MoveSouq.com finds 83% of Dubai residents face residential maintenance issues

A survey conducted by MoveSouq.com, in partnership with Imdaad, found that 83 percent of Dubai residents faced maintenance issues in their homes during the first half of this year.

The survey revealed that most residents have issues with air conditioning units, sewage, electricity, thin walls and defective water heaters.

The study also found that only 50 percent of Dubai landlords pay for maintenance services while 62 percent of residents hire maintenance companies to fix the problem. It also showed that though each resident faced two maintenance problems in the past six months, half of the tenants opted to take care of the issue themselves; the other half chose to ignore the maintenance problems.

MoveSouq.com, a 2-year-old startup, released the survey as part of its ongoing commitment to keep residents informed about the real estate market in the ever-changing metropolis. 

“For us, we just want to help the people in the [United Arab Emirates],” Maria Siddiqui, head of marketing at MoveSouq.com, recently told Gulf News Journal. “People are always looking for this information, and in Dubai you don’t have a collective source of all of this. That’s just why we do this, to inform people.”

MoveSouq.com conducted the survey through a Facebook poll that included 150 respondents, of which 110 live in apartments and 40 in villas. The startup releases surveys like this periodically. For instance, in May, the company reported that Dubai’s Motor City and The Greens were the top rated communities in Dubai.

In March, the online portal also utilized its social media followers to assess pest issues in Dubai. It found that 8 out of 10 pest control complaints in Dubai are about bedbugs and cockroaches. It also found that most of the complaints came from residents in Deira, Satwa and Bur Dubai. The timely report came just weeks after a 3-week-old baby died when a banned pesticide was used in the flat next door.

MoveSouq.com is the first online marketplace in the UAE to assist residents with their move to and from Dubai, whether it is within the emirate or abroad. As a result of surveys such as this one, the company is able to tailor its offerings to assist residents with important home services.

Shortly after MoveSouq.com conducted the pest survey, the website launched a Pest Control section that allows interested customers to compare pest control companies. Users can check out customer reviews and can evaluate the professionalism of a company based on MoveSouq.com’s star ratings for providers.

The website helps people in the UAE and Qatar find professional moving, storage, car shipping, cleaning, maintenance, pest control, painting and gardening services. The company also plans to launch a real estate section soon.

The survey was done in partnership with Imdaad, the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) leading provider of integrated facilities and waste management solutions across the GCC. For more than three decades, Imdaad has offered pest control treatment, waste management, and maintenance and handyman services.