Deira building residents claim to be ‘bullied’

It has been a year since the air-conditioner functioned properly in a building located in Port Saeed, Deira, its residents maintain. In the lobby, the thermometer reads 30° C. Unable to cope with the heat, several residents have vacated their apartments. “A little warmer and we will be roasted,” jokes Waddah Abdullah, a 31-year-old Yemeni.

The situation, though, is nothing to joke about. Besides the air-conditioning, almost all basic amenities are absent in the building, and there seems to be nothing that can move the building management to improve the living conditions.

Despite several attempts by Emirates 24|7, the building management could not be contacted for a comment. The story is told by the building’s residents, who presented the thick pile of papers containing numerous complaints, police cases, civil defence reports, etc. A visit was made by this reporter to the building to confirm the plight.

Ahmed Adel is equipped with two flashlights as he descends to the basement parking, where lights are not working and nobody seems to park their cars there anymore. Temperatures must be soaring towards 40 degrees.

“Look, this is where the electricity cables dangle out of the ceiling without any protection,” says the 25-year-old Egyptian who has lived in the building since 2009. “And here you can see the water damage, which is coming from the walls,” he says pointing to the water-damaged walls in the dingy basement.

“Everywhere, the strains of water leakage can be found. In the basement it got really bad, I suspect that is why the basement was closed for parking,” Ahmed says.

The same approach was taken when residents started to complain about other amenities. “When we complained about the swimming pool, it was shut down. When we complained about the gym, it was shut down. Even the laundry room was shut down. They simply do not want to fix anything.”

According to residents, the fire system does not comply with the safety standards, a stench of garbage and sewage is present on all corridors and mice and rats find a welcome home in the building.

As residents became more vocal, the situation only deteriorated. “Our complaints are answered with illegal notices and practices from the real estate company,” said Ahmed.

Waddah experienced this approach first hand, when his electricity was shut down several times. “Sometimes, it happened without any warning, and sometimes they said it was due to maintenance work, which has never been seen by anyone.

“AC, electricity and water are the main needs of every resident in the country. How can they take this away from us? I can just as well take a tent into the desert. This is a violation of human rights,” says the frustrated resident, who has started living with his father out of despair.

Apart from electricity cuts, evacuations have been common, describes Ahmed. Only one day earlier, he received an evacuation letter, dated April, and which instructs him to leave the apartment by the end of May.

“I visited the Rental Dispute Committee and was told that the letter was not valid. Unfortunately, many residents got afraid and acted as per these notices. Half of the building is now vacant,” said Ahmed.

While the rent for a one-bedroom apartment used to be Dh40,000 it was recently increased to Dh47,000, an amount Ahmed decided to pay accurately to be sure that he played by the rules. But it does not seem to make a difference.

In a latest attempt to resolve the issue a complaint was formed with the signature of 40 residents and delivered to the concerned authorities, which instructed the real estate company to come up with an adequate response. Nothing happened after that, and meanwhile the case has been closed.

“They are driving us crazy, they just do not care at all,” said Waddah. It is most frustrating to find out that nothing can be done... The real estate company has the ability to ignore all instructions and get away with it.”
 

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