For those of you who are thinking of transferring to a new second home while you are in Dubai, U.A.E., this is the post for you. Although, the process and procedure might vary from real estate agency to another, I would share with you what happened to us for you to have a fair idea on what to expect.
(And if you are thinking of renting your own flat for the first time and don’t know how, don’t worry, babe. I got you. Click here to get you started.)
Read your tenancy contract
Before you even start looking for a new place, the first thing you need to do is to read your tenancy contract and to check the stipulated notice period. I must emphasize on this a little bit because you would not want to be stuck forced to renew for another year all because you forgot to inform the real estate agency that you are not planning on renewing your contract anymore.
After you are sure your notice period still falls under what is acceptable, inform your real estate agency that you are not renewing anymore. For us, an email was already enough.
Search, search, search
When you start your search for a new place, stick to your budget. Trust me, it is easy to get swayed, but you must keep in mind that you should not rent a place you could not afford. Otherwise, you would face the monthly problem of raising up the amount that you need to pay the agency.
Sure, expensive flats would have amenities and they would be accessible but if you would stick to your budget, you would soon find one that meets all your requirements. For us, we managed to find one in Al Jaddaf area near Creek metro station. The metro station is 20 minutes’ walk but there is a bus that services the area if you are willing to wait for it. What we did is that we bought a bicycle that we use as our own means of transportation. It’s affordable and a means for us to exercise.
Deep clean your apartment
A friend told me that when they left their apartment in Satwa to transfer to a new apartment near Emirates Tower metro, they managed to get back their security deposit in full by restoring the flat to how it was when they first moved in. Seems easy right? But, it’s a lot of work. It took us two whole days to clean and repair a studio apartment.
Here are some of the few things we have learned about deep cleaning the apartment before moving out.
- Two days is not enough
We have allotted two days to clean the whole apartment because we thought it would suffice. The studio apartment was almost bare at this time, except for the few odd bits and pieces that we have not yet hauled to our new place. Once you see the bare apartment, you’d notice how many nooks and crannies needed to be thoroughly cleaned. Sure, you are cleaning your apartment on a daily or weekly basis when you were still living in it but once all the furniture and your stuff are gone, you’d see all the accumulated dirt and grime. As a rule of thumb, allot one day for cleaning, one day for painting and another day for the paint to dry and for touch ups.
- If you could avoid drilling holes, avoid it
Since we were only renting a studio apartment, the horizontal space is limited so we must take advantage of the vertical space and installed a lot of shelves. But since we wanted to get our security deposit back, we must patch these holes before repainting the walls. If you don’t want to do this in the future, limit your drilling to only what is necessary. Remember that you are only living on a rental and you don’t want to redecorate something that is permanent.
- Purge
Moving out is a tedious activity and if you could try and lessen your belongings and aspire to live a minimalist life (Hello Marie Kondo!) now is the time to do that. Do not wait until you need to pack all your belongings because you are shifting to a new home. Have a periodic purging of all your possessions and since we are OFWs we are not living permanently here. There might be situation beyond our control, and it would just be a waste amassing things that we would just soon dispose if and when we are not able to send it back home.
Our efforts weren’t wasted because the inspector only deducted 95 AED from our deposit because he said there are some parts under the sink that needs to be replaced since they are already rusty. He also told us that he is charging us for the hole in the balcony screen door (TIP: Before you move into your new apartment, take a picture of the unit especially those that needed restorations to prove to the real estate agency that the upkeeps were already present before you moved in).
Schedule inspection
Once you are sure that you have cleaned and repaired the apartment to its original condition, you must now schedule the inspection for the unit for you to get cleared and to officially return the key to the real estate agent. Remember that the inspection should happen before your tenancy contract expires because the real estate might automatically renew your contract if you did not finish the vacating process and procedure before that date.
Disconnect DEWA
We requested for the disconnection of DEWA after the inspection because we know that the lights and the AC unit is included in what the inspector would check. Sure, the building has its own generator and they could turn on the electricity supply in the unit even after DEWA disconnected it but its easier this way. Besides, the inspector came in late and it was better that we still had our DEWA connection because otherwise it would be unbearable to wait for him during summer. You have the option to pay for your DEWA’s last bill since there is a deposit of 2,000 AED that they could deduct from. You also have the option for DEWA to deposit the refund to your bank account or via Western Union. I opted for Western Union because at the time that I was applying for the refund, I was too lazy to get my account number.
The disconnection required 24 hours and I received the final bill the next day which I submitted to the real estate agency to start with the processing of refunding my security deposit which will take 20 working days. As for the DEWA’s deposit, I received the MTCN after 5 days and went to Al Ansari Exchange for the refund.
Note: There are some fees that you need to pay for the disconnection. For more info about deactivation, click here.
Relocation request for your internet connection
If you have read my post regarding “OFW Guide: Getting a flat in Dubai“, you’d know how problematic it was for us to have an internet connection. I thought we would only have to endure this headache one time. Boy was I wrong big time. We all need internet especially now during the pandemic that some of us are still working from home (I don’t but I have a part time writing gig plus managing this blog).
A speedy internet connection is not a luxury anymore, it is a necessity. So, imagine our frustration that for ELEVEN days we did not have any internet at home even if we have requested for a reconnection even BEFORE we moved out of our old apartment to our new place. We have heard numerous excuses and reasons why our internet reconnection was delayed but we were not able to do anything but grit our teeth since what their competitor is offering is same price but lesser mbps. Besides, we still need to pay one full month if we are going to terminate the contract. The silver lining though is that the days that we did not have the connection were deducted from the monthly bill although you could not really notice the difference since we need to pay an additional 150 AED for the relocation request.
Get your security deposit back
I have quite expected that there will be a delay with getting our security deposit back because that’s how things go and to this date, we still did not receive our security deposit. We were supposed to get it around 3rd week of May but when we called, they told us that the process hasn’t started yet since the person in charge of us vacating the premises did not submit our clearance from DEWA.
If you are in the same situation as us and you are just waiting for the 20th day, call the real estate agent. Better yet, call them as soon as you emailed them the clearance to make sure that they would start processing your refund.
As an OFW, it is necessary that we allot some of our resources for our own comfort. We chose to work abroad for our families, but we should also not forget to care for our own well-being. Having a comfortable place to call your temporary home while away should be one of your priorities.
An Overseas Filipino Worker since 2008, Yvette is back in the Middle East after a brief stint in a first world country in South East Asia. She is a binge watcher and is part of numerous fandoms. She writes to keep her sanity (read her rantings on Wattpad @yvette_dc) and is happiest when she's in a bookstore. If given the resources, she would see the world.