'One family, one villa' rule hits young professionals

Dubai: Municipality's "one family, one villa" rule was introduced ostensibly to avoid another tragedy like the one earlier this year when 11 men died in a villa fire in Naif.

And while the shockwaves from that piece of legislation continue to reverberate through the emirate four months on, the cynical among Dubai's residents mutter that the move, while admittedly protecting against similar hazards in the future, serves the double purpose of helping to prop up rents in an uncertain housing market.

Everyone agrees that having up to 500 people living in a single villa, as we are told is the case in a Naif villa, is unacceptable.

We hear that a makeshift wooden floor had been fitted without permission to create another storey and that numerous kitchen areas had been added, turning the place into a tinderbox.

The municipality is right to do everything it can to remove the possibility of something like this happening again and, as was the case in the Naif villa, to arrest unscrupulous landlords to whom money seems more valuable than human life.

But the stringent crackdown has also had a knock-on affect on those who are the least equipped to deal with the changes.

Housing is expensive in Dubai and rent prices reflect that. People share accommodation in the first place because they simply can't afford not to.

It's no good asking them to vacate shared accommodation and secure a lease on a residence as a single person if they don't have the funds. All that will happen is that they will be forced to leave.

In today's financial climate, is it the right time to force professionals in shared villas to find alternative, more expensive living options, and to force families, unable to afford the high price of a villa alone, to split up?

For young professionals the prohibitive cost of living alone in the emirate, whether in a villa or apartment, could cause them to look for cheaper housing and employment elsewhere.

It is a characteristic of a major city that rental prices are high. The difference between Dubai and other major cities is that most allow shared accommodation.

There are necessarily strict guidelines relating to the partitioning of properties that landlords must follow, but the idea of young professionals living together is an accepted way for those who are starting out on the career ladder to get ahead, or simply to just afford to work in their chosen field.

Look at London, New York and Mumbai - none of those places could be described as cheap.

In fact Mumbai, still reeling from the recent terror attacks, has some of the highest-priced property in the world, but by the same token you could have a house-share in all three cities and spread the pain of high rental costs.

Could a compromise not be reached whereby rules are drawn up allowing shared accommodation in certain areas of the city in conjunction with the religious and cultural sensibilities of Dubai?

If the young professionals, who are so important to Dubai's economy, can't afford single living in the city's glamorous skyscraper developments, let alone its sprawling villas, is there not a case for the development of affordable, tailor-made apartments specifically for single people who fall into that category?

No one is saying the Municipality is remiss in upholding the law - in fact the opposite is true. Quite apart from the cost in terms of human lives when things go wrong, there is also the business community to be considered and developers must be protected from the dangers of fire and the overuse of buildings.

But clearer communication is needed so people are aware of the rules in the current situation as well as more thought given to possible alternatives to "one family, one villa" norm.

The writer is managing director of Better Homes.