SOURCE: GULF TODAY

Abu Dhabi - Feb. 05: Intensive inspection campaigns recently launched by the Abu Dhabi Municipality on a large number of housing villas and apartments in Abu Dhabi and its suburbs have revealed a large number of violations to housing laws.

The violations have been and are still committed by both the landlords and the representatives of real estate bureaus, who introduce changes in house structures by altering the design and areas of rooms so as to meet the increasing demand on "sharing" housing units, as a result of the high value of rentals.

A large number of contracting companies have started carrying out housing projects, mostly villas, as these have been proved to be one of the best investments, the quickest in implementation and the highest in revenues.

Owners of such villas or apartments, and their representatives divide their housing units into very small rooms, mostly lacking all kinds of public health, security or social privacy.

Even the roofs, kitchens, bathrooms and maid rooms at those housing units were turned into bedrooms.

The landlords introduced partitioning amends in the roofs, kitchens and bathrooms of their villas and apartments, as well as the maids' rooms, so as to accommodate as much people as possible.

Instead of leasing the villa to one family only, you might find four or five families residing in the same villa.

Instead of leasing a three-bedroom apartment to six or even nine singles; you might find about 50 people living in that apartment!

The agents responsible for renting those units follow various means, according to the nature of the leasers, their financial capabilities and their accommodation period.

The single resident might lease his place by the meter or by the bed. In some cases, the resident might lease a bed for only 12 hours per day.

Accordingly, one might find a one-bedroom crowded with two-level beds, accommodating six or even eight singles.

By applying such methods in the rest of the rooms, you might find one villa accommodating an unimaginable number of residents. You might even find families living in the same villas with singles.

These developments have become a threatening phenomenon to the ethics and social values.

Amer Aly, an employee, spent a long time until he was introduced to an agent who leases villas.

"She offered to rent me one of the 'partitioned' rooms on the roof of a villa. That room was so small that it accommodated two persons with no luggage. The room had no windows or any ventilation outlets. The door didn't even have any locks. I was shocked when I saw the villa in general," he said.

Even the villa's garden was not left empty. A number of small wooden-built rooms were set up in the garden, in addition to the janitor's room, which accommodated a family of four members. There was a room under the staircase of the villa and four rooms on the roof.

"On entering the villa, I felt I was in some kind of a governmental department, crowded with employees. It also looked like a nursery crowded with children. What was common among all the 'partitioned' rooms was the lack of windows and all kinds of safety measures. The four-bedroom villa was actually turned into a 23-bedroom villa," he pointed out.

Aly said that on his last day at that "horrible" room, he was surprised to see eight young men and women knocking at the door, holding their luggage.

"When I opened the door, they told me that they were the new leasers of the room. I was surprised simply because the room was barely enough for two people, so how could eight people stay in that room. How would they sleep? They told me that they had to accept such a tough status as they failed to find any suitable housing," he noted.

Mohamed Al Athamena, an employee, described such "partitioned" rooms as resembling the match boxes.

"We actually could not blame the people who decide to stay in such inhuman conditions. What could they do anyway? We also could not blame the landlord, who is trying to get as much money as he could to increase his income. There is an increasing demand on the housing units, with a very limited supply. How could a newly-married foreign resident lease a suitable apartment?" he asked.

The rental value of a two-bedroom apartment has now jumped over Dhs100,000 per year.

"Nevertheless, we still didn't lose the hope that the rental values might improve with the interference of the government. We are all hopeful that senior officials might eventually sympathise with low-income people," he said.

Mohamed Fouad, an employee at a real estate bureau, admitted that a large number of landlords try to make the highest financial benefit possible from their housing units.

"They place partitions in the rooms and put as much beds as possible so that the apartment would accommodate the largest number of people, regardless of being singles or families. Some of them even turn the kitchens into bedrooms. They rent such rooms either by the bed or by the meter," he noted.

"One room only occupied by about 10 people might be rented for Dhs20,000 per year. An originally two-bedroom apartment might be divided into about eight or even ten 'partitioned' rooms, in addition to turning the kitchen into a separate room and sometimes the bathrooms too," he admitted.

According to Abdullah Nasser Al Jeneby, General Director of Public Services Sector at the Abu Dhabi Municipality, the issue of random housing will have a very bad and risky impact, especially on public health.

"We are trying our best by launching intensive inspection campaigns to limit such phenomenon. The greedy investors and landlords have gone so far that they even turned the bathrooms and kitchens into bedrooms. It has become a human tragedy by all means. Imagine a three-bedroom apartment having 50 residents," he said.

"There is no doubt that the air inside such apartment is not healthy at all and the people residing in it are liable to all kinds of illnesses, in addition to safety risks threatening their lives," he cautioned.