An online petition by unhappy residents caused the revert…

Damac Properties recently introduced a Dhs20 fee for all third-party workers to enter their buildings, but after an influx of complaints from unhappy residents, the Dubai developer has now scrapped the fee.

The Dhs20 fee was introduced on July 31, and extended to cleaners, service people, contractors etc who would need access to the building. Unhappy homeowners and tenants created an online petition to have the decision reverted, which amassed almost 200 signatures in under a week.

Since receiving the feedback, executives of Damac Properties announced that they would ‘reconsider’ the fee, and now a decision has been made to waive it. It was expressed though that all third party workers will need to sign in to the buildings.

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Senior vice-president of marketing and corporate communications at Damac/Loams, Niall McLoughlin said: ““After reviewing the concerns raised by residents and owners, Loams has reevaluated the implementation process of vendor registration and work permits, resulting in the decision that hence forth all registration fees will be waived. The primary focus of vendor registration continues to remain on ensuring safety and quality of service which is why the registration process will continue to be implemented without fees.”

The petition read: “We the resident and owners at Damac Properties and developments, highly object and are not in favour of the recent introduction of charges in the region of Dhs5000 yearly or Dhs20 daily, which is used to generate income to potential lower service charges, to third party contractors or cleaning companies who in turn have to pass on this charge. These companies have serviced our needs and help us in our daily lives to increase happiness.”

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Image: Getty