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19 March 2024

Nakheel threatens defaulters with arrest

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By Staff

Nakheel has banned more than 1,300 residents on its Palm Jumeirah project from using the beaches, pools and gyms in the first stage of a controversial plan to charge for the use of facilities, according to local media reports this morning.

According to the website of a Dubai-based business magazine, the Palm’s security staff received a 22-page document, which held the names of 1,386 owners on the Shoreline development that have not paid their service charges in full.

“I cannot make everybody happy,” is what the Nakheel Chairman had to say last month when Emirates 24/7 asked him about the beach access fee to be imposed on residents of Nakheel’s Shoreline apartments on the Palm Jumeirah.

“Read your contracts. We checked legally ... went to Rera. We abide by the law and respect the law,” Nakheel Chairman Ali Lootah told this website.

“Owners or tenants living in these properties have now been denied access to any facilities, and were warned they could be arrested if they attempted to enter the pool and gym areas,” said a report on Arabian Business website today.

With a number of people staying in each of those apartments, the actual number of affected residents is likely to be around 3,000.

According to a resident-owner of a Shoreline apartment, from December 1 onwards, all residents have to produce a “new” photo access card to use the Shoreline facilities, while the guests will be charged on a “per day basis”. This includes beach access from the apartments.

Some residents have claimed that Nakheel plans to charge Dh5,000 a year to access facilities and plan to open up membership to non-tenants at Dh12,000 per year.

“We are using our old cards to access the gym, swimming pool and the beach, but from December 1, we will need to get our new access cards. The security will also have a log book and the names of the residents,” FS, an Iranian, who wished not to give his full name, told Emirates 24|7 before the deadline.