Showing posts with label Emaar investment Dubai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emaar investment Dubai. Show all posts
Monday, February 19, 2007
Response from EMAAR
The Homeless Tenants group has received contact from EMAAR asking for a meeting to discuss tenants concerns. It's not clear at this stage whether the intention is to offer any material concessions that will help the dire effect that this sale will have on many tenants, or just to further explain EMAAR's position and reasoning. We will of course keep you informed when we have any news.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Background on the newspaper articles
Some tenants have contacted us commenting that the newspaper articles do not represent their concerns adequately and only focus on the ridiculous two week timeframe offered by Emaar.
Rest assured that the focus of our comments and representations to the media have been to highlight the plight of the majority of tenants who cannot afford to buy. But we cannot write the articles for the newspapers.
The press in this country has to operate within certain conditions as we all know. Emaar is a rich, powerful entity with close links to the government. It is clear from talking to journalists that their editors are not happy to highlight the problems tenants face and the massive rent increases when this would put them in conflict with a powerful vested interest in the country.
The tenants letters have been sent with our representations. We will try to publish these shortly here, so that everyone can see the content. Please tell your friends to visit this site if they wish to receive the tenants point of view, as the newspapers' hands are very much tied as to what they can report, so you're likely to just get EMAAR's lame public relations shill.
We must all exist that within the framework of the laws of the land. Events such as this highlight the differences between how things work in many of our home countries and how they work in Dubai. We must all make our own decisions as to whether a place that operates like this is a good long term place to live; whether it is a safe place to invest and a safe place to do business, when powerful organizations can make snap decisions that turn our lives upside down, and where the press tread carefully to avoid upsetting them.
Many of us still feel that we have a future in Dubai, but for many this will convince them that the place no longer offers the better life that they hoped for. In the end, we can only voice our concerns, but we cannot force change. Ultimately we are all here by choice and we are all free to leave. Increasingly many will decide or be forced to. Emaar can exercise control over the local papers, but it cannot exert such influence over the press abroad, and it cannot prevent those who leave from passing on their experiences of how things work in Dubai to the people back home.
Much as these actions by Emaar at present only affect tenants renting, they highlight the differences between what is considered reasonable in Dubai and what is considered reasonable in many other advanced nations. Such a contrast is something that will undoubtedly be of concern to those who might be considering investment or property purchases, as well as those choosing to move to Dubai with the intention to rent.
Rest assured that the focus of our comments and representations to the media have been to highlight the plight of the majority of tenants who cannot afford to buy. But we cannot write the articles for the newspapers.
The press in this country has to operate within certain conditions as we all know. Emaar is a rich, powerful entity with close links to the government. It is clear from talking to journalists that their editors are not happy to highlight the problems tenants face and the massive rent increases when this would put them in conflict with a powerful vested interest in the country.
The tenants letters have been sent with our representations. We will try to publish these shortly here, so that everyone can see the content. Please tell your friends to visit this site if they wish to receive the tenants point of view, as the newspapers' hands are very much tied as to what they can report, so you're likely to just get EMAAR's lame public relations shill.
We must all exist that within the framework of the laws of the land. Events such as this highlight the differences between how things work in many of our home countries and how they work in Dubai. We must all make our own decisions as to whether a place that operates like this is a good long term place to live; whether it is a safe place to invest and a safe place to do business, when powerful organizations can make snap decisions that turn our lives upside down, and where the press tread carefully to avoid upsetting them.
Many of us still feel that we have a future in Dubai, but for many this will convince them that the place no longer offers the better life that they hoped for. In the end, we can only voice our concerns, but we cannot force change. Ultimately we are all here by choice and we are all free to leave. Increasingly many will decide or be forced to. Emaar can exercise control over the local papers, but it cannot exert such influence over the press abroad, and it cannot prevent those who leave from passing on their experiences of how things work in Dubai to the people back home.
Much as these actions by Emaar at present only affect tenants renting, they highlight the differences between what is considered reasonable in Dubai and what is considered reasonable in many other advanced nations. Such a contrast is something that will undoubtedly be of concern to those who might be considering investment or property purchases, as well as those choosing to move to Dubai with the intention to rent.
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