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Landlords refusing upkeep, say tenants

SHARJAH — What happens when your landlord refuses to carry out maintenance works in your apartment and, while renewing your contract, also tells you accept the flat as it is or leave?

In a classic case that proves that landlords in the UAE have an upper hand, several tenants of Al Sweihidi Building near the Geco Roundabout in Sharjah have been allegedly asked by Reemak Real Estate — that manages the building — to accept their apartment as it is or better still, leave. The tenants say that, literally, no maintenance works are carried out at the building even though they are paying for it.

Said Mohammed Irfan, the Manager of Reemak Real Estate: “Whenever we plan to increase the rents, the tenants complain about maintenance. But it does not make a difference to us even if they speak to the Press.”

A angry tenant, who did not want to be named, questioned the attitude of the real estate company: “Is it not our right to ask for maintenance when we are paying for it? The roof of my apartment has been leaking due to a fault in the apartment above me for the past three months. I have been asking the real estate people to repair the leak for the past three months, but they say that maintenance is carried out by some one else.”

“Due to this leakage, I have suffered a great loss as water has seeped into electric equipment in my flat and destroyed them completely. They also told me that they would not renew my contract if I insisted on the repair works, otherwise I could leave,” he claimed.

Backing the allegations, another tenant said that if there was a watchman for the building, they had never seen him.