NEWS FROM THE UAE
Source : The National

Flats’ rents likely to rise as sharing of villas vetoed

Dubai - Sep 27: The cost of renting flats in Dubai and its neighbouring emirates is expected to rise following the decision to evict families sharing villas, estate agents predicted yesterday.

Thousands of affluent families living in shared villas in Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim, Al Rashidiya and Abu Hail are now looking to move to flats after the Dubai Municipality announced that only one family could live in each villa. The authority announced a 30-day deadline, ending next month, for the extra families to move out.

“The rental prices of apartments are rising day by day, but the news from the municipality will definitely push them up [further],” said Wassim Tarik Malik, an agent working with Wateredge Real Estate in Dubai. “Pushing the rental price up will also push the property value up, and this can be seen from the last couple of months.”
Agents said that two months ago, a one-bedroom flat in the Dubai Marina area was renting for an average of Dh120,000 (US$32,600) a year. Today, it is nearly impossible to find one for less than Dh140,000.

“These prices will keep increasing on a daily basis now,” Mr Malik said.

Bassam Abu Diwan, an estate agent with Al Masah, confirmed that a large number of clients he had seen in the past few weeks looking to rent flats were being forced to leave their villas.

“A lot of residents from The Springs and Mirdiff areas are asking specifically because of this reason,” he said. “Moving to a villa is no longer an option.”

Farhan Zia, an agent with Exelet Real Estate, said: “The situation is shocking because the prices are going up by the day.”

According to Mr Zia, the rise in rental prices coupled with the exodus from shared villas is having the knock-on effect of making life very hard for single people in Dubai. Estate agents are forbidden to rent villas to single people, he said, which means they can live only in flats.

“What is also difficult is that apartment landlords are asking for yearly cheques in advance, but people are now being forced to comply because there is no other alternative,” he said. “This is definitely a landlord’s market.”

People living in villas in The Springs, Meadows, Arabian Ranches and Al Barsha are also being forced to move to pricier neighbourhoods such as Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Beach Residence. “It is now impossible to find a two-bed apartment in JBR for less than Dh200,000 a year,” said Mr Zia.

The municipality launched the villa eviction campaign in July, slapping notices on villas in Al Rashidiya area. This week, a 30-day final deadline was announced for all villas in Dubai.

“No more notices would be issued to villas. Even those families who are sharing villas but have not received notices must move out within the deadline,” a spokesman for the municipality said.

He added that once the deadline expired, violators would have their water and electricity supplies cut off, and landlords would face heavy fines – up to Dh50,000.
Charles Thornton, who shares a villa in Umm Suqeim, is unsure of what to do.
“I am really scared. I do not want to move to Jumeirah Beach Residence or Dubai Marina because it’s just too expensive,” he said.

“We have started looking but it is all out of our price range, and the prices seem to be increasing too rapidly. Our villa is nice and spacious, and a lot of the apartments are much smaller and you will be paying so much more.

“What happens if they turn around and decide to throw people out of apartments for sharing?” he said.

The municipality confirmed the new rules apply only to villas, and not to people sharing flats.

Some families have already had their electricity supplies cut off.

“We lived in darkness for weeks but have not managed to find another home,” said a resident of a villa in Abu Hail. He said he shared the large traditional villa with nine other families until inspectors served them notice last month.

“Many have moved out but families with children have stayed because they have to think about the school transport. Unable to bear the heat, we have moved to a hotel room,” he said.

Families are now appealing for more time to move out of their villas, and also asking for alternative accommodation. Some families living in villas also claim that they have paid several months rent in advance to their landlords, who are refusing to return the money.

However, the municipality has insisted there will be no further extensions of the deadline. It said what people do to find alternative accommodation is not its concern.

A spokesman for the municipality added: “Families who have formal contracts with landlords can approach the rent committee and make a complaint. However, nothing can be done for those without contracts.”

to the time difference between America and newspapers in Europe and Asia, many papers reported on Friday morning, erroneously, that the $700 billion rescue package of the American financial market had been approved. 
 
New signs baffle Dubai drivers

Dubai - Sep. 27: It was created to bring Dubai’s road maps into the modern age, but the first phase of implementing the new system of street names has confused motorists and even caused a few road accidents.

Signs along Sheikh Zayed Road, the city’s main thoroughfare, which previously displayed the names of well-known areas such as Umm Suqeim, Al Safa and Jumeirah, have been replaced by boards directing traffic to the areas’ main arterial roads, some of which have been given new names.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) recently started altering road signs in line with the new system that will eventually allocate every street a unique name instead of a number.

