The Story Of Why I’m Moving (again)

It’s been a couple of turbulent weeks and months. Long story short, I moved into my current apartment 3 months ago and it was one of the best days ever!
After living in a small studio apartment outside of central Dubai for 3 years, I was so happy to move here! It’s a big one-bedroom apartment right in the middle of  Downtown Dubai, only a few minutes walk away from Dubai Mall, The Fountains and Burj Khalifa. I began shopping for the perfect furniture and quickly made it my home. I LOVE this apartment, it’s absolutely perfect!

… Except that there’s been issues with a smell from the A/C and mould in the flat almost since the day I moved in. And despite the best efforts from me and the landlord and assistance about 6 different maintenance companies and mould eradication specialists, we can’t seem to solve the issues. So I have to move out and leave this beautiful apartment! It actually hurts my heart a little bit…

I’ve found a new place, but it’s a lot smaller and already fully furnished to perfection, so all the stuff I bought 3 months ago has to go. Someone just came and picked up the coffee table that I searched for everywhere and finally found in JYSK 2-3 months ago at just the right price. It feels a little bit like a break up when something you bought to keep for years and years suddenly has to leave so quickly. Okay, I know I’m being dramatic right now, it’s just furniture. But it’s still a weird feeling when something you were SO excited about just a few months ago is suddenly not for you after all…

The apartment search was an experience! After making the final decision that I had to move out, I went apartment searching. After staying in IMPZ for 3 years I knew I wanted to be closer to the city center. Preferably, I wanted to stay in Downtown. I want life around me and nice places to go for breakfast on a Saturday morning, or just for walks and runs. My boyfriend and I took a whole Saturday to go on viewings together. In the following week, I continued to look everywhere from Downtown to DIFC, Business Bay & Dubai Marina. I even viewed a flat in the Burj Khalifa! Quite exciting to be honest, but I still liked the overall feel of my current flat better…It’s hard to look for something new when you’re so happy where you are. But I won’t risk my healthy by living in the mold and I can’t continue to live with maintenance workers constantly being in the flat, fixing things (that then later turn out not to be fixed after all…) so I knew I HAD TO move!

In the end, I did view one apartment I really liked. And I made the landlord an offer. Which he refused. But after negotiating for 4 days, the landlord finally accepted! And I’m moving next week!

In case you didn’t know, in Dubai, it’s normal to pay your yearly rent in a number of cheques. So you and the landlord negotiate a total rent price for 1 year, as well as the number of cheques the payment will be divided into. I imagine that it almost feels like buying a house! There’s a security deposit, an agency fee and then the rent is usually paid in 1-4 cheques. Depending on where you want to live, that can come down to a big chunk of money you have to pay upfront.

The new place is a lot smaller than this one and we’re gonna have some issues with parking, but apart from that, it’s absolutely beautiful. The building is absolutely stunning with a great gym and a huge pool with a full Burj Khalifa view. Yes, I get to stay in Downtown Dubai and that means a lot to me – winter is coming and I’m not done going for walks in this beautiful neighborhood!

I’m still a little disappointed it didn’t work out with this beautiful flat, but at the same time I’m super excited about my new, small but beautiful, studio flat! I’m sure it’s going to be an exiting adventure!