Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

Hi all,

just found this site and had a couple of questions, well, looking for some comforting replies really!

I've just accepted a job in Dubai and am due to start end of September. My wife and I visited in June and were very impressed with the city and lifestyle.

However and back to reality, today's major concern is schooling. Nowhere seems to have places for my son in January 08. Those that do, are well in excess of the allowance my company will pay. Anyone got any insight into school availability that doesn't cost the earth?

Also, and by no means least, leasing property. It seems to move very fast and most worryingly of all, prices increase at the same speed. We are a family of four looking for a large 3 bed villa. The company allowance, it seems, will only cover about 2/3 or less of the lease cost, according to the popular property sites.
My 1st question, is it common for employers to pay about this level?
2ndly, can you obtain cheaper leased property once you are in Dubai (perhaps by roaming the streets and calling the landlord tel. nos advertised?)
3rdly, we've been advised that utilities are around 2000 AED per month - does that sound reasonable / common?

Any other helpful tips would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

welcome!
first off i won't try to answer the propery issues as there are some here more qualified to give you advice.

bear in mind that you will be arriving in the middle of ramadan, followed probably by a 5 day eid holiday (depending on when it falls); this is not a brilliant time to introduce a family to dubai, most places are closed during the day and only open after iftar (sunset prayers). the place will not be a ghost town, but it is very difficult to accomplish anything over this time. most companies have reduced working hours, and basically nothing happens!

in the past employers used to foot the bill for accomodation, however with the "unregulated" increases over the past years they simply provide a fixed allowance and nothing more; should you want to live in a property outside the boundaries of your allowance then it is at your expense.

2,000 AED per month for utilities (more than most) seems quiet resonable considering the size of property you are wanting. if this is paid as an allowance you could possibly try to skimp on the utilities and put the balacne towards the additional rental. be aware that some rental villas have "maintenance levies" as well as the rental, these can come as a nasty surprise if you are unprepared for it.

the location of your work and proximity to schools is normally what dictates would be a suitable area to live in. villa's in outlying areas (or even adjacent emirates) can be cheaper, but travel time and frustrating delays may negate any percieved benefits!

Thanks for replying and the welcome!

Property & schooling causing us a real headache at the moment. Even to the extent of me now thinking about actually pulling out of the job offer, which would be a real bummer given I've handed in my notice in the UK

The utilities need to be footed by me as does any balance on property and schooling. All begining to look like potential showstoppers!!

We'll be dissapointed if it comes to that but it does seem, albeit from here in the UK and via internet, that the cost of living iin Dubai s more costly than we'd thought.

PS is your avatar a black widow?? are they indigenous to UAE / Dubai sorry for being nosey, but I'm curious. I've already heard about the scorprions and spider crabs and had some sleepless nights.

Cheers

Scotsman wrote:Thanks for replying and the welcome!

Property & schooling causing us a real headache at the moment. Even to the extent of me now thinking about actually pulling out of the job offer, which would be a real bummer given I've handed in my notice in the UK

The utilities need to be footed by me as does any balance on property and schooling. All begining to look like potential showstoppers!!

We'll be dissapointed if it comes to that but it does seem, albeit from here in the UK and via internet, that the cost of living iin Dubai s more costly than we'd thought.

PS is your avatar a black widow?? are they indigenous to UAE / Dubai sorry for being nosey, but I'm curious. I've already heard about the scorprions and spider crabs and had some sleepless nights.

Cheers

It would be easier if you let us know how much your accomodation allowance is?
You say your family will arrive in January 08, most of the Schools have difficulty in accepting Children in the middle of the School year. What is your Sons age and where were you looking to put him?

Utilities, as DBX says they can vary considerably, if you have a stand alone Villa, large 3/4 bedroom your Utilities will be broken up as follows.
Housing fee 5% of the Rent
Water by Meter if you have plot size of 800m2 with grass it will cost you approx. Dhs 800.00 for water
Sewerage will cost you approx 16.5% of the water.
Electricity will range between Dhs.250 - Dhs.1000 December to July, depending on the A'C usage mainly.

Level of Rental will depend on where you are looking to be the prices do vary considerably.

Scotsman wrote:PS is your avatar a black widow?? are they indigenous to UAE / Dubai sorry for being nosey, but I'm curious. I've already heard about the scorprions and spider crabs and had some sleepless nights.

