Rera can extend rules to property marketers

Readers wonder whether a longer lifespan is good for us. Other topics: RERA regulation, Marina Mall

Readers underscore the downsides of our increasing longevity. Manjunath Kiran / AFP

I refer to the article, Dubai cracks down on rogue property agents (December 5).

Like other home owners in Dubai, I welcome this important addition to Rera regulations to enhance protection for sellers, buyers and tenants.

Friends whose homes were neither for sale nor for lease have been sent listings with photos from magazines and social media of their properties that are being illegally marketed online.

I would humbly request this regulation to be extended to all types of property marketing – including phone and email.

I had to change my mobile number after buying my home due to dozens of telemarketing calls and text messages day and night, supposedly from property agents wanting to sell or rent my property, or sell me another.

I have always been extremely careful with my contact details and don’t sign up to promotional campaigns. In fact, it’s proven that the developer of my community is “sharing” my details, despite claiming that it’s against its policy.

I receive at least a dozen spam emails each day from property marketers who not only know my full name, but also where I live and the floor plan of the villa I own.

This must stop for investors – both owner-occupiers and landlords – so that they feel confidence in the property market and in the “professionals” hired to transact it. Stronger regulations and better licensing standards for realtors would be warmly welcomed.

Elan Fabbri, Dubai

How to live for 150 years?

Live to be 150? (As science advances, will living to 150 become the new normal?, December 5). Would you be able to financially support yourself to age 150 is my first thought.

My second thought is whether your pension fund provider would be able to sustain payment for so long. Finally, at what age would you retire?

Name withheld by request

I think it is hard for most people to grasp how the war on ageing will ultimately be won. The author of the article is right when he says that most people are in a trance and basically have a mental block to the potential benefits of life extension.

Clearly, enhanced longevity means the implications for health services, work and retirement are profound and will require considerable thought and planning both for governments and for individuals who will benefit.

As I see it, the retirement issue will need a rethink because it cannot continue as it does now, even in the short term.

Let’s assume you start your career at 20 and retire at 60, which means you would have worked for 40 years. So if you live to 85 or 90, you will be retired for 25 or 30 years. Would the savings last? Probably not.

Now factor in if you lived even longer, because we have not even taken account of anything more than an increase in life expectancy based on current rates of progress (and I expect we will greatly exceed that within 25 years). Then clearly retirement – when you start talking about working for 40 years and being retired for more years than you worked – will just not be realistic in the age of radical life extension.

Johnty Anderson, Dubai

Don’t add shops to Marina Mall

In reference to your story Abu Dhabi's Marina Mall to undergo Dh3 billion extension (December 6), it would be nice to see it build an outdoor section complete with a dock and some water­side activities. More shops won't make it worth the trip for people who live outside the main island.

Abdalla Ali, Abu Dhabi

If it’s not going to run on renewable energy or include any environmental benefits, I would say that the Dh3 billion investment is a waste.

Aouse K Al Anee, Abu Dhabi

As part of the expansion, I would like to see healthy eating establishments and indoor fitness walkways, a bicycle track within the mall and some green spaces.

Tanya Milbourne, Abu Dhabi