Residents of a high-rise in Dubai are feeling the heat after the air conditioning in their homes was turned off due to a row over unpaid management fees.
Tenants and owners at Preatoni Tower in JLT said they have gone months without air conditioning.
Some have bought portable AC units and fans, but have complained to management as summer approaches. The building management said tenants would not receive cooling services until service fees were paid by unit owners.
Alex Nikolenko, a landlord, said he was up to date with his service charges – but that the whole block has to suffer due to those who haven't paid.
It's a shame because it's a good building and everything else is perfect but we need AC, especially in the hot summer months
“Considering that we are approaching the summer months and the temperature already hitting 35-40 degrees outside, it’s not a matter of money anymore, it’s a matter of health and safety," said the 36-year-old Russian, a technical manager.
“The bigger picture here is that if the building will stay without the AC, the tenants will be within their rights to stop their lease contracts and will leave the building.
"This will create a chain reaction, as owners will have no income to pay for the service charges. In the current economic situation, it will basically kill the building and all investments made by the apartment owners."
One tenant said she was contemplating leaving due to the dispute.
“I am going to have consider moving if this continues. It’s just ridiculous,” said Amabel Joy Marasigan, 36, who said her AC was cut off in October, a month after she moved into the property and has not been turned on again since.
“We were told by building management it was going to be fixed soon, but we are still without it.
"All of my neighbours that I have spoken to are also without AC."
She said many of the residents at the 46-storey building, which was previously known as Dubai Star, have been given portable AC units or fans by their landlords until the situation is resolved.
"I am just going to have to see how bad the temperatures get, but it is going to be really difficult to stay there throughout the summer," said Ms Marasigan, who works in digital marketing.
“It’s a shame because it’s a good building and everything else is perfect, but we need AC – especially in the hot summer months.”
Another resident said her AC had been cut off two weeks after moving in at the beginning of March.
“I was told it would be back on by the end of April, but there’s still no sign of it,” said beauty therapist Yin Moe Aye, 45, from Myanmar.
Hotel accountant Naing Oo said his AC was turned off in the middle of February and he has been using a fan to keep the temperature down since then.
“Everyone in the building is facing the same issue,” said the 37-year-old from Myanmar.
“There are a lot of problems and the residents are the ones being punished.”
A spokesman for the building's owners' association management company, Stratum, said it had been very clear the issue was in the hands of the owners and they had been told they needed to pay their outstanding bills.
He added the AC would not be turned on again until those bills were settled.
"If you are not paying your bill you will not get a service," the spokesman said.
Building developer Preatoni Real Estate also had its AC disconnected by cooling services provider Empower, as it is located in the same building, said Preatoni relationship manager Nazli Saidi.
“We have addressed the local authorities, urging them to help in resolving the issue which is causing us, as a developer and tenant of the building, as well as all the unit owners, great damages,” she said.
“We have been requested by the local authorities to have minimum involvement in the matter, since as per law 6/2019, Rera [Real Estate Regulatory Agency] and the OA [owners association] handle the management of the buildings without direct involvement of the developer.”
The National has also contacted Empower for a statement.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Match info:
Burnley 0
Manchester United 2
Lukaku (22', 44')
Red card: Marcus Rashford (Man United)
Man of the match: Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United)
Super Bowl LIII schedule
What Super Bowl LIII
Who is playing New England Patriots v Los Angeles Rams
Where Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, United States
When Sunday (start time is 3.30am on Monday UAE time)
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Results
6.30pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes Group Three US$200,000 (Turf) 2,000m; Winner: Ghaiyyath, William Buick (jockey), Charlie Appleby (trainer).
7.05pm: Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Cliffs Of Capri, Tadhg O’Shea, Jamie Osborne.
7.40pm: UAE Oaks Group Three $250,000 (Dirt) 1,900m; Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.15pm: Zabeel Mile Group Two $250,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Zakouski, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby.
8.50pm: Meydan Sprint Group Two $250,000 (T) 1,000m; Winner: Waady, Jim Crowley, Doug Watson.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