Cheers

haha

your'e the first person who's ever picked up on that. actually a red-back (Australia). black widow (USA) and redbacks (Australia) and the Button Spider (South Africa) are from the same genus of spiders.

they are not an indigenous species, but were introduced from australia, and have basically carved out a niche for themselves in the uae - i'd go as far as saying they naturalised now.

scorpions are not very common in the built up residential areas, however red-backs are a continual problem in residential areas, especially those that have water bodies encorporated in them (lakes, meadows spring to mind), these bodies of water create a continual source of food for the spiders (mostly mosquitos), who's numbers would naturally be kept low. there is normally a lot of infomation around in the press during "spider season" on how to reduce the likilihood of spiders around the home.

if you need any info on this drop me a line i have quiet a bit available.

btw, the one in the avtar was a pet of mine for a few months and is now imortalised in cyberspace

Scotsman,

If your company is providing 2/3 of your rent, then I think you're doing pretty well. These days it's increasingly common for employers to provide no accommodation allowance or just a token amount that bears no relation to the current cost of renting.

Weigh up your tax savings against that final 1/3 of the rent, and I think you'll find you're probably better off.

I'm afraid I can't help you with schools - I know it can be difficult to find a place.

jayzed wrote:Scotsman,

If your company is providing 2/3 of your rent, then I think you're doing pretty well. These days it's increasingly common for employers to provide no accommodation allowance or just a token amount that bears no relation to the current cost of renting.

Weigh up your tax savings against that final 1/3 of the rent, and I think you'll find you're probably better off.

I'm afraid I can't help you with schools - I know it can be difficult to find a place.

Hi and thanks for the reply jayzed.

Accomodation allowance is 117,000 which doesn't go a long way it seems for a family of 4. We were looking at villas (3BR) in emirates hills, greens, springs, lakes & jumeirah / um suquiem but these areas all seem to be from about 190 up to 230k on websites we've looked at.

Schooling is a problem to. The affordable ones (ie within the employer allowance) don't have availability. Those that do, are above the allowance, sometimes nearly double the allowance!

All very depressing.

Have gone back to employer with our estimation of all living costs to see if any room for negotiation as, even with the tax breaks, we are struggling to break even.

the other alternative is, does your wife work? a double income may be what is required to push the numbers over the edge.

unfortunatley the private school system is basically un-regulated, they feel that if their standards and the demand is high enough they can justify the exorbatant prices. schools do in actual fact have a legistlated capping system that prevents unregulated increases in fees.... but in practical terms its really a joke and not worth the paper its printed on... they may not increase the fees by more than 20% every two years! so the average increase is 10% stell per annum. the more expensive the school is the exponential the incease!

dbxsoul wrote:the other alternative is, does your wife work? a double income may be what is required to push the numbers over the edge.

unfortunatley the private school system is basically un-regulated, they feel that if their standards and the demand is high enough they can justify the exorbatant prices. schools do in actual fact have a legistlated capping system that prevents unregulated increases in fees.... but in practical terms its really a joke and not worth the paper its printed on... they may not increase the fees by more than 20% every two years! so the average increase is 10% stell per annum. the more expensive the school is the exponential the incease!

Thanks very much for the info.

I'll just need to wait and see if the employer is willing to negociate. If not, it's been hard work, 3 interviews etc but at least we have seen the City and enjoyed the short time we were there.

Just been reading various articles on cost of living reports for 2007 and it does seem to have risen hugely, particulary for housing and schooling. I think it will be housing that makes it impossible for us. Interesting article in Kaleej Times points out that those who have been in the country for a while generally have lower rents than those coming in now. Seems the landlaords are coining in it in due to demand outweighing supply.

Best wishes and hopefully, I'll be back with some good news!

As above, you don't have many options for housing and schooling, you pretty much have to pay the going rate. Rent could maybe be pushed down a little (maybe only 20-30k though), try either places like Al Barsha, Mirdif or International City, failing that a 3 bed flat might be cheaper (Marina rents look high but can be bartered down significantly), most of these places have pools and the like to keep the little uns entertained.

Your biggest issue is schooling with a big family, no suggestions except to shop around and maybe take one of the lesser light schools. Standards are pretty high here - believe me when you tour schools you'll feel aggreived you never had half the stuff at your school in Scotland - so it's not like you're totally skanking your kids.