Many motorists on Sheikh Zayed Road have been baffled by the new signs. Their confusion has been compounded by the fact that several of the road names on them have only just been created under the new addressing regime.

The RTA says the changes are in line with global standards and should not cause confusion for long, as motorists will soon get used to them.

The signs at exit 43, which indicated Umm Suqeim, now direct drivers to Al Manara Road, and exit 47, which leads to the Al Safa and Al Wasl districts, is now signposted Meydan Road and Al Hadiqa Road.

“The problem is nobody has heard of these roads unless they live there, so the signs are completely meaningless,” said James Stewart, 31, a recruitment consultant.

“I nearly collided with another car the other day when I was trying to decipher these signs to find my exit. I was trying to get to my friend’s house in Jumeirah 3 and I’d been told to follow signs from Sheikh Zayed Road to Safa Park, but instead I just saw signs to these places I’d never come across before. I was so busy studying the signs I nearly crashed into a car in front of me, which looked like it was having the same problem. I ended up missing my turning and had to pull in and phone my friend for directions – it was very inconvenient but I guess it will be OK once people are used to it.”

Steven Khan, 45, who runs an irrigation business, said he suffered a minor whiplash injury when he hit another vehicle as he craned his neck to read the new sign to Al Hajar Road at exit 46.

“It was terrible,” Mr Khan said. “I was heading to a dental appointment on Jumeirah Beach Road and looking for my exit. When I saw this sign to Al Hajar Road I was convinced I’d missed my turning or something, so I slowed a bit and was looking around and before I knew it ‘bang’ I crashed into the car in front of me.

“Luckily it wasn’t very serious, but I got a bit of a whiplash in my neck from the impact.”

Jane Sankar, 44, a resident of Al Safa, said she had noticed traffic slowing down on the approach to the new signs on several occasions.

“More than before I see cars slowing down on Sheikh Zayed Road in those areas, I think because they’re probably confused by the signs,” she said. “I think it’s great what the RTA is doing though – the new address system is definitely necessary, and if that means changing some road signs, then so be it.”

The RTA believes the new road signs format and addressing system – which are to be extended to the rest of the emirate over the next year – will make life a lot easier for residents and motorists. The authority says the changes are to bring Dubai’s roads in line with global standards

Peyman Younes Parham, the RTA’s director of communications, said: “The signs from main roads like Sheikh Zayed Road are being changed so that they point to the main arterial road in an area rather than the area itself. So for example there are now exit signs pointing to streets like Meydan Road and Al Hajar Road. It’s a test phase being carried out between interchanges two and four and it’s a very large operation to get all the different sign boards changed – production of the boards takes quite a long time.

“Whenever you introduce a new scheme like this in a test phase, there’s always going to be some confusion because people are seeing it for the first time. I think drivers will get used to the changes pretty quickly.”

Dubai’s new addressing system – which is undergoing a pilot testing in Jumeirah 3 – will replace the system of numbers for minor roads with unique street names. Dubai will also be divided into new zones, each including several districts. Details of the zones have not been released.

Signs with traditional street numbers in the test zone were replaced by road names at the beginning of last month, and literature explaining the changes was distributed to residents. The three-month pilot phase is designed to iron out any problems in the system before implementing it in the rest of the city.

First spinal-injury centre to offer alternative to overseas treatment

ABU DHABI - Sep 27: The nation’s first spinal-injury centre will significantly improve chances of recovery for seriously injured patients, who would normally have to travel abroad for treatment, and promises to save millions of dirhams a year for treating spinal cases.

Mubadala Healthcare, the specialist division of Mubadala Development, announced yesterday the centre would be built in Zayed Sports City and operated by the Wooridul Spine Hospital of South Korea.

Using techniques developed in South Korea, the centre will provide minimally invasive surgery under local anaesthetics. Recovery is faster and there are fewer complications with such surgery.

It will also provide spine-disease prevention, diagnosis, testing, treatment, physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

At present, people paralysed by spinal injuries – as well as people with minor spinal injuries that cause lesser mobility problems – are routinely treated outside the country, often in hospitals in Europe, at significant cost to the Ministry of Health.

“Our research shows that orthopaedic patients in the region – and those with spine injuries in particular – make up the largest proportion of people who currently travel abroad for treatment,” said Mark Erhart, executive director of Mubadala Healthcare. “The creation of this spine centre seeks to address the prevalence of spine problems and lower-back injuries in the region.”

Spinal injuries are a significant medical problem for the region as many are caused by trauma, such as in car crashes.

In the most severe circumstances, spinal-cord damage can result in paralysis. However, less-severe damage can also be debilitating.

The centre is expected to open in 2010.