Hardship continues for residents of Al Khubairah Towers in Abu Dhabi

Residents in an Abu Dhabi high rise say maintenance is no longer being carried out in their building amid an ownership dispute.

ABU DHABI // Maintenance work has come to a halt at an Al Khalidiyah residential tower amid an ownership dispute, causing uncertainty among tenants.

Optima Al Sahel Technical Services, the facilities management company for the high-rise, announced to residents that it would cease all maintenance work except rubbish removal because it had not been paid for six months.

Since June, tenants at Al Khubairah Towers have been unsure about the building's ownership. The property had been managed by Al Farida Investment. A representative from the company declined to comment.

Some tenants worried about safety issues if the building was not being maintained, particularly after a partial road collapse in September at a neighbouring building site.

“The lift hasn’t been working for a month,” said one resident, a British expatriate who lives in Block A and asked not to be named.

He called it “a bit disturbing” and said residents wondered what they would do in an emergency.

“I’ve chatted to people in the building, they’re all concerned,” he said. “How do we escape here with one lift?”

Tenants have been told that to renew their contracts they must go to court and pay, he said.

“In general, the building’s getting scruffier and scruffier by the week,” he said. “It is a concern and of course no one’s told us what’s happening regarding the road collapse.”

Another resident, an American who also asked not to be named, said he found out that the maintenance would not be carried out when he asked for a leaking tap to be fixed. He also expressed concern about people continuing to swim in the pool when it was not being maintained.

“It’s a great building, it has a lot of really good amenities,” he said. “It needs to be kept up.”

He said he had contacted the municipality for updates on the road collapse.

Tenants have used WhatsApp to communicate developments with each other in lieu of official updates on the ownership situation.

“I think tenants feel really helpless,” he said. “You don’t know where to go to get answers.”

Ben Crompton, co-founder of Crompton Properties, said landlords were legally obliged to undertake maintenance in the building.

He said tenants would usually have to file a case to the Rental Disputes Committee, part of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, in cases where ownership was in dispute.

“The court would, in most countries, make an interim ruling about what would happen to the property,” Mr Crompton said.

“This kind of thing happens the world over. There are often ownership disputes about a building like this.”

He did not think it would be difficult for tenants to file a case, particularly if their employers were arranging the housing.

Normally, there is a presumptive landlord who would still have responsibility for maintenance despite ownership being challenged.

“The case here might be that there is no presumptive landlord and it is still unclear who owns the building,” he said.

Al Khubairah Towers is off Zayed the First Street, next to a building site for a mixed-use property.

Abu Dhabi Municipality did not immediately respond to a request for comment.