We are in the process of securing a rental agreement on a villa in Dubai Is it a reasonable request that the AC unit is serviced prior to moving in?

the agent has told us that the previous tenant said they had it serviced one or two months ago. There’s no paperwork to confirm this.

we have it in the contract that the landlord is responsible for the maintanence of the AC unit. Is it reasonable to have it stated what that means as in how often it will be serviced? How often the filters will be changed, who pays for the filters?

Thanks

Very reasonable to ask for this. Request a full service and sanitisation of the AC system before you move in. I would also make sure that you have at least a full annual service into the contract, the quality of the service will somewhat depend on how good (or bad) your landlord is (by that I mean the quality of the tech company they use). We typically have a full service done before the summer. Cleaning filters etc is debatable as to whether the LL will pay or not. We get ours cleaned every 3 months and pay ourself. Another thing to consider is getting the water tank cleaned and sanitised before you move in, make sure the lid is fully sealed etc etc.

Thank you so much for this.

we asked that it be serviced and cleaned prior to moving in.

The agent responded back to our request with the response from the landlord

“Regarding the ac previous tenant has said he has done it now unfortunately he’s word is the only thing we can go off the landlord does not want to waste money and re do somthing that has already been done and it is the responsibility of the tenant to maintain the ac this is not somthing he wants to get involed in!”

this feels like a red flag to us. We haven’t mentioned the water tank, but will now. It is in the contract that the landlord is responsible for maintenance, but doesn’t specify what that means.

the fact the landlord has said he doesn’t want to waste money and the ac is our responsibility feels like a red flag to us.

thank you

I can only speak for my own contract which states along the lines of the LL being responsible for maintenance which includes but not limited to electrical, plumbing, AC, water system.

It does seem like a red flag to me that you may end up with LL who’s difficult to deal with regarding maintenance issues (which is not unusual in Dubai) it also sounds like he didn’t pay for the last service.

How old is the villa ? You can get issues with any age of villa but AC issues are extremely common in older properties where the kit is starting to show its age through brutal summers.

LL did not pay for the last service. The agent told us it was the previous tenants who paid for it one or two months ago. There is no proof of this though.

the fact he said he isn’t going to waste money on ac concerns us. We see it as crucial as opposed to a luxury! It is an old villa.

the water tank has never been mentioned. It should be!

The agent is making it seem like we are being unrealistic and wants to rush us to sign the contract.

theres also repair work needs doing to the outside structure. The agent won’t list the issues, but says that the LL has agreed to fix the issues as pointed out by us to the agent. However, we don’t know what was said in that conversation and they are refusing to list the items.

It’s a beautiful house in a great location, but I’m getting wobbles about it!

The problem right now is the market makes it difficult to walk away and find something else, particularly if you are focused on a particular area. The agent will only be interested in closing the deal for his/her commission rarely do they have your interests top of mind.

If it were me, I would list all the issues to be fixed and have an addendum to the contract that the work will be done by a certain date. Likewise I would have more detail about maintenance included in the contract. A decent LL will be happy to include all of this. Which community is the property in ?

We have tried exactly that and the agent is refusing to add anything in. He is telling us that it just doesn’t work like that in Dubai. He thinks that we should feel lucky to get this house.

.

It does work like that if you have a half reasonable LL. Sadly so many agents are only interested in getting your signature, deposit and commission cheque this is even more exaggerated by the current market.

If it was me then I’d walk away.

That’s how we feel. We can’t decide if it’s the landlord or the agent we are having difficulty with. He keeps using words like transparency but won’t then provide a break down of the work to be done. He just keeps telling us not to stress. It’s Dubai, but then I’ve spoken to another agent about a different property who offers far more clarity.

thank you for your input here. We are first time renters in Dubai. I know there will be grey areas, but it’s reassuring to know that we are not out to lunch with these expectations!

he is definitely pushing us to sign,

he also has a clause in the contracts which state any previous verbal or written agreements are null and void and that only the contract itself is binding. The contract which is extremely vague!

we are running out of time. I think we should let this one go.

thanks a million