Job Discussion Forums

[elliot_spencer]

Hey guys, I heard HCT give a relocation allowance of 32000 Dhs, is this true? Also, I read that the apartments they let are unfurnished. How much does it cost to kit out a flat in UAE? outside of Dubai and A.D? Also, do the apartments have anything in them whatsoever?

Thanks

Elloit

[helenl]

Some have the major appliances, some don't. The furntiture allowance has been the same for at least 10 years. Inflation hasn't affected HCT

[veiledsentiments]

Yes, their flats are unfurnished... and that is good news. Who wants someone else's old dirty furniture? What they now call a "relocation allowance" was called a "furniture allowance" in the past. I don't know what the amount is these days, but it was less than this back in my day... about 30,000.

As to what they come with, it varies by city. The minimum seems to be that it comes with AC, and the kitchen and bath fitted with the basics. What can vary is whether it comes with kitchen appliances or not. I was in Abu Dhabi and my first provided flat had nothing but cabinetry in the kitchen. My 2nd place where I moved after construction issues at the first place had everything including washer/dryer. HCT doesn't vary the allowance by what is provided... everyone gets the same.

To be honest, with HCT, housing is the least of one's problems... as you can see by the current threads of the last year or so.

VS

[Middle East Beast]

In Fujairah I had a 3-bedroom completely unfurnished flat. I had to buy everything--frig, washer, stove, all furniture, everything. The quality of the housing depends on your luck. Mine was marginal, while a friend's in another complex was luxurious.

I furnished the kitchen, living room, and one bedroom for about 20K dirhams. Nothing fancy either (except for maybe the LCD TV for 1800 dirhams). The other two bedrooms remained empty.

I also had an Emirati family living directly above me. They had two small children, and the noise into the wee hours of the morning almost every night was terrible. I complained to them, the apartment mgr, and HCT for nine months with no relief. The Emirati father was downright verbally abusive.

Keep in mind that the "allowance" is in fact a loan that is amortized over the course of the initial 3-yr contract. If you leave early, you repay part of it. It's not easy to sell the stuff to recover part of the money unless you happen to leave when other teachers are coming in.

[Shimokitazawa]

Are there any photos we can see of HCT housing, or the housing of any other universities, online?

[Middle East Beast]

If there were, for example, a picture of one apartment in Fujairah, you'd still have no idea what to expect for you. There is a plethora of housing options in that one location. I can't imagine the options in a place like Dubai.

I have pictures of my place there if you'd like to see them, but again, it would give you no idea what to expect.

[veiledsentiments]

It is luck of the draw Shimo... every teacher's flat is different most of the time. Most are very large and usually relatively new - usually two bedrooms and 1.5 to 2 bathrooms. Naturally there is variation between the various cities in the country. As everywhere in the world, the neighbors and neighborhood can be a real crapshoot. You can run into problems like MEB, or like me, I literally never heard my neighbors in my second flat, but there is often a lot of street noise in places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Another issue is construction. I moved from my first flat when they started tearing down the buildings just across the alley from me. (time to build something higher and fancier even if there was nothing wrong with the standing building) There are no noise ordinances. The second night, they kicked out all the window and metal window frames and just threw the stuff into the street below. When they finished the windows they tossed out the plumbing fixtures - bouncing toilets and bathrubs on top of the glass and metal. An unbelievable symphony of sound effects... This was from sunset to sunrise... it was Ramadhan. They stopped work about the time I was getting up to get ready to go teach.

Any rentals website for Dubai or Abu Dhabi that you google up should give you some idea of what flats look like. Look at the cheaper flats, of course.

VS

[Shimokitazawa]

[veiledsentiments]

Compounds tend to be a "Saudi" thing. There are a few universities around the Gulf that have a campus with faculty housing. SQU in Oman does, but since it has grown so large, TEFL teachers are too far down the pecking order to get on campus. In the Emirates the only university that I know of that has housing on campus is The American University in Sharjah. (it is pretty much the best gig in the UAE... but super competitive to get a job there)

As I said, with HCT, housing is the least of the problems.

VS

[Middle East Beast]

[Kally Wally]

I have heard that singles are being downgraded to smaller accommodation and moved from family digs in compounds and big villas in the interests of saving HCT some bucks.

Don't know if this is system wide though...............

[Middle East Beast]

[Badar Bin Bada Boom]

I have a few choice words for HCT: they suck. Bada bing, bada BOOM.

[veiledsentiments]

[Middle East Beast]

Actually there are quite a few people in villas in Fujairah. They vary in "niceness" and they can cost a fortune to cool. Also, the water bill can be unbelievably high for those who try to maintain a yard/garden. Some had monthly utility bills in the thousands of dirhams during summer months.