Tenants sleep in cars due to lack of air conditioning

Dubai: Residents of a Deira apartment block have started sleeping in their cars after going without air conditioning for almost three weeks.

The Al Yaqoub building, near Clock Tower roundabout, has been blighted with the problem since July 18. Some residents have already left for alternative accommodation due to the "horrendous conditions" while others have resorted to sleeping in their vehicles.

The building operates a centralised air conditioning system but there is a technical problem preventing cool air from coming out of the chillers in some apartments.

Ahmad Al Zahaby, a 25-year-old pharmacist from Egypt, has been sleeping in his Mitsubishi Lancer for the past 10 nights.

He said: "It's obviously not ideal sleeping in my car but it's more comfortable than the alternative, my roasting apartment. I am so angry about the whole situation and I'm desperately trying to find somewhere else to live but like many others I'm under contract.

"I'm so tired every day and my performance at work is suffering. One day I had a road accident when I was leaving a T-junction; I wasn't concentrating properly because I was so tired. My whole life is affected, but even the thought of entering my apartment is hell. There are several tenants sleeping in their vehicles every night at the moment. We have no choice."

Almost 40 tenants have signed a petition urging immediate action to rectify the situation, which has led to some tenants feeling ill.

Pamela Ausen, a 26-year-old receptionist from the Philippines, said: "I live with my mother and we would both like to leave as soon as possible but we have already paid rent up to the end of September.

"We are paying rent but we have been sleeping uncomfortably for almost three weeks now. Some residents have bought their own A/C coolers, electric fans and bags of ice, which they use for taking a bath."

A spokesman for Remamco Real Estate said: "The reason for the delay is we had to re-tender the contract for the building's air conditioning because the previous tender wasn't taking action [to rectify the situation]. A problem with the coils in the building's chillers has been identified and maintenance teams from the new tender have been working on the fault for the past 20 days.

"However, there is also a problem with the compressor - a problem that wasn't identified by the previous tender. The situation is already improving as work has finished on one of the chillers. We are hopeful that work on the compressor can begin by the middle of next week."

However, that explanation is not good enough for some residents, who say their performance at work is suffering. Amitabh Dhawan, a 37-year-old company vice-president from India, said: "I have not been sleeping well at all since this nightmare started almost three weeks ago. I've been feeling really lethargic and the situation is reflecting on every aspect of my life," he said.

"I think I'm past the stage of being angry; I just want my health back. My lease expires in November but I'm already looking at alternative accommodation. Maintenance workers are in the building at the moment but the air conditioning is still not working. I don't know why it's taking so long. My main issue with the landlord is this was allowed to happen at all. All the chillers in the building stopped working at the same time. We had no choice but to get the police involved."

Dubai Police was called to the building on Saturday, July 25, after dozens of angry residents congregated on the street outside.

Salwa Ci, a 35-year-old tour consultant from China, said: "Everybody is really angry. After a long day at work it is horrible to come back to a flat with no air conditioning, especially as we are in the middle of summer and it's so hot.

"A lot of people in the building have started to feel ill but the majority of residents have nowhere else to go, I've been living in the building for seven years but I'm looking to move out now. How can we be expected to live like this?"

Have your say
What, according to you, is the best solution in this case? Have you or anyone you know faced similar issues? Did you raise it with the landlord? Tell us at letter2editor@gulfnews.com or fill in the comments form below

For eg: Accommodate the people in Hotel and the expenses shall be deducted from the Owner/Real estate/Maintenance company. I believe the Dubai Authorities may have already taken some measures to safe guard the general public interest.
Mohammad Azhar Al Deen
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 15:55

The responsible party is the owner, and it is only right that he is forced to make alternative arrangements for the residents. He would have to foot the hotel bill - no questions asked. My heart goes out to these residents.
Adnan
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 15:38

It is the responsibility of the building owner to fix the Air-condition for the benefits of the tenants. The owner should find a way to fix it quickly for the sake of the tenants especially now that the heat is unbearable. Hope they will take action as soon as possible.
Shirley L. Portillo
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 15:09

Its simple, the Landlord must compensate by providing alternative accommodation until rectified or return equivalent in rental revenue. This conflicts with Human Rights and should not be accepted!
S. Hutcheon
Dubai,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 14:35

human rights violation at its best
safarulla sherule
sharjah,uae
Posted: August 07, 2009, 14:21

you can't blame the landlord he has given the building to Real Estate to run the building. some real estate companies don't care for a/c or lift maintenance. so i think both of them are equally responsible
Mohammad Khalid
Dubai,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 14:11

It's so panic to tolerate in the sizzling summer, we cannot even imagine sleeps inside the building with that atmosphere with our young children,
James Al Huraiz
Dubai,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 14:10

I am a AC Engineer so I know everything about air condition and owner of air condition. This situation comes because of poor maintenance from long time. If real estate want to start AC, it will work within one day without wasting of time in re-tender. In market, reputed company are ready to work on hour basis.
Shahid Ali
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 12:41

This building may create some new disease. Before it complicates further guess the rent authorities shift tenants temporarily to other building/s till the problem is solved. Swing into action now, before it?s too late. Its shocking that the landlord after getting paid and contracts hasn?t done anything for 20 days.
Tarek Syed
Dubai,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 12:35

There should be mandatory penalty clauses in lease agreements that provide either paying compensation to tenants or providing alternative accommodation at the cost of Landlord. We can understand these types of issues can happen in any building but the tenant is like a customer for the Landlord and must be compensated.
Ganesh Subramanian
Dubai,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 12:30

if the landlord has hired a company to do the work what more can he do and what are the tenants going to benefit from all this?Isn't gulf news making encouraging the tents to make more statements?
John Stevens
Dubai,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 11:52

I can really understand how bad the situation would be when your AC is not working specially in this hot summer season. I also faced the same problem almost 4 weeks ago.
Jamil Tekedil
Dubai,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 11:27

Such stories are a reminder to introduce strict laws, defending the basic rights of people.
Kamran Shabbir
SHARJAH,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 11:15

The building owner is solely responsible for all this situation and it is his responsibility to even install a new chiller unit if required and he should be punished for his negligence. The people living there are humans and they cannot be treated as such.
Abdul Razack A.S.
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 10:18

This is height, the owner of the building should be charged for this situation. On the other hand the central air conditioning system installed in some buildings are not properly taken care off and the maintenance is not carrying out on time. Municipalities should do routine surveys and ask tenants for any such type of problems and take strict action against the building owner in order to avoid future hardships.
Salman Khan
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 10:04

it takes one week to work on a compressor? Horrible explanation. And it is amazing that this contractor don?t have a spare compressor!
Mohammad Thanveer
Al Ain,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 09:41

What is the authorities doing to fix up the problems faced by the people. Will they take any action against the building owners for this?
Jeet
Dubai,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 09:37

The landlord should be held responsible. No other solution.
C. Sagoo
Dubai,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 09:36

I think, the building owner temporary arrange some apartments or some another building or hotels. in future, have to put some maintenance department to solve this type of problem.
Shahul Hameed
Dubai,U.A.E
Posted: August 07, 2009, 08:27

I think the landlord has to give away one month rent back to his client and apologise. This, according to me, is the best solution. It is also a lesson for other landlord who have taken the system for granted.
Stevie
Dubai,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 04:39

The landlord is powerful person. Otherwise how dare to do such things during this summer. Might is right.
P. C. Ummer
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: August 07, 2009, 02:23