Man jailed for partitioning Abu Dhabi villa

Abu Dhabi: A man has been sentenced to one month in jail and fined Dh50,000 for partitioning his villa to accommodate more families and bachelors without obtaining a licence.

It is illegal for more than one family to stay in a single property after partitions are put up without the permission of the landlord and the civic body.

The Abu Dhabi Court of Misdemeanours also ordered the man, M.N., to remove all partitions and evacuate the residents at his own expense.

The landlord of the property complained to the Rent Dispute Resolution Committee that the defendant had erected partitions in the villa and rented it out to a number of families and single people. The committee referred the case to the court, which gave this ruling.

Ventilation

The defendant was found to have repeatedly been fined for similar violations, according to the court's documents.

The shortage of affordable flats in Abu Dhabi has forced hundreds of families to share accommodation by putting up partitions.

The civic body has to approve the materials used to partition any accommodation.

"We look at a lot of aspects before giving permission. The room should be big enough, there should be more than one washroom, the partitions should be done with a material that is not harmful and the rooms should have proper ventilation facilities," said a civic official.