5herry

All

I posted a couple of weeks back to ask for advice on accepting a job offer and am happy to say I'll be moving out in May

I'm just trying to sort everything out at home & wanted to ask a couple of questions...

1. Can anyone recommend a tax consultant in London? I've been told I should get someone to sort out all my tax implications etc but not sure who to go to...

2. Do electrical items from UK work in UAE? I recently bought a fab new tv and am loath to leave it behind (says alot - I know!) but before I think about how I get it over to Dubai wanted to check if it will actually work. Also what about the Wii?

3. Think I've narrowed my apartment search to Dubai Marina...any buildings I should stay clear from or definitely try to get into too?

4. Any other hints & tips on things I should do before I leave rainy London, e.g. bring 101 passport photos!

Thanks

S.

shandolier

Hi there,

Welcome to Dubai! I can help with a couple of answers...

Your TV will work, the plugs here are the same 3 points as the UK. I live in the Marina and you can't go too far wrong, Marina Heights Tower is great where I live and the area is good. We looked at a lot of buildings when we moved in and I think my wife said don't bother with Marina Diamond which she looked at, although I did't see it myself. Some of them have odd configurations like a massive bedroom, huge, but then a TINY living room, or vice versa, but some are well proportioned.

Passport photos a good idea, also handy to have several photocopies of your passport and visa stored up as you will need these when applying for anything like TV, alcohol licence. Get the Dubai Explorer book when you get out here, and Time Out Dubai (weekly) has great info on restaurants, sports, things to do, etc. as well.

Tax consultant - don't know but need advice myself!

Good luck, hope you enjoy it, it can be a bit bewildering at first but I've been here 2 1/2 yrs and love it. You will get used to most things and once you've found your feet it can be a great place to live and work.

Meow

For tax advice you may want to contact me.

Most people's taxes are really no that complicated and I advise Brits in the UAE on most matters.

Hello.Kitty

I'm also in the Marina.

Buildings - well, it depends what your budget and requirements are!

The older ones are considered to be the better of the crop, but this is reflected in their price. This includes "the original 6", which are the ones above Marina Walk (which is buzzing), Marina Promenade... other Emaar ones have popped up, such as Park Island (?) which look to be similar quality.

The newer ones are far cheaper and you may find they are smaller (which would be a problem for some, but not others!), but don't rule them out.

Ones to avoid... personally, "all of JBR"! We used to live there and tbh, the build quality is poor and you don't know in advance if the apartment you've chosen is going to be affected by The Smell or whatever other poor-build-quality-related issue that might crop up. There are also a few hidden costs in JBR because many LLs have got their tenants to pay the maintenance fees and then Empower seem to have some kind of monopoly going on, so you get a bill from them too.
Horizon, last I heard, was having some issues too with its swimming pool. Very nice tower apart from that, but apparently the main pool cracked and the management company is saying that it's not covered by the maintenance fee, so is/was refusing to repair it unless all the LLs stump up the cash... which they're refusing to do because the maintenance fee should cover it.

Here's a map - when you're looking at places, I would aim for the Dubai end (on the right of the map) or middle of the Marina... as it goes towards Jebel Ali (towards the left of the map), it gets less and less finsihed. The 2 metro stops are also at the Dubai end (Marina Walk) and right beside Horizon Tower (JLT stop). It's a bit old and clunky, but it's still helpful!

Patsy Stoned

I never understand why people say to bring passport photos or copies of passport with them..you can get passport photos done very cheaply here and they will put it on a disc so that you can get more anytime you like. photocopying is also very cheap and there are lots of places that do it. :-)

Don't forget to get your degree/marriage license etc authenticated before you come..it is a complicated procedure that I am sure somebody else here will explain to you..I have never had to do it so I can't help you :-)

livbel

I have to disagree with comments re "all of JBR" - We are in a fantastic apartment in JBR (BAHAR) - the quality is brilliant - the whole building was refurb'd two years ago. You have everything you need on your doorstep, beach across the road from you - loads of places to eat and hangout. Yes traffic can get busy on Thursday and Friday (goes to show its a great area!) nights but other nights there are no problems getting in and out if you take the right route. We looked at loads of places including the marina and the place we are in was by far the best. Yes we saw some in JBR that we didnt like and we started to write it off, and then gave it a final go and saw this one place which is a gem. If JBR is of interest - just look at as many as you can until you find that one - they are not all the same!

Hello.Kitty

it's very much the luck of the draw though there and there's no knowing in advance what you're going to get - and the fact it's unpredictable just makes it worse.

We visited about 5 flats there before finally being able to nail a contract on the one we took up. It was fine, I guess, apart from the long cracks under the downstand beams, the tap-water that would splutter and run rust-coloured and the strange smell of mouldy urine that would waft through the A/c in my daughter's room, no matter how many times we had the filters cleaned and the maintenance guys in. In the end they found that the soil vent pipe hadn't been properly sealed, but considering the crack was at some point in the 34 floors below us, they weren't going to investigate further. The Smell is quite common and affects random stacks of apartments across the development... due to initial faulty workmanship and a series of patches that never solved the problem, but instead pushed it elsewhere.

The build quality is, unfortunately unquestionably poor. You can refurb to a certain extent, but it won't alter the fact that it's pretty rubbish. The specs on most things are low... really low.

JBR has its charm, of sorts, but the majority of places in the marina are actually better quality - maybe smaller, but better quality and at the end of the day, I'd prefer slightly smaller than lifts that don't work, structural issues 35 floors up and questionable environmental health.

JBR's on the doorstep of most of the marina. It takes me about 3 minutes to get to The Walk from mine.

livbel

Kitty....appreciate your views but I really do think you shouldnt tar all JBR blocks/apartments with the same brush. My block is very good indeed, no cracks, no smells and very good quality. The fact that the whole block is owned by one landlord group and managed by them may make the difference. The specs are good in mine and maintenance is excellent.

5herry

Thank you for your responses!

Shandolier - Thanks, I ordered the Dubai Explorer book a couple of weeks but as it's a new release Amazon are taking ages to deliver!

Info re TV is great...need to work out how to get it over there now

Kitty & Livbel - thanks for the advice...I guess I need to line up as many flat viewings as possible as I only have 3 weeks in a hotel so the need to get somewhere quick will be quite tight.

Patsy - You're lucky! I had to get my degree cert attested for the work visa....long winded process where I had to get a solicitor to sign it, the F&CO to Legalise and then the UAE embassy to attest it.....not something I want to repeat

5herry

Oh forget to ask....I've been reading some other posts and can someone please PM me how to get the VPN (?!?) downloaded onto my laptop so I can watch iPlayer and 4OD etc whilst there.......god I know I sound like a right Telly Addict lol

Have Skype but anything else I should download before arriving?

Thanks

S

Hello.Kitty

sure, but the LL didn't build it separately to the rest of the development, did he? Nor did he go "oo, well, for my block, don't source your stuff from the same place as the rest and I'll provide my own, highly trained labourers to do a proper job."

Murjan has slightly higher specs than the rest (the concept was that the sectors got progressively more luxurious closer they got to Dubai) and it was also built first, which helped (flagship sector, etc...) and Amwaj is known to have a better maintenance programme because it's done by a different company and owned as a block (it also has the only residents' gym because of this)... but still, there's only so much maintenance can do.

In any case, it's not a worry if you're a tenant, unless you're getting stung by your LL trying to pass off the high maintenance fees, or unless you're locked into a year's tenancy with a flat that's virtually uninhabitable... but even then, at least you can smile and walk away once you've done your time... not like the owners!