Eli1979 | ExpatWoman.com
 

Eli1979

Eli1979
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Latest post on 02 January 2012 - 22:29
People in Dubai want fast growing trees as hardly anyone spends more than 2 years in the same house. By the time the trees mature it’s time to move out :) I am moving into a house that backs on Dubai Bypass road and need something that will give me privacy and protection from the noise within a year. I see all the neighbouring houses have Damas trees. I have read the poinciana is also considered invasive and the root system prevents the growth of other plants under or around it . Nomad, do you have any grass under it? Any other trees that can achieve this growth within a year? <em>edited by Eli1979 on 02/01/2012</em>
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 02 January 2012 - 22:21
From Wikipedia: Bamboo is a type of grass and unlike trees; individual culms emerge from the ground at their full diameter and grow to their full height in a single growing season of 3–4 months. During these several months, each new shoot grows vertically into a culm with no branching out until the majority of the mature height is reached. Then the branches extend from the nodes and leafing out occurs. The culms have a brief life of 5 to 8 years and they do not get any taller or larger in diameter in subsequent years than they do in their first year. They do not replace any growth that is lost from pruning or natural breakage. The green bamboo type I have should be clumping bamboo as i planted them a year ago and so far the shots have come up very tight together, none has spread more than 10 cm away. Several years ago i planted some hardy bamboo in our house back home (europe) and have done a lot of reading on this as I was deciding to do it or not. My understanding was that the clumping type are safe and ok to plant.. You just have to make sure they are indeed the correct type.
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 02 January 2012 - 15:56
I also have heard from our friends living in la collecccion that they have to remove damas trees in their garden, the ones next to their neibourg's swimming pool because the roots are destroying the water pipeline. Othewise, we just have removed many of damas trees in our garden to save my lawn and date palm (unfo my gardener said that my date palm is dead, it was surrounded by 12 huge damas trees). We are planning to plant green bamboo trees in front gargen to have some privacy. Have seen them at the plants souk in warsan at cheaper price. Paris, may I ask what price were the bamboo selling for when you asked? Was it in Warsan?We are moving next month and I am planning to replace all the damas trees I have left with bamboo but was a bit worried abt the price as at aed 100 per piece they are quite pricey considering I will need at least 20.
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 02 January 2012 - 14:03
I have planted some bamboo trees which I bought from Desert Oasis nursery ( near Mushrif park). Bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world and some species grow at a rate of 3 feet per day or 0.00002 miles per hour! They are beautiful and the varieties sold here are the clumping ones so they are easy to control. The ones I bought, the nursery guy called "green bamboo”. Some of the shots grew taller then the tallest palm trees that we have on the street in only a couple of weeks! Throw some pebbles and plant some fountain grass around and you will have a beautiful tropical looking garden. They are not so cheap as the damas trees though. I paid 100 aed per piece at the market.
Eli1979
497
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Latest post on 02 January 2012 - 13:37
Hi Lynn, I had the same questions a couple of weeks ago and we decided to go for it, as the house we liked (B16) was on the slip road that goes to Arabian Ranches and not directly on the bypass road, which is better. When we were looking, all the 3 beds available were on the slip road and the only 4 bed they had was backing on bypass road so we did not go for that. Have a look at this thread where we discussed this issue. [url=http://www.expatwoman.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=167755'>link[/url'>
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 01 January 2012 - 18:34
Did anyone try to sink their trampoline? I am considering this as it is less obstructive in the garden and have read some reports saying that it's safer..? What do you think? http://littlegreenfingers.typepad.com/little_green_fingers/2009/02/how-to-create-a-sunken-trampoline.html
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 01 January 2012 - 16:08
We are in The Villa too at the moment but will be moving out next month. Our landlord tried everything from putting the rent up and not wanting to renew and eventually told us he will be moving in next year when he realized that was the only thing he could do. We loved the house and the place and I think it's amazing but the rents are going up as the comunity develops and because of this you are due to have troubles with the landlords. We refuse to deal with this stress every year when we are due to renew and for this reason we are moving to Layan which is rented directly from Dubai properties. Houses are beautiful , no private pool but garden huge so you could always put one of those intex ones or use the community pool. Good luck!
