Al Shatha Tower Tenants Concerns

We, the tenants of Al Shatha Tower, TECOM Zone, do not feel that we are receiving services and facilities that are reasonable in relation to the cost of our rent.

The rent in Al Shatha Tower is one of the most expensive in the UAE.

Despite this high rent, the quality of the finishing within the building is appalling. Floor tiles in the common areas are constantly sagging and pose a danger to Health & Safety, and the same floor tiles in the office areas have necessitated most tenants to either re-floor the offices or to overlay with a stable material.

On several floors the soap dispensers in the washrooms either do not work or are consistently empty.

The Elevator service has become renowned not just within the building but also throughout the Free Zone and Dubai as unreliable and ineffective. It is not uncommon to wait for 5 to 10 minutes just to get into an Elevator. There appears to be a priority allocation of the elevators to certain Tenants this is unreasonable on other tenants and can prove a nightmare. In some cases, if one wishes to travel from one floor to another they must do so via the Ground Floor. This only serves to cause congestion and ill feeling towards the building management.

Despite the elevator issues, employees of the Tenants are expected to smoke on the 4th floor. Combine the potential waiting time for the elevators with the time it takes to smoke a cigarette and each cigarette break per employee could take up to 20 minutes. While the principle of having a smoking room on a dedicated floor is sound, without the satisfactory support of a functional elevator system it only proves to be a major inconvenience, not just to the Employees but to the Employers who must bear the costs of their staff being out of the office for these periods.

Many offices experience Air Conditioning problems which the building A/C contractors repeatedly fail to rectify.

The parking system and the approach to the building outside are in an appalling condition. For the price of rent in this building it is not unreasonable to expect more than a patch of rough ground to surround the tower.

The latest communication from Al Sayyah Investment ordering all tenants to descend to the Ground Floor in order to pick up any food deliveries is simply laughable. It is difficult to comprehend the position and objectives of the building management in this respect. If there is any expectation this edict will help to resolve any of the elevator issues then it will only be proved wrong.

The impact of this rule on Employers will be substantial. The building management is effectively enforcing a rule that will force all employees to leave their desks in order to eat. The knock-on effect of this on staff productivity is immeasurable.

This petition requests that the following actions are taken in relation to the above complaints:

The building management to investigate and improve the elevator system to bring the service in line with other buildings in Dubai even if this means removing the floor assignments from the elevators and allowing each elevator to go to every floor;

The notice of May 2nd 2007 regarding food deliveries and the rule to which it refers to be rescinded;

The quality of service and maintenance in the building to be improved and brought to a state that is reasonable in relation to the rent that is paid;

Further rules and regulations to be brought before Tenants for discussion instead of the approach thus far of imposing edicts and decrees.