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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Dubai cracks down on expats sharing homes |
| 2008-12-08 |
| Expatriates who share homes in the booming emirate of Dubai to split soaring rental costs face eviction amid a crackdown by the municipality which deems the practice of house-sharing a health hazard. Tenants will face fines of up to 50,000 dirhams (13,600 dollars) and owners of shared villas can be charged twice as much if they ignore the municipality's view that house-sharing is a "security and health hazard," he added. More like a necessity for people not plugged into crass wealth of oil ticks and To enforce its decision, the municipality of Dubai, one of the seven components of the United Arab Emirates, has begun to hand out fines and to cut water and power supplies to villas. "More severe measures will be taken," Omar Abdel Rahman, housing chief inspector at the Dubai Municipality, told AFP agency. "Those violating the law have been given a deadline and we have started cutting water and electricity supplies and slapping fines" on those sharing houses, he said. The official denied any link with analysts' predictions of a tailing off in demand for property in Dubai because of a scarcity of loans as a consequence of the global credit crunch. "That is nothing to do with it," Abdel Rahman insisted. No, no, certainly not that. It is, ummmm, something else. For the past 10 years, Dubai has implemented the biggest and most ambitious building programme ever undertaken in the world. Critics of the crackdown say the authorities want to transform the emirate into a city-state for the rich only. That IS the business model, after all. But what are you going to do with housing the service people who are needed to keep the rich parasites in world class comfort? In recent weeks the cracks in Dubai's economy have become undeniable. Property prices have slumped, demand has dried up and, for the first time, the emirate is being forced to consider calling a halt to its expansion. Some analysts are claiming that Dubai could implode, weighed down under a pile of Ah, the Fatal Flaw! But don't despair. Look to the US Treasury and Zimbob for your answers. So far it is not known how many people face eviction as part of the crackdown which was launched earlier this year, but it is clear that expatriates are nervous. "Rents are unreasonably high," said Sahar Allam, a German-Syrian citizen who shares a villa with eight other women in the upscale Jumeirah district, in order to cope with the cost of living. She spends 2,175 dollars - more than half of her monthly wages - to rent a room and bath in the luxurious village. "I will be forced to leave Dubai if I cannot share," she said. "All my house-mates are European and Arab women and some of them are also seriously thinking about leaving Dubai," she added. Better git while the gittin's good. Over the past few years the once-dormant harbour of Dubai has been transformed into a vibrant city buzzing with construction and tourism projects that have attracted a massive influx of foreign expertise. Who aren't doing this thing pro bono, ya know. Foreigners represent more than 80 percent of the population of Dubai, which is estimated to comprise 1.5 million inhabitants despite a spiraling cost of living and steep rental prices. And a sewage problem, don't forget the sewage problem, raw sewage on the beaches and all. In Dubai, the average annual rent for a one bedroom apartment is around 27,000 dollars. Rent hikes were capped to a maximum of 15 percent in November 2005 and again last year by Dubai in an attempt to put a lid on soaring prices seen as threatening its competitiveness in attracting foreign businesses. Iqbal Nair of India, his wife and the couple's two children are all crammed in one room in an old house which they share with other tenants in the popular neighbourhood of Satwa. They pay 500 dollars monthly for their modest lodgings. "If the municipality imposes its decision I will not think twice: I will have to send back to India my wife and my two children," he said. In fact, Nair will have to move out sooner or later because the Satwa neighbourhood is due to be razed down to the ground to give way to a mega development project projected to cost nearly 100 billion dollars. Gotta move, redevelopment train a comin'. But Abdel Rahman is adamant that the municipality has taken a sound decision aimed "above all at protecting the safety of the people". "Imagine a 10-room house, where each room is occupied by five people all using the same sanitary equipment, the same kitchen, and who sometimes set up their own kitchens (in their rooms) in violation of security norms," he said. Well, that is a valid consideration. But what about two to 4 expats sharing a 2 BR apt? Is that extreme? "Imagine the pressure this places on the water and power network and even the parking areas," he added. And the Post Offices boxes, don't forget them. |
| Posted by:Alaska Paul |
| #4 I would consider lack of a sewer and treatment system up to their functional size a much greater health hazard... bunch of Tards. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-12-08 22:29 |
| #3 "which deems the practice of house-sharing a health hazard" Is that what they're calling it now? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-12-08 18:48 |
| #2 dubai is nothing more than a gnat that needs to be stepped on. They are useless, they can't fight, they can't f**k, what good are they? |
| Posted by: Xenophon 2008-12-08 18:25 |
| #1 Does this mean they'll be paying all their guest workers enough money that they'll all be able to afford apartments of their own? |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2008-12-08 18:07 |