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 21 December 2011 - 20:46
Thanks everyone. I went and looked in the shops today and found the one you were talking about from Peg perego. Loved it but would prefer the other one, as DS loves Thomas so much. Will try Time square tomorrow :)
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 20 December 2011 - 22:00
A Thomas (or any other ) ride on train toy? something like this: [url=http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/thomas-the-tank-engine-and-friends/thomas-ride-on-with-track.asp'>link[/url'> <em>edited by Eli1979 on 20/12/2011</em>
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 20 December 2011 - 20:25
sorry, wanted to know the rent for a 3 bedroom in Layan . villa or apt? villas are 135 K
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 20 December 2011 - 20:17
They pay the DEWA also. You're right, the choice of villa around 120k is very limited. Out of interest, how much would you ladies pay toward the rent if you had to to get a half way decent place for your family? 140 k minimum for rent only.
Eli1979
497
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Latest post on 20 December 2011 - 19:50
I also think it is way off, especially if this includes DEWA and housing fees. The choice of villas of 120 and under is very limited and then you are going to have to pay DEWA from your pocket, which for a villa will be another 23-25 k a year.
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 20 December 2011 - 19:41
Yeah , so it looks like they are trying to make up the free month they gave us with the renewal fee! I'll make sure to argue it to 500, considering even this is not right! My gardener is currently working in the villa area and will come to layan for us only. It would be great if he could get more jobs in the community to make it more worth it. <em>edited by Eli1979 on 20/12/2011</em>
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 19 December 2011 - 21:13
Eli978 - Thanks for your response. My 90 day expiry has since passed and my lease expires in early March, however I did email the Agent and tell him that I wanted to extend for another 12 months within the 90 days, this was done by email to him. Does this still count? Also I do not have my LL address to mail anything to!! Also there are a few other conditions attached to my contract that we both signed which state the following: - The exstension of the lease is at the LL discretion - The landlord is required to give 2 months notice if he does not wish to renew - The tenant has to give 3 months notice if they do not wish to renew (I gave 3 months notoce that I did want to renew) - Should the LL sell while during the lease, then the tenant can stay in the property until the end of the lease and the deposit is passed to the new owner to give back to the tenant My query is, although we have both signed and then agreed to these additional terms, is it still correct that the LL still needs to give 12 months written notice to evict me for the sale of the property? OR anything else for that matter. In otherwords, would the RERA rules & regulations superseed these additional terms? The additional rules you mention are all standard except the one referring to the sale, which I honestly don’t think it’s going to affect you in any way. And yes, RERA applies the law . Unless your contract clearly mentions it’s not renewable and that you have to leave the premises at the expiry of the lease, then he has to give you 12 month notice before he can sell or move in. The email you have is great but you have to send an official notice by registered mail. Please do it now before the 60 days required by the contract are over! You must have a po box mentioned on your lease agreement, use that! That’s what I did , I used DHL and just wrote down the po box and his phone number. It is important that you send it. If he does not receive it because he is unreachable , at least you have the proof you tried.
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 19 December 2011 - 20:54
DH just told me that DP informed him there is an annual renewal fee of 1500 AED?? Is this true?? I thought it was 500 and even that is nor right as the law says it should not be more that 160! <em>edited by Eli1979 on 19/12/2011</em>
Eli1979
497
Posts
EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 19 December 2011 - 19:29
We have verified the legalities with RERA recently. First of all, the LL has to give you an eviction notice, sent by registered mail. Without this, he cannot do anything, there is no reason to open a case even . If he gives you an eviction for less than 12 months then you can appeal to rera. If he does not give you an eviction and at the end of the lease refuses to accept the cheques and does not provide you with a new contract, then again you approach rera and open a case . I recommend doing this around 2 weeks before the expiry of the contract. Make sure you send the landlord a letter with your intention to renew the lease for another year at least 90 days before the expiry of the lease. This has to be done by registered mail too. This is very important! Good luck and don't worry, they are good and supportive..
Eli1979
497
Posts
EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 19 December 2011 - 19:19
Thanks for helping! :) I will make sure to drop by once we take over the house as we are travelling till second week of Jan. We are then going to start doing the garden which I am dreading already! I do have an amazing gardener here at the villa that I am sure will do a great job for us, though. Hopefully my poor plants are going to survive the move; they are less than a year old :( The house has dead grass and plants right now, i hope DP will remove it and don’t expect us to do it! Also, the house was so dirty. Are they doing a good job with cleaning or not really? What were they thinking when they choose the master bedroom windows to be all fixed? How in the world are those supposed to be cleaned?
