Residents and expats living and working in the emirate have resorted to flat-sharing to beat the cost of renting apartments. However, having more than one family living in one apartment breaches the regulations of the Sharjah municipality.
During the first half of 2017, the municipality has issued 6,395 warning notices to illegal tenants and cut off the power supply at their apartments.
The civic body has taken a keen interest on bachelor room-sharing, which it says pose a real risk to public health and safety.
“According to the municipality’s rules, bachelors are allowed to stay with families only in commercial buildings and under certain conditions; they should be employees [professionals], they must have a passport with a valid visa and the building’s owner should have given him/her permission to share the apartment,” Khalifa Al Suwaidi, head of the Operation and Municipal Inspection Department at Sharjah Municipality told Gulf News.
Bachelors come in two categories: the professionals (doctor, engineer, etc.) and the laborers.
Laborers are only allowed to live in industrial areas and are prohibited from living in residential and commercial buildings.
Professional bachelors, on the other hand, are allowed to live in commercial buildings (family buildings), given that they have the consent of the building’s owner.
The municipality imposes a fine of Dh500 on first-time violators. If caught again, the fine will be doubled to Dh1,000.
In past instances, some residents have complained about groups of bachelors living together which caused a lot of noise and chaos and disturbed their area.
Complaints about tenants who are illegally sharing apartments can be directed to Sharjah Municipality’s 24/7 hotline number 993.
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