A rather sensationalist take on a new legal crackdown in Dubai has been demonstrated in the international media recently, and we thought it was high time we explained the truth behind the story.
The powers that be in Dubai are cracking down on the habit of house sharing in the emirate in order to prevent health hazards from occurring, and to ease pressure on public services. However this tightening of control has been taken out of all proportion by those reporting it, and insinuations have been made that it has got something to do with Dubai’s property market slowdown.
In this article we will explain the truth behind why you cannot house share or property sublet in Dubai.
In Dubai not all expatriates are the wealthy western expatriates who earn fantastic money working in the free trade zones. Not all expats are able to afford their own property and not all foreign workers are remunerated properly by their employers. In the meantime, those who are living in Dubai and trying to survive on a less than adequate wage find that the ridiculous rental costs they are faced with are just impossible to afford.
One only has to stop and think for a minute about where the foreign construction workers live and where the expatriate maids and cleaners live to realise that chances are, they live in less affluent surroundings than bankers and teachers, airline staff and doctors. In fact, thousands of these lesser paid expatriate workers had, until very recently, discovered that the only way they could actually afford to live and work in the emirate was to house share.
When many of us think of house sharing we think of students or young professionals house sharing – where there is one person to one bedroom and a sharing of common facilities such as the kitchen and bathroom. However, when the authorities in Dubai say they are cracking down on house sharing they are cracking down on those who live five families to a room in a single property in Dubai. They are cracking down on those landlords who let and then sublet to multiple individuals or groups of people and cram as many as possible into a home.
These types of house share situations create health hazards, and what’s more, they put a lot of pressure on the water, electricity and sewerage systems. It is these sorts of house sharing situations that the government is trying to stop by issuing fines to landlords and cutting off services to properties. We are not saying that what the government is doing is a good thing because as is always the case, it is the poorest most vulnerable who suffer – we are just explaining the situation.
The reason for the explanation is that many have taken the sensationalist line that this is a way for the government to force more people to buy property in Dubai now that the real estate market is suffering from the global financial crisis. Whilst it’s undeniably true that Dubai’s property market has some serious issues to address, it is not the case that the government is evicting vulnerable tenants to ensure the construction boom continues!
