UAE | Housing & Property

High-rise may collapse, Abu Dhabi tenants fear

Tenants of a downtown high-rise building here claim landlords are putting their lives at risk in an attempt to maximise profits.

  • By Samir Salama, Associate Editor
  • Published: 00:03 September 8, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Extensive alterations are visible in the 17-storey building on Hamdan Street in Abu Dhabi. Tenants claim renovation of the building has put their lives in danger.
  • Image Credit: Ravindranath/Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: Tenants of a downtown high-rise building here claim landlords are putting their lives at risk in an attempt to maximise profits.

Sultan and Suhail Mohammad Ahmad Khalaf Al Otaiba sought to transform their 17-storey building on Hamdan Street into an office tower, tenants said.

"Temptation of multifold profit prompted the landlords to tamper with the concrete structure, which may lead to the collapse of the 20-year-old building," said Abdullah Junaid, a civil engineer residing in the building. Junaid said he had lodged a complaint with the Al Za'afrana Municipal Office about the illegal work in the building.

Pictures

"I have taken pictures of the demolition [at the site] and submitted them to civic officials, who promised to act promptly," Junaid said.

Junaid said his wife and he had sleepless nights after they saw the destruction of the concrete structure of the building. "I felt the clock was ticking towards a disaster," Junaid added.

One of the owners of the building, Sultan Mohammad Ahmad Khalaf Al Otaiba, told Gulf News he had never meant to endanger the lives of the tenants.

"I am an engineer and I know what I am doing, but tenants are blackmailing me after I sought to evacuate them to change the building to an office tower. They [the tenants] must go, whether they want to or not. Anyway, they are not partners in my business."

The ownership of the building changed hands last December. Since then, no tenancy contract was renewed by the new landlords.

The tenants told Gulf News they had to pay their rents with the Rent Dispute Resolution Committee.

Other tenants were complaining about the deafening noise during the destruction of the walls in the building.

Forced to move

Moustafa Madhi, a communications engineer, said he had to move to Sharjah because he and his family could not stand the noise.

But most other tenants said they could not move because they could not afford the high rents.

When Gulf News took up the issue with Abu Dhabi Municipality, engineer Khalfan Al Nuaimi, director of construction permits at the municipality, said: "The permit granted to the landlords simply allowed them to remove wood or glass dividers on certain floors and change windows and doors where necessary. But they were not allowed to tamper with the concrete structure.

"A violation will be registered against the landlord and the contractor, who will be summoned before the court," he added.

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