of the group of buyers”, also learned our editorial staff.
Indeed, the buyers, including at least five MREs, have seized on several occasions the Ministry of Tourism, the administrations supervising the RIPTs, as well as the local authorities of the Province of El Jadida who are keen on the project “for its interest in both touristic and respectful of the environment”. On the program with an initially announced capacity of 94 units, 18 villas in the park and around twenty apartments constituting the first phase of the project would be the only properties to have been delivered, while two subsequent phases have been scheduled for the villas of the forest and the wooden chalets, as part of the same project.
The company in charge of the project complains of the RIPT law as “a constraint”
Contacted several times by telephone, the property developer remained unreachable. Recently and in the midst of a showdown with the buyers, his company argued that the Azembay project had “reached more than 80% of the marketing of phase 1 of the project, within the framework of the RIPT law”. She pointed to this normative framework as “a constraint” requiring that “the owner of a house be limited in the use of his own house and must therefore agree to comply with strict operating and management rules, which creates tension”.
For their part, the buyers contacted by Yabiladi insisted on having respected “all the legal obligations” to which they must adhere, in the face of which “some were threatened that their personal effects will be put on the street”, s they do not empty the premises on the tourist rental dates defined by the promoter. The threats would not have been carried out, since in the meantime, the RIPT license has been withdrawn by decision of the supervisory ministry. In court, the case is still ongoing.