Laundry list 2013-01-20

From time to time I will publish the Laundry List containing the list of all issues in the villa which are not yet solved. I will also describe all of them properly. I'm not sure yet how to keep in in the blog structure but I will figure out.

The reason I'm doing it this way is that I have so many major problems to be solved and I'm not sure how Hamptons is following up. Actually they don't at least so far therefore I will do it on my own. Also notice that we are living here for almost month and nothing is happening. Nobody is following up if we are progressing here. Even worse, the property manager doesn't answer my calls and messages so I'm trying to get some help from the agent. But he can't do much because the LL has contract with Hamptons.
The issues are sorted according to the priority. 

1. The water heater in the kitchen doesn't work and has been switched off. So we have no hot water to clean dishes for almost a month.
2. The general house drain doesn't work properly. Whenever we are washing or taking shower the kitchen and guest toilet is flooded. It's really not easy to not wash with 2 small kids.
3. I can't apply for Ejari because the previous tenant is still register there. So Hamptons fails not only on the property management itself but also on the paperwork. I need to add that without registration in Ejari I can't apply for a visa for my newborn son. 
4. Ants, small brown ants which are literally everywhere. They appeared very firs day, so the pest control didn't do the job. I will describe this story as well.
5. The tree. Huge at least 10m Damas tree is growing in the garden right next to the villa. When it's a bit windy it bangs to the ledge. We had already couple of sleepless night because of that. Plus the roots of the tree are literally everywhere. In other compounds people were informed that the roots of this tree can destroy the foundations of the building.
6. Leak from the sink in the kitchen.
7. Leak from the washbasin in the guest toilet.
8. Cracked flushes in the master bedroom and guest toilets.
9. Broken toilet board in the Master Bedroom toilet.
10. There is an A/C exhaust shaft on the staircase. It's very dirty and way to high to clean it on my own. I overlooked it during the handover and of course wasn't clean.
11. A fly net to be installed in the living room.
12. The door handles in the garden door are missing from the beginning
13. After the water heater is fixed the ceiling should be painted in the kitchen.

 So far only the problem with gas leak has been solved. At least we can prepare some warm meal.

Disastrous hand over part 1

Moving in Dubai is always a little bit problematic. It's because the overall level of quality of services here is very low. So if you ask someone to clean your car and instead of you will get your lawn cut you should not complain that much. 

Maybe I'm exaggerating, but just a bit.

The reason why I decided to write this blog as you can guess is recent house moving. Actually the real reason which motivated me to spend evening writing to the Interspace instead of playing with my kinds is that the company (Hamptons) which is responsible for the property management made me angry this evening. I hope you will share my feelings and I'm not so much unreasonable here.

 

The story is that my family grew recently and together with my wife we decided to move from the apartment to the villa. We found a beautiful place in the Springs with a full lake view. Not so spacious but very cozy. 

This was my third house moving in Dubai and this time I was actually hoping that it will go quite smoothly. First, because I was signing the contract not directly with the land lord but with Hamptons which is well known international company working in real estate. The second reason was the condition of the villa. Generally villas in this area are not in the best condition. They are about 8 years old and it's enough to get into worse  condition than even 20 years old houses in Europe. So this particular one was in quite good condition. So we took it. The third reason was that it was my third house moving, so I new what to expect. After all I have to admit that I new nothing.  

I paid the security deposit at 18th of December. That day I agreed with the the agent from an agency which cooperates with Hamptons on several points concerning the preparation of the property for moving in. I sent him this e-mail which he forwarded to Hamptons and to the land lord:

Dear Mr. Majid,

Following our yesterday agreements I'm sending an email with all the important things I'd like to sort our before moving in.

As agreed I have the copy (an original as well) of the passport and the cheque book ready as well.

From your side I expect to receive the following documents:

• Broker’s registration ID card
• RERA registration number
• Title Deed of the property
• Passport of the Owner/s as listed on Title Deed
• Contact details (email, telephone, PO BOX number, address)
• A copy of final bills of DEWA as if there is outstanding bill from previous Tenant I will have problm to connect the service

Once we sign the contract I will also ask you to provide the tenancy contract registration certificate from Ejari.

As you have seen I have two very small kids and I need to insits that the property is prepared to move in the way that there will be no need to fix anythig. Particulary:

• Professional cleaning of entire appartment including all window panes, also bathrooms and toilets.
• A/C service and cleaning
• Check all the toilet flushes if working
• Check all mechanizms and locks in doors, windows and cabinets
• Check if there are no leakages from taps and hoses
• Check the bug nets if not torn and slide easily
• Check the drainage on the balcony in the smaller bedroom
• Check fuses and electricity
• Check for any repairs needed outside

We still have 9 days till 27th of Dec, which will be the effective date of contract. I'm sure that we can  sort out all the things from the list. Anyway I haven't notice too many of them because the villa is very well mainatined.

Last but not least I'd like to get an information about the company which do the maintenance of villa, and what is included in their services.

I think this is it.

Please send me the details about the LL which should be in the cheque.

Best Regards

You can see that quite early I informed all parties that I will check the property before moving in. I also agreed with Mrs. Anafe, the Property Manager from Hamptons that a day before handing over the villa I will check it and go through the submitted list. First we agreed that we will meet there in the afternoon, eventually she asked me to go there only around 6 p.m. I was really counting that the villa will be ready. At least will be cleaned plus the pest control will be done which I forgot in the initial requirements but later on reminded couple of times. With small kids you don't want to take any risk. The lade also told me that the guys are not yet ready but they will work all night long to catch up. This was basically not true.

I went there at 6 p.m. on 26th of Dec and went through the villa creating very long list of the things to be done (maybe I will put this list later on). Obviously they started working way too late and what they did was repainting the place and A/C service. However still ceiling in the kitchen had to be repainted and almost all the A/C shafts were not cleaned. So, to be honest I don't know how they did this service. Anyway the A/C was working. The place was far away from the condition that we could move in the next day. The pest control wasn't done yet of course. Then Mr. Anthony the Facility Manager told me that they can't work longer than 5:30 p.m. so basically what Mrs. Anafe told me about night work wasn't true.

I got really angry on the Hamptons' team. I called the agent which advised me to get in touch with the land lord. But the LL told me that everything is in Hamptons hands since they are managing the property on her behalf. I was unsuccessfully trying to call to the "Managers" but they were not picking up, so I sent Mrs. Anafe a message that we need to meet in the morning because obviously they are not ready to properly hand over the property.

We met around 9 a.m. and they told me that they will be ready by 11 a.m. but from the other side their people weren't there yet (to be continued...)