Dubai Marina tower residents locked out after new facial ID system?
A new face recognition access control system has been introduced to residents at Marina Crown’s tower by a facilities management company, and some users complain on various social media that they have been locked out of their apartments because the system stopped working.
A social media user who deleted his account later last week alleged that many residents were prevented from entering the block for over seven hours because tensions prevailed amongst renters, landlords and building management. On the other hand, other tenants noticed that there were many announcements directed to the tenants and the owners before the system was installed.
Roxana, who lives in one of her several apartment units, narrates, “A year back, cars were registered to the respective apartment units to make sure only one car was present, which could easily gain access to the parking lot as the card was not mandatory.” “At the same time, they also made an announcement about the face registration for the entrances which was planned for May but only happened in November in order to allow people to register their details and not too much time remained”, she added.
“A Canadian expat A.B. who puts up in the Marina Crown tower comments and says,” The disturbances are preferred by people who stay in the building without proper documents. People who are the owners or legal tenants with Ejari and rental contracts can register their faces. But people renting illegal partitions or renting out shared room beds without contracts are not able to register face scans,” he said.
The construction of the 51-storey Marina Crown tower took place in 2006 by Emaar properties which added luxury penthouses along with the apartments. The common areas of the building are owned by the Stratum Owners Association Management and voiced their silence in relation to this scenario.
Overcrowding issue
For over seven years, Roxana, one of the residents of the tower, has lived there and stated that it was caused by some owners and residents who are subletting their apartments to many people.
‘They built showers and constructed bathrooms without waterproofing them and draining, and illegal partitions to divide rooms, she said. “There are around ten people living in some apartments. One of the tenants is a landlord of forty flats, all rented out to several tenants. There are no smoke alarms in the rooms which is crucial because sprinklers, for example, can’t work without them. There are fears of something bad happening.
Because of illegal structures, she said, she has had problems. ‘A three-bedroom apartment next to mine has at least seven ribbed closed partitions between three bedrooms, and a decently large room. “The separation walls are damaged, because of which mine walls are now broken, " she added. “They have poor management and many other flats are usually inundated with water. There are instances when trucks come to the building to remove old furniture from the apartment, and the furniture is left scattered in the parking lot.
Cards cancelled
As Roxana revealed, all their access cards were revoked in June and this changed to facial recognition. ‘I welcome the move because it means I no longer have to carry an access card,’ she noted. ‘My face has unlocked any doors that I wanted to access in the building.’
But she also mentioned that the people living there illegally have found a way around that. ‘There were people who would wait by the door and would flash their ID and be brought in by registered users,’ she noted. ‘Eventually, the management started mapping faces to specific floors in the building the residents’ values.’
Another person that goes by A.B, echoed the sentiments of the building management in regards that plan. ‘I believe this is the best way to prevent inter apartment sharing,’ he stood by his point. ‘I think the other night I was back in the university dorm, this place had too many people. I hope it has put an end to illegal inter apartment sharing.’
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