Question: I recently renewed my lease for an apartment in Dubai. This is a new community and construction work has started on a new building on the neighbouring plot of land.
However, the construction noise is deafening and our building is shaking due to the impact. They continue the work until late at night.
I am worried for our safety. Despite repeated complaints with the site staff, there has been no respite.
Is the building landlord responsible to make sure we are guaranteed a peaceful atmosphere to live in since we pay our rent on time?
Who can I lodge an official complaint with? RK, Dubai
Answer: As Dubai continues its growth by launching and delivering new projects, the threat of construction noise can be a real problem for other residents.
The Dubai government has allowed construction work to go round the clock to support businesses. However, companies may have to apply for a special permit before starting work at night.
Construction sites are allowed to work normally during certain hours, but if they do not follow these rules and you are disturbed from 8pm to 6am on weekdays and 8pm to 7am on weekends, you can complain to Dubai Municipality.
It is important to know that this is for residential areas only and not for gated communities or private compounds.
The noise should be no more than 55 decibels, so if it is higher, you can complain through the Dubai Municipality app.
There are five easy steps to do this:
1. Tap services
2. Go to building construction and then choose report construction noise
3. Upload a video or pictures and mention the noise
4. Enter the location of the construction site
5. Press proceed
The municipality will visit the site and try to resolve the issue. If the noise persists, the company will be fined by the municipality.
Your landlord is responsible for you as the tenant and you pay your rent in exchange for “quiet enjoyment” of the property.
If dealing directly with the construction site has not helped you, your only other recourse would be to speak to your landlord to seek compensation, but this route is difficult because, ultimately, the landlord will say he/she cannot do anything.
If this proves to be the case, a civil case would be your last resort, but it can be time-consuming and costly and I cannot guarantee the outcome.
Therefore, it is always best to try to resolve things amicably.
Q: My tenancy contract is up for renewal and it seems to be a trend that landlords are asking for much more than what the Real Estate Regulatory Authority calculator says.
I have not received a rent increase notice in writing with 90 days’ notice, but the agent has reached out to me on WhatsApp saying the landlord wants to increase the rent and the amount is above 10 per cent.
The 90-day notice period is about to expire in one day. Do they have to formally write me a letter to notify me and should not both parties agree to the new terms for this to take effect? Does asking on WhatsApp hold up?
Also, the agent said he would come to me in a few days to draw up the contract and wants me to pay the full amount. This is more than two months before the contract end date. Is this normal?
The agent has also asked for Dh2,500 ($680) in agency fees and Dh500 in administration charges. Please advise me if this is permissible. UL, Dubai
A: In any rising market, it is normal for a landlord to try to get as much of an increase in rent as possible. The reason for this is the disparity between the rental price of a vacant apartment compared with the value of rent for the same apartment with a tenant in situ.
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In order to make any changes to a renewal contract, it is necessary to communicate those changes in writing at least 90 days before the expiration of the tenancy.
Email is preferable but WhatsApp communication is also allowed, so the landlord did communicate in time in your case.
The increase (which is a change of terms to the first contract) has to be in line with what the Rera rental calculator states is allowed. It cannot just be any arbitrary figure that the landlord fancies.
The contract can be drawn up early, in readiness for the renewal, and the cheques can also be collected, but the dates on the cheques should be in line with the contract date, not two months before.
Agents are also entitled to an administration fee to draw up the renewal contract and collect the cheques, but this fee is normally only Dh1,000 ($272.30).
The amount your agent is requesting seems a little excessive, given the work needed to complete the renewal, so I would contest this.
Mario Volpi is head of brokerage at Novvi Properties and has worked in the property sector for 40 years in London and Dubai. The opinions expressed do not constitute legal advice and are provided for information only. Please send any questions to mario@novviproperties.com
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
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TV (UAE time);
OSN Sports: from 10am
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Scores
Bournemouth 0-4 Liverpool
Arsenal 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Burnley 1-0 Brighton
Manchester United 4-1 Fulham
West Ham 3-2 Crystal Palace
Saturday fixtures:
Chelsea v Manchester City, 9.30pm (UAE)
Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur, 11.45pm (UAE)
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Company%20profile
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Dunbar
Edward St Aubyn
Hogarth
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
Conservative MPs who have publicly revealed sending letters of no confidence
- Steve Baker
- Peter Bone
- Ben Bradley
- Andrew Bridgen
- Maria Caulfield
- Simon Clarke
- Philip Davies
- Nadine Dorries
- James Duddridge
- Mark Francois
- Chris Green
- Adam Holloway
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Anne-Marie Morris
- Sheryll Murray
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Laurence Robertson
- Lee Rowley
- Henry Smith
- Martin Vickers
- John Whittingdale
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The currency conundrum
Russ Mould, investment director at online trading platform AJ Bell, says almost every major currency has challenges right now. “The US has a huge budget deficit, the euro faces political friction and poor growth, sterling is bogged down by Brexit, China’s renminbi is hit by debt fears while slowing Chinese growth is hurting commodity exporters like Australia and Canada.”
Most countries now actively want a weak currency to make their exports more competitive. “China seems happy to let the renminbi drift lower, the Swiss are still running quantitative easing at full tilt and central bankers everywhere are actively talking down their currencies or offering only limited support," says Mr Mould.
This is a race to the bottom, and everybody wants to be a winner.
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:
Ajax 2-3 Tottenham
Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate
Final: June 1, Madrid
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
