Russian ordeals
or As we were looking for an apartment in Dubai
Having decided to replenish our staff with new employees, we began to look for housing for them. Searches that took more than one month enriched us with unique life experiences.
At first, we tried to look for an apartment for two couples and one single girl - in other words, a Dubai alternative to a communal apartment. They told everyone that we are "a large, friendly family of five." Without children. As it turned out later, it was the absence of children that harmed us ...
We noticed a house just built on Rigga Street. Large apartments with wall cabinets and a bathroom in each bedroom cost from 60 to 65 thousand dirhams per year. We were happy with everything, but the director of the real estate agency, having learned that we were going to rent housing for staff, besides the Russian-speaking one, was very puzzled. Soon we were refused - and this was to be expected. The "moral" behavior of the agency is understandable: couples, especially those who do not have Russian passports, seem to be more reliable tenants.
Then we found in the newspaper an advertisement for an apartment in the Huseys area, similar in value and condition to the previous one. An agent who agreed to turn a blind eye to our "big family" told us to go to the Al Mulla Plaza store, near the Al Nahda junction. However, getting out of the taxi, we walked another two kilometers under the scorching sun, so that the house on Baghdad Street seemed like a mirage in the middle of the desert. It took us more than an hour to get back to Deira (along with finding a bus stop - we decided to try to get alternative transport).
The next in line was the Khor al-Anz district. What was presented in the newspaper as a "villa" turned out to be an adobe shed with amenities in the courtyard. On the earthen floor of the room some dirty rags were scattered on which the wife of an Indian citizen, his children and other family members slept. There was no other furniture except bedding in the room. For each room of this luxurious apartment, the owner requested 2500 dirhams per month.
Perhaps the best of all that we saw was an apartment on the tenth floor of a new house near Deira City Center. But, firstly, it cost as much as 70 thousand drx per year. Secondly, the rooms seemed clearly unequal: the middle room had its own bathroom and fitted wardrobes, the small room had only wardrobes, and the huge hall did not even have a door. While we were calculating for three days who would have to pay how much percent of the rent, the apartment went to another client.
Then there were a few more good options in different areas (including the neighborhood of the BurJuman Center store), but they all sailed from under the nose while their future residents were conferring. We realized that, firstly, it is easier to find a studio than an apartment that would suit all three families. And secondly, that the decision must be taken instantly.
Hello Delhi!
With this in mind, we came to Fridzh Murar, where, according to the newspaper, the studios in the new house were offered. We went to loop through narrow alleys, inhaling the smell of Indian spices and stepping over popcorn, lemonade tins, cigarette butts, seeds, banana peels, bricks, bicycles, car parts, homeless cats, lamb carcasses, wedding dresses, half-eaten shawarma and other details of local color.
After the next turn, we saw a seven-story building in a completely European style rising above the shacks, huts, huts, bungalows and shanties. We have not conducted electricity there yet, and we began to climb the stairs, lighting the steps with a flashlight from a mobile phone. The only studio we liked was located on the third floor and overlooked a narrow street with a balcony. In addition to the carriageway, you could make out the dozens of nearby "villas", finding out what color their inhabitants sleep on and in what pots they cook their own lunch.
The house itself was completely new, and the studio was about five by five meters in size. The rent, 2000 drx per month, partially included electricity - more precisely, air conditioning.
Will there be no problems?
At the Fish Roundabout U-turn, we liked the small studio on the third floor of the newly commissioned house. Almost the entire area was occupied by a bathroom, sink, refrigerator, sofa, wardrobe and a huge double bed. The remaining two square meters made it possible to squeeze in a small table. We made a deposit of 500 dirhams.
“Good,” the agent said. “Not right now.” Until my friend lives there for three weeks.
“But it cannot happen,” we asked in reply, “what will he like here and will not want to leave?” Or that after him we will find broken furniture and a bunch of cockroaches? Or maybe you generally, according to Russian custom, rent one apartment to two clients? And where is the guarantee that the rent of 2500 dirhams will not grow tomorrow to three thousand, and the day after tomorrow to three and a half?
The agent assured us that there would be no problems - the main thing is that we ourselves do not change our minds in these three weeks. They had to pay for housing on a monthly basis, which means that at any time they could leave it.
Three days later, it came to signing the contract. But it turned out that the agent asks for as much as 2500 dirhams for his services. This clearly exceeded the prescribed 5%, even in the case of a studio rental for the whole year. Fortunately, the situation was resolved in the most miraculous way. The agent called and explained, apologizing that his friend did not want to leave the studio. So we can take the money back or see another option.
Realtors took us to the Abu Hail Center area (this is near the Al Qiad junction), which cost only 55 thousand drx per year. We liked the apartment with its wide balcony, but, alas, it was far from in good condition. Another disadvantage was the layout: it was impossible to block the hall. The cost of the apartment would have to be divided not into five people, but only into four. The main disadvantage was that the house was located on the road to Sharjah, always crammed with traffic jams. So, in addition to 40 dirhams, a taxi to the center and back would take at least an hour more time every day.
A happy ending
Our patience was dwindling. As time passed, and the likelihood that new employees would even decide to come was growing. After watching the studio for the fourth time in Fridge Murare, we found that it was not in the depths of the area, but on the edge, almost on the embankment itself. For some reason, real estate agents stubbornly led us to this house through the entire Dubai Harlem - either deciding to be completely honest, or simply not realizing its exoticism.
We were ready for this option, but here the studio in Barah turned up successfully - 24 square meters with a view of the Persian Gulf. We took it off for a year for 27 thousand dirhams. True, the studio lacks a few light bulbs, in the elevator there is no button for the floor we need, and in the pool the motor often breaks. But all this is trifles compared with the main thing - the search is over. And we finally remembered what free time is.
Ivan Sheiko-Little
