My Dubai Rent takes you inside a reader’s home to have a look at what they get for their money, how much they pay in rent and asks them what they like and don’t like. Click here if you would like to take part in the series and show us why your home is so special.
Professional coach Benjamin Owen, 39, identified Damac Hills 2 as the area of Dubai where he wanted to live before moving there with his family from the UK.
He says they have been UAE residents for four years and have no desire to move from the desert community and the villa they currently rent for Dh120,000 a year.
Mr Owen took The National on a tour around the home he shares with his 34-year-old wife, Poppy, a popular family-orientated content creator, and their two daughters, aged four and six.
Please describe your home
It’s a three-bedroom villa with a maid’s room, so it’s effectively four bedrooms.
We’ve got four bathrooms, two balconies, an outdoor area like a small garden, and a large car parking area.
The big thing for us as well is it backs on to the desert. I run in the desert and I like to be in nature. When you drive out to Damac Hills 2, you see camels. We moved to the Pacifica cluster of Damac Hills 2 straight away when we moved here to Dubai.
Why did you choose this place?
We actually looked online for somewhere that was slightly outside central Dubai because we were used to living slightly outside an urban area in the UK.
We were used to doing a 45-minute commute, so we actually didn’t mind that. Equally, we didn’t want to live in a city; we wanted to live in Dubai, but we didn’t want to be in traffic jams or to be in the centre.
We looked for the most developed area or the best development on the outskirts, and that led us to Damac Hills 2.
We moved out here with a really close friend from the UK. He’d lived out here previously and had actually been part of the construction of the villas as one of the managers, so he knew it was decent. Equally, it was the best value for money as far as we could see, with all the amenities.
Where else have you lived in Dubai?
We lived in another three-bed villa with a maid's room for two years in the same cluster and then we moved to this one.
We moved just down the road to this villa because we found a better landlord.
It was actually more expensive, but it was a better set-up, and we loved where we lived, so we didn’t want to move far.
What do you pay to rent there?
It’s Dh120,000. It is actually on the more expensive side. We had exactly the same villa (style) a year or two ago for Dh100,000.
But we had an absolute nightmare in the first years, with a dodgy agent. We paid him all the money and he didn’t pay the landlord. We had such a bad experience.
After that, we just wanted someone who was super reliable, more stable and more trustworthy.
It’s not cheap, it’s not expensive, but everything that we pay for in terms of the property's upkeep seems to manifest.
Do you feel you get value for money?
We’ve got an amazing landlord. He is Emirati. He does all the maintenance … sends his team round if there’s any problem, anything, large or small, and he rectifies it within 24 hours.
He is very good to do business with, but he charges a little more than some of the other villas on the site.
We feel like we’re getting exactly what we’re paying for. And it’s exactly the same rental amount that we rent our home out for in the UK. We get the equivalent of the monthly rent here, so it was a fairly good swap really.
How have you made it your home?
We fitted a media wall. It’s a shelving unit plus some panelled walls and lights. It has a really good effect, and it’s way better than the blank walls that you often get in these rental properties.
We wrapped the kitchen, upgraded the bedrooms for the kids, fitted them with furniture, such as built-in bunk beds. And we laid some turf in the back garden and put in a barbecue area.
We both work online and the businesses are doing really well, so it works.
Poppy is one of the main family-based content creators in Dubai, and does a lot of the community-based content for Damac.
What amenities do you have?
A gym, a swimming pool for the kids. And there is Water Town, a water park. There’s a running track around the centre of the whole community, which is like 7km.
There are tennis courts, padel courts, a basketball court, a cricket ground, and an outdoor gym area. There’s something called Sports Town, which is like a whole area of outdoor things that you can take the kids to, and there are barbecue areas that you can hire and use.
More things are coming to the local mall that we can access if we need anything like a coffee or a haircut – the essentials.
There is also a hotel for family who want to come over. I’m a leadership coach and I partner with businesses to help them scale; I run seminars and workshops for clients from all across the world, so I fly clients into Dubai a lot and I can put them up in the hotel and then work with them to help improve their business.
Coming to Dubai is often a really big experience for them because they see what’s available and what’s possible here. It’s an aspirational place for a lot of our clients.
How about connectivity?
When we first came here four years ago, it took us 50 minutes on a good drive to get from where we are to the Souk Madinat.
Now, with the new road, it takes 20 minutes end-to-end on Umm Suqeim Street, going at a normal pace. We can get to Dubai Hills Mall now in 25 minutes, where originally it took us 45 to 50 minutes every time.
What would you change about living there?
The wish list would probably be for an open-plan kitchen, much bigger. The kitchen is tiny. It’s like a Harry Potter cupboard kitchen, very small.
Getting rid of the downstairs bathroom probably, also, and there’s actually a load of wasted balcony space.
Are you planning to stay there?
Yeah, it feels like home. We’re probably going to stay here for as long as we stay in Dubai. There’s no reason to move, no desire to leave.
We’ve got a large, fairly spacious home, exactly what we need, but we also get access to a swimming pool and gym.
We’ve got a well-kept area that we live in. There’s a good community here as well and the girls love their school.
Have you thought about buying property?
We’ve got two homes in the UK. One of them is our family home.
The only thing that would make us move is if we wanted a bigger villa or to buy here. But right now, we’re really happy where we are.
We’ve chosen well and landed on our feet. We thought maybe we could have a better lifestyle in Dubai, so we gave it a try … and we have not looked back.
