UAE | General
Shoreline Apartments issue: Whose beach is it anyway?
Premium property owners cry foul after exclusive beach/pool facilities on The Palm are thrown open to public for just Dh50 a day
- By Anjana Kumar, Staff reporter
- Published: 00:00 January 19, 2012
- Image Credit: Ahmed Ramzan/XPRESS
- Shoreline residents are locked in tussle over rights to common areas.
DUBAI: Premium beach and pool facilities on The Palm Jumeirah have been thrown open to the public for as little as Dh50 a day, angering Shoreline Apartments owners who claim exclusive right over these areas.
Residents said charges for using clubhouse facilities that include beach access, swimming pool and kids' play areas have been kept at Dh50.
The sales and purchase agreements (SPAs) signed by Shoreline owners with Nakheel also grants them this exclusive right, they said.
An SPA seen by XPRESS states: "The clubhouse includes the use of gym, swimming pools and the clubhouse operators also provide gym attendants, pool and clubhouse maintenance and cleaning staff and lifeguards for the swimming pools and beach that are exclusive to the Shoreline Apartments residents."
A receipt signed by a clubhouse staff gave access to ‘two guests' into the clubhouse for a charge of just Dh100. The clubhouse is managed by Nakheel Leisure. Apart from names of the guests, no other details such as ID card numbers or passport details were put on the receipt. All Shoreline owners and tenants are required to produce title deeds or tenancy contracts to be able to get access cards for clubhouse facilities.
open for public
In a meeting on January 8, around 35 residents of Shoreline Apartments said that while the swimming pool area has been restricted for them, it is still kept open for public use. "Anyone can go to the reception, pay their daily fee and get into what is rightfully ours. The reception does not ask for any identification from the people. They just collect the money and they let them in. This is grossly unfair as owners have to provide documents like title deed, passport copy and visa copy to get a temporary card access into the clubhouse. And here anybody with Dh50 can walk in and use our facilities, that too without giving any documents as proof," said a resident. "Nakheel is blocking our access and selling tickets outside," the resident added.
At the dnd of last year, Nakheel distributed leaflets to The Palm Jumeirah residents warning them that it planned to roll out clubhouse fees for residents of around Dh5,000 and more (depending on the size of the unit) and opening up the clubs to outside members at a cost of Dh12,000 a year.
Nakheel chairman Ali Rashid Lootah said, "This issue is under review by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) and we await their decision. Naturally we will respect whatever decision they make."
Rera on its part told a Shoreline resident that no additional clubhouse fees will be due if building service fees have been paid in full to Nakheel.
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