fully furnished accomodation in dubai

Think of your baggage allowance. Taking a few extra kilos can be extremely expensive.

If you want to take sheets and linen, be aware that a multitude of different standards are used in UAE. As an example, you may find long-ish cushions or big square ones.

As you rightly say, everything is readily available in UAE, and there is no absolute need to take any of the stuff you mentioned with you. I's say you should fill up your suitcase with whatever falls within your baggage allowance.

Just in case you're thinking about it, there is little use trying to hunt for an apartment prior to your arrival. Specifically if you are looking for monthly and furnished rental you are very likely to run into the usual property scam where you see something really nice and within your budget, then call the agent and they will tell you that this specific one isn't available and that they have something slightly more expensive, slightly not in the same area and slightly shi**ier. I definitely know what I'm talking about here. What you need to do is come here, ask colleagues or friends, check dubizzle and other local websites, and you might even check with security guys in buildings you like.

48,000 sounds like a totally reasonable price if you are looking for no more than a 1BR, tentatively unfurnished (except Sharjah, International City and maybe Discovery Gardens). You may negotiate up to 4 cheques for that. For monthly rental, the property meltdown hasn't kicked in to the same extent than for annual so be prepared to pay a significantly higher rate.

Happy hunting!

I suspect that the items you mention are not provided in a furnished apartment, but why not call up or e-mail Golden Sands Hotel Apartments (a typical provider of furnished/serviced apartments) and ask what they provide.

http://www.goldensandsdubai.com/index.php?act=contactus&docId=8

That will give you some idea, although being Dubai, do not assume anything. Personally I would not bother bringing any of those things unless you have a huge baggage allowance or your company is paying for excess baggage or cargo. Although having said that, I do remember the first thing I went out and bought the night I arrived in Dubai was an iron!

Btw, as mentioned by the other poster, renting a furnished place in Dubai is a bit of a niche market and obviously more expensive than unfurnished. There is a far greater choice of unfurnished places, and the difference in rent will more than cover the furniture cost. Most landlords, even with furnished places, will want you to sign a 12 month contract. if you don't want to commit for 12 months, then short term rentals are available for a premium.

blimey, that is super important information and advice you have provided me with - thank you very much indeed.

the company i'm going to be working for is happy to pay one extra piece of luggage, so my total allowance is 2 x 23 kg. that's two large suitcases.

okay, i have noted that quartely, bi-annual or annual advance payments appear to be the done think rather than monthly rental payments, so having understood that, i'd say my annual budget for a place is AED 50,000

having read your replies though, i cannot help but wonder why unfurnished accomodation seems
to be the norm in dubai. people go to dubai, spend some time there, and then leave again, so i find it difficult to imagine that new residents would want to go out and spend time and money getting their apartments furnished and then have to sell all the furniture and stuff again once they leave, if they don't want to leave it behind.

i mean how can you rent something when there isn't even a bed provided.

i'll check out the golden sands dubai link, thanks for that.

Annual rental payments are definitely not the norm these days - please don't give a landlord 1 cheque for an entire 12 months. Generally 4 cheques is now the norm, but if you're interested in living somewhere like Disco Gardens, Siliicon Oasis or Jumeirah Lake Towers where there is a big surplus of accommodation, you can probably negotiate 6 or even 12 cheques. Note that it all works on cheques - there is no direct debit scheme here yet.

However, the important thing to note is that most tenancy contracts are for 12 months and usually contain a 2 month penalty (on top of the notice period) if you leave before the end of the contract - although this can sometimes be negotiated. So be sure you are going to stay a full year before you commit to a 12 month contract and read the small print very carefully!

If you don't feel ready to commit to a 12 month agreement after 2 weeks of living here, then to keep costs down maybe consider house/flat sharing which involves no tie-in. Or sometimes people are going away for a few months and want to rent their place out while they're away. Check Dubizzle.

Yes I know that in some countries unfurnished places may contain perhaps a bed and a few other basic items such as curtains or carpets. In Dubai this is not provided. Although usually you do get kitchen appliances (fridge, washing machine and cooker) with an unfurnished place.

People are generally here for several years so want their own furniture, for the place to feel like a home and in many cases companies provide allowances to cover initial home set up costs. When they leave, they either put their stuff up for sale on Dubizzle or ship it back home. As a new expat, you can work this to your advantage and easily pick up lots of cheap stuff for your new place. Failing that, there's always IKEA.....

Incidentally, you might find you get better advice (or at least more responses) by posting your questions on an expat forum rather than here. Maybe try this forum:

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/dubai-expat-forum-expats-living-dubai/

There are a lot of furnished accommodation in Dubai. Almost everyone who moves to Dubai starts out for the first few weeks - month in furnished accommodation paid for by the company. You can continue living in a furnished place but the hotel apartments generally start at around 6-7,000 AED per month and go up from there.

Depending on how old you are, you may find it easier to move into a shared villa or flat? Quite a few young people share flats in Dubai Marina, JLT and the other popular areas, and there's even a few villa shares left in Jumeirah/Umm Suqueim (lovely parts of town, right by the beaches).

A lot of the shared accommodation come fully furnished, and 4,000 AED will easily cover the cost of your room utilities maid service.

If you move into your own apartment, you can find a decent 1-bedroom in TECOM or JLT for 48,000, or less in Discovery Gardens and Silicon Oasis (but they're cheaper for good reasons).

However, let's assume sign the contract for a 1-bedroom for 48,000 AED.

At the time of the contract signing, you will also need to give the landlord a 5% deposit, and pay the agent another 5% (this is the agent's commission - in Dubai the tenant pays the commission, not the landlord).

Then you have to pay another 300 AED to connect your apartment to DEWA, in order to have access to water and electricity.

Monthly costs for a 1-bedroom is probably around 100 AED, BUT you also need to pay a 5% housing tax, which is divided by 12 and attached to your monthly bill. So the total monthly DEWA bill is now around 300 AED or 3,600 a year.

Then there's internet. Packages vary, but it will run you at least 150 AED a month.

Then you need to buy your furniture.

If you're only in Dubai for a year, I'd suggest going for a villa or flat share.

'thanks galore eternally' for the very useful advice on where to rent in dubai.

i have looked into rents in JLT and it appears that bedits go for around 30,000 to 40,000 per annum, and 1 bedroom flats start at 40,000. and the good thing is that the nearest metro station for work is nakheel, which is just two stops away.

so i'm definitely going for the cheaper option as i want to save as much as i can, and having lived in london for a long time, i'm used to not having much space.

i just wanted to mention as well that the other day i was just browsing for info on dubai and came across the area AL KARAMA, and that sounded like an interesting place to live as there is supposed to be a large community from oman and pakistan.

presumably rents are even lower there?, but of course it's a 40 mins journey on the metro into town. but then again, it's close to the airport.

Within Al Karama, I would only recommend the area along Za'abeel Road, and even there only the area which is a bit further away from the fish market. I have lived there for a couple of months and can tell you it's not paradise on earth. Karama is relatively low quality and pretty loud. There are better options out there, JLT is quite a good one if you want to use the metro for commuting.