Logic defied once again (or twice!)

Of late, there has been a lot of confusion regarding the issuance of residence visas linked to property ownership in Dubai. Different people are giving different versions, often contradictory, of how this visa scheme works, and this is fuelling speculation.

The above in today's GulfNews, following a bizarre piece in Monday's edition...

"There is no direct link between property ownership and residence visas. Developers should not lure investors to property sector with a promise of residence visa," Marwan Bin Galita, chief executive of Dubai's Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) told Gulf News on Monday.

"...visas will be of many kinds. For example, it could be for two weeks for the person to come and collect the rent or it could be for another specific time to follow up the issue of the investment," he said.

How out of touch with reality are some of the people who could be expected to know better. A visa valid for two weeks, to permit an owner to collect rent... I laughed when I first read that. Then it crossed my mind that the poor chap is still thinking in terms of rents paid annually in advance, a system which is absolutely doomed in the medium term, so at odds is it with prevailing practice in other parts of the world.

Then I tried to imagine the owners who are going to buy flats in which they have no automatic right to reside. There may indeed be some so inclined, and there may be tenants to be accommodated (although with rental prices exploding, one wonders how many and for how long).

But basic logic forces me to conclude that if I cannot live within the four walls which are mine and mine alone... then there are going to be many ghost towers in the Sandlands long after the cranes have gone.

And what does the photo below have to do with this topic? Think about it!