Voice of change

There is an urban uprising happening in Dubai. Owners of the city’s many residential developments are voicing their fury at the charges levied for maintenance of common areas.

Responses to CWO’s story about incomplete pools in Discovery Gardens are just the tip of a very angry iceberg. While the lack of pools may annoy residents who were promised them, it is clear that people in many developments are angry about service charges, which they regard as an unreasonable burden.

For a long time there was a feeling of inevitability about the skyrocketing prices and the need to pay them, or be homeless. Back then, accommodation was hard to find, landlords fickle and the competition for space was of an Olympic standard. Things have changed.

There is now considerable choice in the property market and landlords are more flexible – a polite word for desperate. Added to this is a certain degree of residential militancy. Motivated individuals are starting to hound seemingly titanic organisations about fees and maintenance. Well organised, targeted complaints have acted as a catalyst for the rising groundswell of resistance.

Large and frustratingly faceless organisations rely on individuals being overcome by apathy, in the face of Kafkaesque corporate totalitarianism. They do not, however, deal quite so well with mob rule. A collective decision to disrupt the steady plod over people’s concerns will present them with more of a problem. The hirelings, so far apparently incapable of helping complainants, will also be incapable of taking decisive action, thus stalling progress.

Of course, this dystopian scenario can be avoided. Genuine listening and real action is all residents really want – well, along with cheaper maintenance. The message to these titanic organisations is clear - change course, or hit the iceberg.
 

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