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 19 December 2011 - 13:15
DH's negotiation skills worked out wonders.. starting Jan 1st but got one month free :)
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 19 December 2011 - 10:22
That sound great Myriambill! Do you think you can pass me the details of the agency? Is it in Al Reem? Although most probably they will not rent it to me for 125 but increase it to 150 minimum which is the going rate for those houses at the moment. :(
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 19 December 2011 - 08:16
One year??? OMG!!While I am happy to use this in my advantage, I can’t stop wondering why this house has been empty for so long??? Did you know the previous tenants? Did they have any issues with the house? I was reading on the facebook page about a certain villa on C road that had caught fire in the past and had various other problems that everybody was aware of. Just want to make sure this house is not one of those too!!
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 19 December 2011 - 08:01
Eli979 Don't know if you are specifically looking for a villa in the layan community but we will be vacating our 3 beds in the ranches by mid Jan. We pay a really good price for what we have and it has a nice garden with the communal swimming pool 1 minute away from our house. Anyway, let me know if you still want the Playhouse otherwise I'll start advertising it on dubizzle. M edited by myriambill on 19/12/2011 Myriambill, what type of house is it in the ranches and how much is the rent? Our main concern is the landlord as we had to move every year so far because of them wanting to move in... I really cannot handle another move and want to settle. The layan villas as rented from DP so this offers more stability. Is your landlord an individual? Is he good?
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 18 December 2011 - 23:48
3 or 4 , any will do. We might put a deposit for one in Layan if DP agrees to hold the villa for a month and not 10 days as their standard.Thanks for answering by the way :)
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 18 December 2011 - 20:08
:))))) Great, so you can do me a favour and tell everyone that comes to view it that the house is haunted or something. Just to make sure nobody rents it till March ;)
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 18 December 2011 - 19:38
yeah, B16.. the only one with a large garden, which is what I am after :)
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 18 December 2011 - 18:59
Thats right... we could only hold for 10 days too. Did you ask if you could pay a hefty deposit to keep?? hmm , i did not think about that! DH is going there tomorrow morning again so will ask him to offer more.We only liked one house out of the 4 we've seen so if that's gone then we don't want to move anymore unless a similar one becomes available meanwhile.
Eli1979
497
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Latest post on 18 December 2011 - 17:25
We have decided to rent the villa so went to the Salwan office today just to find out they only reserve the property for 10 days!!??? Our lease only expires 1st of March and there is no way I am going to pay the rent for 2 villas for 2 months! Did anyone manage to hold the villa for a month or more?
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 18 December 2011 - 11:21
nothing to do with the playhouse , DC but we are trying to get a house in Layan/Al waha and the ones DP has are backing on the road..Do you know of any other house available in al waha?
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 17 December 2011 - 21:39
Yep!
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 17 December 2011 - 20:29
I bought the 4s and got all excited about siri but did not realise you need to have an internet connection for it to work!!!It cannot even be used to set an appointment or anything else without a data connection as it needs access to the apple servers for the speech recognition to work. Talk about deceiving advertising! Bad Apple!
Eli1979
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Latest post on 17 December 2011 - 19:04
Roysie, DH is very worried because of the noise coming from the road. How bad is it and does it get annoying and makes you enjoy the garden less? What about at night? Does it disturb your sleep?
Eli1979
497
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Latest post on 17 December 2011 - 12:26
Yes, I do have before and after pics! The market price is nowhere near those figures, but would rera index reflect the reality? So the increase of 5 % is not calculated on the current lease but of the difference??? Does this mean he will only get 5 % of 35 k? Our landlord is from India.
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 17 December 2011 - 12:15
It is just our first year and invested so much on the landscaping. Rera said the law has changed now and he can increase the rent in the first year even, if the difference with the rera index is higher than 25 %. That's why I am concerned as I do not know the value Rera gives to these properties! Pls let me know if you can find out anything. I really appreciate it.
Eli1979
497
Posts
EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 17 December 2011 - 11:43
I have received your email. You can remove your number now, thanks :)
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 17 December 2011 - 11:42
I went back yesterday with DH and security guy told me they are 135 K so don't know if it was a mistake the first time or what:) Yes, you are right , they do back on the slip road which is better. We are still deciding whether to move or just stay in our place ad fight the landlord in the rental committee. At The Villa where we are now you get much better value for money for sure but I am dreading having to go through this every year when we are due for renewal. We will take a decision soon. Thanks again.
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 17 December 2011 - 11:32
serenenic..can you post your details..I might be interested too! <em>edited by Eli1979 on 17/12/2011</em>
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 17 December 2011 - 11:29
Thanks bbcb. I need to find out the average price for a 4 beds plus study in The Villa. We have issues with our landlord and will appeal to the rental committee but want to make sure he will not get a 10-20 % increase due to RERA index being inaccurate and not reflecting the market prices. We are in a A2 type Mazaya and already pay 140. I think the market price for this villa is around 155 now, but not sure if RERA calculator will be accurate?
