Dubai: Several buildings in Golden Mile 1 and 2 in Palm Jumeirah could be plunged into darkness and left without water — just because of a fault of a few. Some residents have not paid their service charges and now all residents will have to bear the brunt.
On December, 4, officials from Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) visited the posh residential area to pull out the plug on utilities, but the building management held them off, asking for a grace period — their second such request in the past fortnight. On November 24, too, the Novus Community Management managed to forestall the power cuts when Dewa officials visited the place to carry out the threat. "We can hold them off for so long... The entire building is now at a risk of disconnection from essential services. Disconnection of services will affect all units, including those who have paid their service charge and unit utility bills," says a letter sent to residents by Novus Community manager Alex L. Smith on November 24.
Another letter followed on December 5. It said: "Dewa visited the site yesterday with the intention of disconnecting [power to] your building. We managed to avoid disconnection with the promise of payment of outstanding amounts within the next few days, however it should be noted that currently there are insufficient funds in your Owners Association's account to settle the debt."
Dewa is not the only body they have to contend with. District cooling provider Palm District Cooling (PDC) has also issued a final disconnection notice (see picture) to the buildings. For the time being, the community management has averted the PDC disconnection by making part payments. But the threat of cuts remains.
With time and the patience of Dewa and PDC fast running out, residents are getting increasingly worried.
A resident of Golden Mile Building 1 said: "We don't know what will happen. I hope the building management finds a solution."
Alastair McCracken, Chief Executive, Novus Community Management, said service providers should not penalise residents who pay their service charges. "Utilities should be cut off for only those units that have not paid the fees, not the entire building. It's sad that tenants suffer because of defaulting landlords."
The Golden Mile case is not an isolated one. Many buildings have owners in default of service fee payment.
In October, Mohammad Metwally, Chairman of Interim Owners Association Board, Al Seef Tower 2 in JLT, said: "All residents face the risk of collective punishment of discontinued services or utilities supplies as a result of groups of owners in default."
