My Dubai Rent: this Dh180,000 family villa is just a short walk from Jumeirah beach

Life in one of the district's old compounds is a dream, says father-of-two Harry Tregoning

Harry Tregoning in his villa in the Al Safa 2 neighbourhood of Dubai. All photos: Antonie Robertson / The National

The backyard area of Harry Tregoning's home with swimming pool.

The downstairs hall and living room area.

The kitchen which Harry and his wife recently had wrapped.

The stairway inside Harry Tregoning's home in Jumeirah.

One of the children's bedrooms in the villa.

The backyard outside Harry Tregoning's home in Dubai.

Outside Harry Tregoning's four-bedroom villa that costs more than Dh180,000 to rent each year.

The villa is only a short walk from the nearest Spinneys supermarket.

The public park is only one street away.

My Dubai Rent takes you inside a reader's home to have a look at what they pay each month, see who they live with and ask what they like and don't like

Harry Tregoning has lived in a four-bedroom villa in Jumeirah, off the Sheikh Zayed Road, for more than 10 years.

The reason the 46-year-old from the UK has stayed there for so long is simple. He loves the property as well as the location.

The owner of Tregoning Property and Tregoning Maintenance shares the home in Al Safa 2 with his wife and two young children, aged 9 and 4.

Why did you move here?

We moved here because we wanted to live in this area. It actually turned out to be incredibly convenient for us.

Before we lived here, we were in The Springs but we were keen to move to this part of town.

A lot of our friends were living around here, so it made sense for us to move as well, even though I loved The Springs.

It’s right in the centre of town and there are schools and nurseries so close to where we live.

There is a metro station not even 600 metres away and we are right beside the Sheikh Zayed Road on one side, and the sea on the other.

Interestingly, we can hear the sound of people using their jet skis on the water, but the sound of the Sheikh Zayed Road gets completely drowned out.

How much do you pay in rent?

We pay Dh180,500 [$49,140] over four cheques. That’s not the most we’ve paid for the property.

Around 2014, we were paying around Dh230,000 for the villa. We’ve always paid four cheques though.

When we lived in The Springs, we were paying Dh100,000 a year in rent for a two-bedroom villa.

What makes the place so special to you?

The area is just fantastic. We are members of the sailing club, which is a really popular place in this area.

We have a lot of hotels and restaurants around here as well, so if you want to go out, there are a lot of options close by.

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There are 11 families here as well who are living in the same area — there’s a strong sense of community and we share a gym and swimming pool.

We are not even two kilometres away from the sea, so that’s a huge draw.

There is also a lovely mix of expats living here in the community, there are people from so many different countries, which really adds to the atmosphere of the neighbourhood.

Is there anything you would change?

Like most people who have children, when they get to our age, we want to put down roots and buy our own home.

Unfortunately, you cannot buy a property here in Jumeirah unless you are from the GCC.

That’s about the only downside for us if I am totally honest.

What have you done to put your personal touch on your home?

My wife does most of the decorating and choosing the furniture. One thing we have done is had a new AC unit put in on the roof.

This has helped to reduce the air conditioning cost by around 33 per cent, which is a huge help.

We’ve just had the kitchen wrapped as well, which makes it look a bit more modern.