Abu Dhabi: Many residents in Abu Dhabi are having sleepless nights due to malfunctioning air conditioners as temperatures soar with the onset of summer.
Residents interviewed by XPRESS say the air conditioners are not working properly due to lack of regular maintenance.
“We are unable to sleep at night because of the heat. The AC is set at its lowest temperature but there is hardly any cool air in the room,” complained Balakrishnan Nair, an Indian expat who lives on Airport Road.
He said there is no regular maintenance for air conditioners in his eight-storey building. And at night, when there is an overload, the system grinds to a halt.
“I complained to the landlord several times. He sent a technician a few times but we are still sweating it out at night. It is high time they changed the AC,” said Nair, father of two children aged 14 and 9.
Last week, tenants of a building on Airport Road were forced to sleep in their cars after their landlord refused to repair the central air-conditioning system.
About 18 families – mostly from India – have been struggling with the rising temperature for the last two weeks since the air conditioners stopped working. Some were forced to move to hotel apartments to beat the heat.
It has now emerged that most families who live in buildings that are comparatively old and not well-maintained are forced to sleep in sweltering heat.
Javed Ahmad Khan, a Pakistani supervisor who lives in a 20-year-old building behind Pizzahut in the Tourist Club area, said he bought an electric fan last week to beat the heat.
Kids hit the most
“The AC is not working and my kids are unable to sleep at night. It is not as bad during the daytime. But at night, the AC is hardly effective,” said Khan.
Another resident of the same building who requested not to be named, said they are not in a position to negotiate with the landlord for fear of him throwing them out.
“Our tenancy contract is due for renewal in August, and the landlord can just increase the rent arbitrarily. We do not want to irk him by complaining about maintenance issues in the building,” said the Jordanian tenant.
He said he pays Dh50,000 in annual rent for his one-bedroom apartment. “The rents are going up everywhere in the city. And we cannot afford to move to a more expensive building,” the tenant said.
According to residents, greedy landlords are cashing in on the market trend as they have a free reign on fixing rents following the removal of the annual rent cap in Abu Dhabi.
When it comes to maintenance of buildings, Abu Dhabi municipality has made it mandatory for landlords to sign contracts with maintenance companies if they want their rental licence renewed.
This is to ensure that buildings are properly maintained, and to ensure that safety and hygiene regulations are not flouted.
But the ground reality in many buildings, especially the old ones, indicates landlords’ utter disregard for any maintence standards, as is evident from residents’ complaints.
AC maintence companies told XPRESS that chillers in buildings should be maintained every six months, and compressors should be cleaned.
“You need to change the oil and refill the gas in the chillers if they have to function well during summer season. The motors also have to be checked and cleaned regularly so that the fan can function,” said an AC maintenance technician.
He said air conditioners are malfunctioning in many buildings during summer because of overload and faulty old compressors and motors.
You Speak
Are you also affected by a similar problem?
What can be done to ensure landlords adhere to maintenance regulations?
Write to us at:
editor@xpress4me.com
www.xpress4me.com
sms 5101