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 17 December 2011 - 10:48
Thanks roysie..Do you know how the people have fixed the satellite connection inside the house? I have seen the cables running from the roof on the outside wall of the villa and being that there is no wiring done inside and no TV sockets, does it mean the cables will have to be brought from the outside by drilling a hole in the wall or something? We were also looking at the 3 bed villas. We loved the size of the garden but the villa is backing on the bypass road which is not that great. I am pretty sure 3 weeks ago the guy at the onsite management office told me the 3 beds were 130 and the 4 bed 140. If you rented for 135 it means they put the prices up. We have seen a villa on street B. Is that good? I was reading that the C road has problems with smell and noise from the sewage.
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 17 December 2011 - 10:37
Nope, still not working for us!!! There is no way to get information regarding this.. Even RERA told me the index for 2012 is not out yet. Does anybody know under which development is THE Villa community placed? Can you find it in the calculator or they estimate the price according to other nearby established communities?
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 17 December 2011 - 10:31
Really?? I tried last night and was not working... Got a message saying the index is being updated..i have been trying for the past 2 weeks.. I will try now again.
Eli1979
497
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Latest post on 16 December 2011 - 23:46
Thanks srdoucet! The 3 villas I have seen had satellite dishes on the roof , but maybe they are du dishes then?? This is for me the most important thing as DH cannot survive without his skybox from Italy :) We are escaping from The Villa because of landlord but I was just reading on the Layan community Facebook page that DP has sent a notice of rental increase to all the villa tenants. The increase is according to RERA, yes but based on Arabian ranches, which ofc allows them to increase the rent. So I guess even if you rent from a company you still have issues, as somehow the landlords always manage to get away with it..grrrrrrrrrr
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 13 December 2011 - 22:34
Thank you! DS just got himself a wall he can draw on :)
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 13 December 2011 - 21:13
You mean paint to make a chalk board right? the black stuff in a can? Got that from Ace a few years back, so maybe they still supply it... not sure about magnetic paint, but would try ace. Yes sizzles, that's what's i am looking for...I guess Ace is the place to go , thanks so much. May I ask if it is easy to paint over with normal paint if you no longer want it (for a wall for example)?
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 13 December 2011 - 20:45
chalkboard paint and magnetic paint?
Eli1979
497
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Latest post on 11 December 2011 - 22:34
LOL Hayleyjensen, I just saw your message now after 2 months!! Where did you end up renting afterall?
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 10 December 2011 - 19:46
When i was small we use to decorate the Christmas tree with special Christmas candies (wrapped up in silver or gold shiny paper)...By Christmas there was none left in the tree though :) This year I tried to replicate them and I am now waiting to see how long will they last when my LO old discovers there are sweets hanging on his tree!
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 10 December 2011 - 19:02
Thank you! I love how it came up! And thank you for telling us how to link properly also ;)\
Eli1979
497
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 10 December 2011 - 18:31
Tomorrow at 11am in Irony Homes, Dubai Mall there is a class on how to decorate your Christmas tree. ;) I wish they would have done this a bit earlier as my tree is up allready! I have decided to try clear light and red , gold and clear glass ornaments this year . I have always used coloured ones but I must say I love it and preffer the one we did this year. It looks so classy compared to the multicolored ones. [url=https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10150405869721400&set=a.10150405869981400.366945.689236399&type=1&theater'>Christmas Tree[/url'> <em>edited by Eli1979 on 10/12/2011</em>
Eli1979
497
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Latest post on 06 December 2011 - 16:44
Our contract is not registered with RERA either but they confirmed that they will still accept the dispute even this way and the landlord could be fined for not registering too! <em>edited by Eli1979 on 06/12/2011</em>
Eli1979
497
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Latest post on 06 December 2011 - 16:42
I have just checked this with RERA as I am in the same situation. The laws have changed and he CAN increase the rent in the first year even, provided the difference between the rent is paying and the average price for a similar property (as per the RERA rental index) exceeds 25 % . In this case the increase will be of 5 %. The rental index for 2012 is not out yet. This will be released in January along with the new rental cap.
Eli1979
497
Posts
EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 02 December 2011 - 14:20
Where can I buy plastic snowflakes or what else can I use to create the same effect around an outdoor Christmas tree? You know, like the ones that the shops use to decorate their Christmas window display?
 
 
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