# How do you afford the one check rentals?



## deuceswild11 (Jul 20, 2012)

Question:

I am coming to Dubai in october, and something just crossed my mind. On dubizzle, it says rentals are paid in one or two or three checks. So that's a fairly LARGE amount of money. How does one afford this amount? I certainly don't have that much in savings... Are loans prevalent in Dubai? I would not be against paying a little interest and paying off a loan in a year (with monthly "rent" payments that would normally take place). I am also not against renting a room with other villa/apartment mates. Those, from what I have seen are monthly with a security deposit. This I can do. 
Any ideas?

Thanks!


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## basc (May 18, 2011)

Some companies give you an advance on your housing allowance - 3 or 6 months or the full year. 

I have seen some banks have expat "startup" packages where they might advance some of your rent money - I haven't had any experience with that, but in my experience the banks are hard to deal with for loans when you are new and haven't completed your probation period.


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## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

Your best bet would be to work with your company and get some sort of an advance on your payroll from them. Also, in regards to rentals, try and do some more research, you'll probably end up finding someone more accommodating in the number and frequency of the checks (like 3-4).
Its really about the first check, cause the time in between the payments enables you to get the money saved up for the rest of them.
In regards to the sharing a villa/flat, the authorities recently enacted a law requiring a tenancy contract as one of the documents for renewing visas. In theory, unless you get your name into the tenancy contract of the place you are sharing, it might be a problem. Maybe there's a work-around, haven't heard of one.


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## deuceswild11 (Jul 20, 2012)

Okay. So I have heard how bad it is in international city- but I have also heard it's not really that bad. I could save some money and live by myself if I lived there, which would be awesome. 

I'm working in Mirdif- do you guys know of any inexpensive places to live around there?

So far, your advicE has been extremely helpful, so keep it up, haha.


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## Saint Ari (Oct 1, 2010)

Since you already live in Mirdiff ... perhaps it would be a good idea to live in Mirdiff itself rather than going elsewhere ...


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## deuceswild11 (Jul 20, 2012)

I Dont already live in Mirdif.


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## Saint Ari (Oct 1, 2010)

Work.... work in Mirdiff ... sorry ...


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## deuceswild11 (Jul 20, 2012)

it's all good


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## ziokendo (Jan 7, 2012)

deuceswild11 said:


> I am coming to Dubai in october, and something just crossed my mind. On dubizzle, it says rentals are paid in one or two or three checks. So that's a fairly LARGE amount of money. How does one afford this amount? I certainly don't have that much in savings...


You can easily find 4 chq rents, and with a bit of patience and luck also 6/12 months in maybe slightly less desiderable zones (discovery gardens, etc).

Fact is that if you can pay in 1-2 chq you can land a considerably better deal and/or often a better house easily, but still, 4 cheque is not impossible to find.

I was in the same situation (didn't want to wire my savings to Dubai for tax reasons), and I found something both furnished and in 4cheques to minimize my startup costs with a bit of patience so don't worry.

Now, if you think about it : 4 cheques means you have to pay the first 3 months in advance yes, but in Dubai the rental agency commission and deposit are usually only 5% of the yearly rent, is not such a huge startup cost: in Europe for example I used to pay the rent monthly, but then I had 1 month commission to the agent and 2-3 or even 6 months deposit (depending on the value of the house), so ... it works out more or less the same.

And then in Dubai usually the rent is a smaller fraction of your salary compared to europe, so after the first couple of salaries your cash flow begin to be advantageous.


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