DUBAI // A small group of homeowners in the massive Discovery Gardens development have taken their long-running complaints over service and maintenance fees to the highest level. Owners of flats in the cluster of low-rise towers near Ibn Battuta Mall have sought help from the office of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Yesterday they presented his office with a petition asking for a reduction in upcoming service and maintenance fees for their community. The homeowners submitted the same document to Dubai's property market regulator, the Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera), late last month. The petition was signed by about 90 people who own a combined 130 flats in the 26,000-unit community. They said were spurred into action after receiving information that Nakheel, Discovery Gardens's master developer, had recently asked Rera's permission to charge Dh21.85 a square foot in fees, which comes to more than Dh20,000 (US$5,445) for a typical one-bedroom flat.
Property owners have long been at odds with Nakheel over such charges, as well as with what they say has been a failure by the developer to provide basic maintenance. Many complain they have had little help with broken air conditioners and clogged toilets, forcing some to use bathroom facilities at the nearby mall. Michael Aldendorff, a property owner at Discovery Gardens, said he and four other homeowners were informed about Nakheel's proposed fee structure during a meeting in August at the developer's Jebel Ali office.
They were told the amount had been approved by Rera, he said, though Nakheel had yet to officially announce it. Later that month Mr Aldendorff and a group of about four dozen Discovery Gardens homeowners organised a protest and started the petition. They would like the Ruler's office to be "aware of the problems people are facing when they buy property here," said Mr Aldendorff, who assumed a leadership role in the group. "This is a way to highlight the frustrations of homeowners who are severely disappointed with their properties.
"We're not trying to be radicals or troublemakers here. We're just trying to get what we invested in. We bought into the Dubai dream, and it's in our [interest] and the interest of the authorities that that is realised." In an e-mail, a Nakheel spokesperson said the disputed fees were "the current service charges [at Discovery Gardens] and NOT the ones for the next fiscal year". The developer did not disclose how much it intended to charge for the upcoming year, or whether it had proposed the disputed amount to Rera.
Nakheel also said it was not responsible for determining some of the disputed fees, and said they were calculated "to ensure that owners receive the best service for their fees. Any savings which can be made are then passed on to the owners." In addition to protesting against fees, the homeowners' petition asked authorities to "implement an immediate freeze on any and all payments related to maintenance, community and cooling charges for the next financial year until a suitable and acceptable rate has been agreed between Rera, Nakheel and the apartment owners".
It cited as justification similar rates at other communities for maintenance charges, common-area fees and cooling charges, which were significantly lower than Discovery Gardens. Homeowners in the community would pay Dh10.35 a square foot for building maintenance charges alone, the petition said, while owners in the Jumeirah Beach Residence and the Dubai Marina, areas boasting a wider array of community facilities, paid approximately Dh8.30.
Kishor Wagh, 49, an Indian national who signed the petition at the protest, accused Nakheel of neglecting the community. "After I rented it out in February, there was a problem of no power in the rooms," said Mr Wagh, who paid Dh1.25m for a one-bedroom flat in July 2008. "And then there was the problem of water leaking out all over the bathroom and kitchen." When he called Nakheel for help, he said, the response was "very bad. The maintenance is absolutely zero. When we call, we don't get a real response. It's always them telling us to call someone else to deal with it."
V Hariharam, 35, also from India, said he received similar responses regarding his broken bath tub and unpainted rooms. "All I get from Nakheel is that they've forwarded the complaint to the concerned person that was six months ago," said Mr Hariharam, who also attended the petition signing. He purchased his flat for Dh1.2m in May 2008. There has also been confusion at Dicovery Gardens between the mortgage lender Tamweel, Nakheel and third-party companies that bought the buildings from the developer. Many flat owners, years after purchasing property there, say they still lack title deeds, the crucial documents that verify their ownership.
hnaylor@thenational.ae
