Building chiller broken in Dubai — who is responsible and what can I do?

Building chiller failure in Dubai is the building management's responsibility — not yours and, in most cases, not directly your landlord's (though your landlord can help pressure building management to act faster). The central chiller system is shared building infrastructure.

Five days without AC in Dubai summer is serious. Here's the escalation path:

Step 1: Send a formal email or WhatsApp to building management TODAY stating the date the chiller failed, the current temperature in your unit, and that you require an update and estimated repair timeline within 24 hours. Keep the message formal and document everything.

Step 2: Copy your landlord on all communications — even if it's technically building management's problem, landlords have their own channels to pressure building management and it's in their interest to get it resolved.

Step 3: File a RERA maintenance complaint through the Dubai REST app. Select 'Building Maintenance' as the category. RERA can formally intervene with building management and they respond much faster to official complaints than to tenant messages.

Step 4: If the situation is making your apartment genuinely uninhabitable, document this with temperature readings and photos. In extreme cases, tenants can claim rent abatement for the period the apartment was uninhabitable — but this requires documented evidence and a formal complaint trail.

Practical tip: a portable AC unit from Carrefour or ACE Hardware costs AED 400-600. Buy one, keep the receipt, and you can attempt to claim the cost back as part of your formal complaint.