Every year around this time, I am forced to enter into an elaborate sparring match with the rental company that manages the property I live in.
It generally starts with a curt email from them, proposing a hike in my annual rent that is not only enormous but, as per Rera guidelines, illegal. I have lived in the same house for six years and am loath to move – I have cultivated a now flourishing garden, spent hours painting walls in my preferred hues, invested many a dirham in annual maintenance and have made lots of friends in my neighbourhood (plus, the mere idea of having to sort through and empty my storeroom is enough to incite a panic attack).
So I respond with a strongly worded missive expressing my outrage at their proposal. After much back and forth, we reach an impasse. Finally, I make a trip to their office (which used to be in Deira but has thankfully moved to Business Bay, which is at least less of a trek) and try to negotiate with them in person. I try to appeal to their sense of fairness; I cite UAE property law; I get frustrated; I get upset. This elaborate performance has been repeated so often that both sides now slip into their parts almost unthinkingly. While we eventually reach some kind of compromise, it is invariably precluded by this merry dance. And I always leave that meeting feeling a little bit cheated.
This year, I thought I had them. For a start, property prices in my neighbourhood have dropped slightly, so I am currently paying above the market rate. On top of that, there is a new school being built directly across the road from my house, causing a considerable amount of disruption to my daily life – one night this week, the crew was pouring concrete until midnight, their industrial strength spotlights searing through my bedroom curtains as a backdrop to all the beeping, chugging and banging.
The aforementioned real estate company was unmoved by such tales of hardship. They refused to reduce my rent and even tried to insist that I continue to pay it all in one cheque – a process that, let's face it, is so 2010. I eventually managed to negotiate a three-cheque payment plan, but am annoyed that I am supposed to view this as some kind of victory.
It also rankles that I have now spent ten years paying rent in the UAE, which, when added up, amounts to nearly Dh1 million that I will never see again. So, to buy or not to buy? That is the question.
I have long sat on the fence with this one. I arrived in the UAE thinking, like many before and since, that I was going to stay for a couple of years and then be on my way. While I have long since begun to consider Dubai home, that mentality has perhaps subconsciously stuck, and prevented me from investing in a UAE home of my own. Because many of us don’t know how long we will be here for, we hold back from making the kind of long-term financial commitments that we might if we were in our home countries.
Added to that, when I first arrived in the emirate, the build quality of many of Dubai’s residential communities was questionable, which was another reason to hold off on investing. Witnessing the 2008 financial slowdown firsthand may also have left some residual reticence. But ten years on, this hesitance has come with a heavy price tag.
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Read more of Selina's thoughts:
Missing out on family milestone events. Is this the real expat tax?
Beach holidays: a major bore or the ultimate escape? I'm about to find out
Bluntness in the UAE: 'No children ma'am, but you are not young?!'
_______________________
I have also been burnt by bricks and mortar in the past. Many years ago, while I still lived in Cyprus, I invested in a "starter flat" – a charming but oddly laid out ground floor apartment that, I subsequently discovered, was plagued with rising damp and had practically zero resale value (particularly after the country's economy all but collapsed in 2012). This has made me incredibly risk averse.
But, fresh from my battles with my landlord's lackeys, and with this week's Cityscape reminding me of the real estate opportunities available and the UAE Government's new five-year retiree visa now in place, I am tempted to at least start looking into the possibility of buying my own home here. And I am not alone – in a recent YouGov survey, a quarter of those polled said that they hope to acquire housing in the UAE in the next 12 months.
That offers some measure of reassurance. That many people can’t be wrong. Can they?
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
Company%20Profile
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2017%20RESULTS%3A%20FRENCH%20VOTERS%20IN%20UK
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BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Kill%20
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Kandahar%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ric%20Roman%20Waugh%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EGerard%20Butler%2C%20Navid%20Negahban%2C%20Ali%20Fazal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km
Price: From Dh796,600
On sale: now
Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
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