Hating our Villa (part 2)

For the sewage smell check the toilet vent ( it is a long pipe that goes from the bathroom drain to the top of the villa) in one of my friend's place a magnificent huge place on the montgomery golf they had a similar issue and the top of this pipe was facing the central ac inlet. They felt they were living in the sewers

We had a sewage problem with smells and lots of flys in the garden. Found out the sewage pipe was never connected to raw sewage was just getting pumped into the garden deep under ground, for about a year as our house was a year old .....couldn't believe it. <em>edited by fairycakeyumm on 23/08/2011</em>

This is no consolation to you BUT I know of someone who had a big villa on the Palm and they had sewage smells throughout the house - eventually tracked down to building error. I also know someone whose brand new ( wait for 6 months from Germany) kitchen was flooded through the ceiling with sewage on Jumeirah islands..... building really is just **** here. Look on the bright side! You don't own that pile of ****! Right? I know how easy it is to get upset about all these things. We have all been there. It does help though if you can NOT argue with them and just TELL them...No I did not get any calls- WHEN is he coming? Move straight on. Dont listem to all their waffle.....No point at all here about arguing with them. It is a cultural thing - they have to be right....pick your battles. You want something done? Stick to FEW WORDS and clear instructions. You know what? We are too polite and use too many words. Be short, be sharp and be clear. Use clear and simple language! Unfirtunately sometimes "SIR" does seem to have miore authority than we do. It's the way they are. We are moving soon, too. I am dreading it... <em>edited by spongemonkey on 23/08/2011</em>

I feel so sorry for you.... I just moved in to a new house, after LL decided to sell after 1 month! We made a deal and had our move compensated because we didn't want to settle for 1 year and then have to move again. Our LL has turned out to be a real jerk - it has been 4 weeks now since we vacated, still no compensation and still no security deposit. We had to fight to get our rent back for the new villa. Anyway, we threatened with the police and at least then he signed our vacating letter which commits him to these payments on the day he receives the funds for the sale. On the other hand, if I can offer some advice to anyone looking for a new place - try and find a local as a LL. Our new place in DSO is owned by a local who has 60 other villas. We are in a brand new villa, but we too have a very bad smell. There is a full maintenance team, and the supervisor has visited a number of times to check in on us, and to look into this issue. He himself could not work out where the odour was coming from, so he called in some professionals. The team found the issue, one of the sewerage pipes was missing the cover on the joint and so you can imagine the smell!!. They told me that if they can find the piece, it will be an easy fix, but if not, they are prepared to rip up the bathroom, and the one below it and replace the full piping system. Although this will be just awful to have to manage, it just shows that they are prepared to do what it takes to keep their tenant happy. They have put a door in the 'maid's quarters' which allowed us to extend the area where she lives as the room was far too small, they split the monthly Gardner costs, there is no green waste collection here, so they will come once and week to collect (no charge). Anyway, I went through **** to start with, but wound up with an awesome LL who has guaranteed our villa for us to 4 years if we wish! So if you can, try and find a local investor who doesn't need his villa, and who has a team to manage his properties. Tough I know - but we got soooo lucky this time ! <em>edited by SuzyDuzy on 23/08/2011</em>

Unfortunately the option for us to move again is like buckleys and none for at least 1 year. The contract is the standard contract and I believe we just have to give the regular notice ours I think for memory was 60 days. It was exactly the same as our old contract at the Zulal villa (which I am missing so much right now, even that had a stinky toilet that couldn't be fixed but it wasn't seeping out the vents into other parts of the house like this is). &lt;sigh&gt; Sure, BUT your contract is basically that in exchange for your rent, your LL will provide accommodation that is in reasonable condition and is fit for habitation... from what you say, it is neither, so your LL has not upheld his side of the contract and therefore is in breach. You are therefore entitled to ask for your money back and vacate the property without any penalty. It's a pain, but contractually, it's simple. In reality, they could be ar$y about it, just like DesignBabe's ex-LL, but really, they don't have a leg to stand on - their choice is simple, make the house habitable asap or choose not to and give you your money back. Imagine if the roles were reversed and the tenant refused to pay the rent - how quickly do you think they would act to get their remedy?! Dubai is littered with oversupply, and the nature of the developments is that there are literally hundreds of identical houses. We're not in 2008 any more, when we were grateful to have begged a roof over our heads at whatever cost and in whatever condition... we don't need to put up with substandard any more. I can almost guarantee that the sewage smell problem won't get fixed. It requires too much investment to do it properly, so you'll get maintenance people coming in, plugging things up, siliconing other things, maybe twiddling a few taps and lots of shrugging, "sorry mam", and "someone will come tomorrow to fix it". I've been there, done that (back in 2008, when we didn't have options to leave). If you can put up with that for a year, then fair enough, not that you should have to, but if you can't, then get serious with them and leave.

