Contract row could leave homeowners fuming

A quarrel between two Dubai World companies could leave residents in two areas of Dubai without air conditioning.

Notices from Palm District Cooling were put up in the Shoreline Apartments of the Palm Jumeirah and Discovery Gardens over the weekend.

A payment row between Nakheel and Palm District Cooling has left thousands of homeowners in Dubai fuming. Notices from Palm District Cooling were put up in the Shoreline Apartments of the Palm Jumeirah and Discovery Gardens over the weekend telling residents their air conditioning would be cut off tomorrow "due to the building owner's continuing failure to enter into a legally binding contract with us".

Residents should contact Nakheel with inquiries, the notices said. Nakheel said in a statement yesterday: "An error has been rectified. No utilities will be cut off." Palm District Cooling is part of Palm Utilities, which is owned by Dubai World's investment company, Istithmar World Capital. Nakheel is also owned by Dubai World, which is nearing a final agreement on a US$23.5 billion (Dh86.31bn) debt restructuring.

Rupa Anwar, a representative for the owners' association of Al Dabas building in the Shoreline Apartments, said she had calls throughout the weekend from residents. "My weekend was disastrous," Ms Anwar said. "People were absolutely distraught. We can't live without air conditioning in this climate." She said a Nakheel representative told her yesterday residents could do nothing about the issue because it was a dispute between Nakheel and Palm District Cooling.

"Being residents of the Palm Jumeirah, which is an elite class of living in Dubai, we feel that they shouldn't be sending out notices without warning that they are going to cut off the air conditioning," she said. "We're very upset." Ms Anwar said regulations on how commonly owned spaces in buildings were maintained by multiple owners could clarify the maintenance of buildings by giving their owners control over the hiring of property management companies. She said she was paying a maintenance fee of Dh24 per square foot for her three-bedroom apartment - a total of Dh42,000 a year.

Dania Mchourab, the owner of a small flat in Discovery Gardens, said she told her tenant he could live in her family's villa if the air conditioning was turned off. "It's shameful," Ms Mchourab said. "They belong to the same company and they are putting us, poor souls, in the middle. What can we do? Go to the courts and file a lawsuit? There is no one to appeal to." Palm District Cooling supplies chilled water to projects around Dubai but mainly to Nakheel's including Jumeirah Lake Towers, Jumeirah Village, Discovery Gardens, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Metals and Commodities Centre, and Ibn Battuta Mall.

Palm District Cooling says it has also been "selected to service all of Nakheel's current and future projects", including Dubai Waterfront and Palm Jebel Ali. Palm District Cooling declined to comment. District cooling is a more efficient system of air conditioning that works by pumping chilled water from a central station to a network of buildings, each of which uses the water to cool flats and offices.

Kausar Khan, the owner of the Queens Beauty Lounge in the Dubai Marina, said the notice posted on her building in Discovery Gardens was the latest in a series of challenges with her new flats. "I have already had to pay extra money to fix problems in my supposedly brand new apartment," she said. "Now this? I already paid the chiller costs in full. Why are we being punished?" [e-mail]