The glitz and glam of Dubai has drawn in people from all corners of the world with promises of a more luxurious lifestyle.
Some, get to earn top dollar and with that, pay top dollar to live at the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on earth.
However, their lavish home life is about to be cut short with an ongoing dispute between the property developer, Emaar, and the landlords. The dispute is quite literally boiling up the building.
Apartments in the building are desired by people all over the city, with single bedroom flats costing around $55,000 per year. They also come with a hefty $25,000 worth of service fees per year, and according to property developers Emaar, these service charges aren’t being paid by the landlords.
These fees are necessary in order to maintain the functionality of common areas in the building, which for tenants, is bad news.
Emaar has stated that they intend to close off common areas such as the gym and swimming pool in addition to shutting off the air-conditioning and closing up the elevators until the landlords pay up.
The property developers sent out a number of circulars to the residents and the landlords alike warning of this impending action if the fees were not paid.
It said, “We write to you in respect of outstanding service fees. Despite our earlier notice, follow-ups and legal notice issued to the unit owner the fees have not been settled. Should we fail to receive the payment by February 5, we will be forced to cease all of the above services.”
Another tactic used by Emaar was to ‘name and shame’ those who had not yet paid their owed amounts on billboards throughout the building, however, it was unsuccessful.
Many tenants are outraged that at the situation when the battle does not involve them directly and yet they are the only party suffering. In light of this, some are now threatening to leave the building permanently.
One landlord who is the owner of over 10 properties at the costly building, who did pay the service fees, said, “It is unfair because this is not the tenants’ fault, they have paid their rent and it is not fair they suffer. They (Emaar) need to find something that will affect the owners, that’s what they need to focus on.”
It can hardly be a pleasant experience dishing out vast amounts of sums to live in one of the most coveted residences in the country, only to have to walk up 160 flights of stairs as a reward.
woah
nice