My Dubai Rent takes you inside a reader's home to have a look at what they pay each month, see who they live with and find out what they do and don’t like
Communications consultant Rebecca Rees has lived in her two-bedroom townhouse in Dubai’s Jumeirah Village Triangle since 2014.
The reason she chose her home is simple – she needed extra space for her dogs Ella and Sam.
Ms Rees, from Britain, said she has no plans to move because she loves her house, and the local neighbourhood, so much.
She was only too happy to invite The National inside to show readers why it remains so special to her.
How much do you pay in rent?
I am paying Dh105,000 a year right now. When I first moved here, in 2014, I paid a whopping Dh165,000, but that was the going rate at the time.
Two-bedroom end townhouses are always in demand and I wanted one, so I had to pay a lot for it.
Rents have fallen since then, though. From 2014 until last year, I had a reduction each year.
Last year I was paying Dh90,000, which is a massive drop from the original rent. This year it has crept back up to Dh105,000.
I still think that is reasonable for what I have, though.
What I rent - the places and spaces we choose for our lives
Why did you choose to live here?
The most important thing is having some outside space – not just for me, but my two dogs as well.
It’s because of them that I moved here in the first place.
I used to live in an apartment in The Greens, which was lovely with a great view and fantastic amenities, and it was luxurious, but it didn’t have that space I needed. I gave all that up to come to JVT.
It really is the perfect location for me. There are supermarkets and shops within the community and there are great facilities for walking the dogs.
The landscaping is really nice too and there are basketball and tennis courts.
I am really only half an hour’s drive away from anywhere I want to go.
My partner lives in The Springs, which is the community next door, so that makes life easy too.
I really can’t see myself moving out any time soon.
Why did you need more space?
I have two dogs: Sam, a saluki-German shepherd mix, and Ella, who is a pure saluki.
My partner owns a saluki as well, called Namr, who often stays here with the other two.
I work from home a lot and have all three dogs with me quite a lot of the time.
There’s loads of space for them to roam about the house and they like to lounge about too.
Because they are salukis, they are quite lazy most of the time, but when they get outside they tend to have big bursts of energy.
The dogs have got their own sofas as well. They have their own end of the lounge and there are sofas for them upstairs too. They also have the garden.
They have the run of the house and I think that’s what dogs should have.
Do you think the rent you pay offers value for money?
People say you can get more for your money elsewhere, but that’s not the case for me.
It’s very much my home and I don’t like the hassle of moving. This is the first place in Dubai I have stayed in longer than a year.
You never really save when you move anyway because of everything you spend on new furniture, curtains and everything else that comes with it.
What’s the point of moving on if you’re happy somewhere?
What have you done to make the house your own?
Even though I only rent this place, I still live here and want it to be my own.
I’ve put decking down and fake grass to provide more greenery and I’ve had the kitchen wrapped. This basically means the cupboard doors get wrapped in different colours.
I did this because it was all dark wood and I wanted to make the house a little brighter, so I changed it to white.
The front door also needed replacing, so I bought one that was glazed, to let more natural light into the house.
I don’t mind spending money because I have to live here.
During the pandemic I started off working from the dining table and it just wasn’t comfortable, so I took myself to Ikea and bought a desk and office chair.
I bought some shelves as well and basically created a whole office upstairs.
Did you have any second thoughts about moving here?
I have no regrets at all. I have been in Dubai for 16 years and have lived in the Marina, Arabian Ranches and various other places.
I adored my two-bedroom apartment in The Greens, but it didn’t give me what I have now.
There are other little things that you don’t think about [when moving from an apartment to a townhouse].
When you go to the supermarket and come home with your shopping you can pull up and just walk straight through your front door.
You don’t need to lug bags in the lift or use a trolley to carry shopping up 20 floors.
Are the bills high?
You expect to pay more when you live in a villa or townhouse. That’s part and parcel of it.
It’s in the summer, when you are using the AC all the time, that your bills go up.
The most I have paid is Dh2,000 [for the month], but in the winter that goes down to about Dh700 or Dh800.
