Dubai: Tenants of the Remraam community have filed several complaints regarding ceilings falling apart and cracks in apartment walls due to excessive water leakage.
Kristina Gabriel, a 37-year-old from Croatia who moved to Remraam in January, explained that she was the first to occupy the brand new apartment she is currently living in.
The Remraam development is located on Emirates Road between Al Qudra Road and D57 Highway.
“I faced issues since day one of moving in, the main door and window weren’t closing properly without making lots of noise, air conditioning stopped cooling unannounced many times and plenty of water leakage from the ceiling, which is a problem I have until today,” she said.
Kristina said that she woke up on a Friday three months ago to a flooded bathroom. When she contacted Idama, the facilities management, she was told to wait since no one could assist her on a Friday.
Tenant Kristina Gabriel from Croatia called the maintenance company about water leakage and this was the solution they had to offer. Maria Botros/Gulf News
“After two days, technicians were sent to my apartment and the result was a hole in my wall with a pipe coming down from the ceiling connected to the sink faucet,” said Kristina.
She added that her electricity box exploded once when maintenance came to clean it, causing all the cables to burn. Frustrated by the constant complications, Kristina said that she will be moving out of her apartment next month but hopes issue will be resolved for the other tenants.
Similarly, Zaid Abughazaleh, a 29-year-old tenant from Jordan, complained about improper sealing for his apartment windows which make it easier for humidity, dust and heat to enter.
“We had issues with our air conditioning breaking down and foul smells passing through the vents. When I decided to check the problem myself, I noticed that the sewer pipe from the apartment above was cracked,” said Abughazaleh.
He added that leakage from the water heater has damaged the false ceiling in the kitchen and, until today, nothing has been fixed though he complained around two to three times a month before giving up in August.
“I went on my honeymoon and returned to find my apartment completely flooded from the water heater leakage,” he said. “I moved in in December 2014 and I’m still facing the same problems.”
Wessam Rashid, a 40-year-old tenant from Egypt, also faced water leakage in the guest bathroom and is left with an exposed ceiling until today.
“No one from Idama came to close the bathroom ceiling once again,” said Rashid. “We have called and sent several emails to Idama and Remram’s property management, Taziz, and are left with no response from both until now.”
He explained that after multiple visits to the Idama office, on his last visit he was told that a quotation will be sent to the owner for the issue to be resolved. Rashid added that the air conditioning has also broken down on many occasions.
“Almost every month we have our air conditioning break down and it is embarrassing, especially with guests over at our house,” he said. “It once broke down on a Thursday so we spent the weekend with no air conditioning in the summer heat.”
Gulf News contacted Dubai Properties, the developer, and spoke to Abdullah Abu Shabieb, senior executive director of Customer Care and Government Relations, regarding the issues tenants are facing.
Abu Shabieb explained that complaints are taken into consideration by coordinating with Taziz and Idama, the two entities tenants should go through when filing complaints.
“Tenants should be clear about their tenancy contract in the clause of maintenance and the issue to me seems to be a miscommunication between the landlords and the tenants renting the apartment,” he clarified.
Abu Shabieb said looking at the other side of the spectrum, there have been instances where Idama has tried to contact tenants and landlords but received no response. He also asked for complaint reference numbers of tenants to directly look into the complaints to resolve the problems faced.