Aussiepup, if things still aren't fixed properly by the time your guest is due, please give me a call and we'll see if we can help out somehow, since we're just down the road from you. Are you the one on the corner with new hanging baskets on the balcony?

I went through the same thing as you last year. Left a villa I loved to go to this **** villa- roots overgrown, A/c's never working- we called the service people every 5 days and still in summer it stopped working when i was sleeping in the night with my then 2 month old... Nobody tells you anything, everything is given to you under false pretenses- the boilers had rust, my kitchen light caught fire....and they would not return the cheques so we satyed out the whole year....I was eight months pregnant with a 21 month old DS when I moved. I totally lost it on the landlord's represntative and they threatened to call security on me.....(yeah right) It was a difficult year but we moved out and are now in a fab place....I wish I knew a way where we could hold these people responsibel for the shoddy **** they rent out under false pretenses to us. I really feel your pain.....What are the clauses in your contract- can you break the lease and move out early? <em>edited by designbabe on 23/08/2011</em>

I am surprised you lasted so calm this long! They deserve all this hormonal frustrated energy - so go for it!!!!

Sorry Aussiepup! Hope part 3 is everything is now fixed and I love my villa and my family is happy here! hugs!

Nightmare! I wonder whether the maintenance people are turing up - but at the wrong address???

Aww, poor you! Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but wouldn't it have been a picture to get the agent to relay "ok, what time?" In one hour from now... and I'll be calling you every 10 minutes if he's late." and see the guy wriggle out of that one.

Oh god, what a nightmare. I have been through this so many times with previous and current landlord/maintenance companies. They just drive you up the wall... Earlier this month, our kitchen ceiling started leaking. Rang maintenance company, who came to fix it. Then a week later, same problem. Brought them back to fix it. Done. Then later that night, the bathroom roof started leaking. Brought maintenance company back to fix it, as clearly they had solved the kitchen problem but then caused the bathroom problem. Then I walked into the bathroom when they'd finished, to discover huge scratchs, dents and dirty hand prints on the painted wall where they rested the ladder or attempted to climb the wall, I'm not sure... Of course when I pointed this out to them they explained that the marks were on the wall when they arrived. Argh... Anyway... my advice is to get the email address of the company. Each time you call, send them an email as well. Doesn't have to be long - just a simple 'Hi, I just tried to call you to follow up on the broken .... Please come and fix this asap today'. Then each time you call to follow up, 'Hi I rang again as no one has called me back. Any update please?' And so forth. Essentially, you then have written proof that you have called and emailed a million times with no response from them... Hopefully you have email on your phone, as otherwise it's a complete pain having to log onto the home computer... Hugs :)

AussiePup, I feel your pain. It drives me mad with frustration when things go wrong and I get the run around, whereas as soon as DH gets onto it (usually by the time I have screamed, yelled and been checking airline tickets out of here) things magically get sorted simply because he is male. Is this what we feminists fought for way back in the day???? Leaking toilets here turned out to be a cheap 50 dhs fix - it was a broken seal; water pouring through the ceiling due to a hole in the water tank less cheap, with the agent palming me off by saying "hole will close madam after two days" - I don't think so.......The worrying thing where we live here is that the 'plumber, electrician and aircon man' are all one and the same guy, he just wears a different coloured overall depending what he is doing. Hope your day goes better today, hopefully they will listen to your DH and get their act together - big cyberhugs.

AussiePup, I have to say I laughed out loud while reading your post. NOT that it is funny at all, but it is completely reminicent of so many conversations I've had here - where I lose it because the conversation is so ridiculous, it is almost too frustrating and surreal to be believed. Waiting for part 3!

Awful...and typical of companies to say, oh no, not our problem we tried to call, they won't give us time. Anything to shift the blame away from their incompetence. I can totally relate to how you feel re: the shouting...I have never lost the plot anywhere or at anytime in my life as I have done here, and like you was utterly shocked that I had it in me. Whether it's hormones coupled with immense frustration, doesnt matter. I do think we (as women) come from places where we are capable, treated as such and then this little woman brushing off, talking over us, and our inability to get even the simplest of things done wears you down to the point we can snap. Big hugs aussie pup...lets hope today is a little more successful for you. xx