Dubai Municipality has clarified that multiple families are allowed only in villas designed for that purpose and that are duly licensed by the municipality in specified areas.

Omar AbdurRahman, head of Building Inspection Section at Dubai Municipality, said this was not a revision of the previous policy and does not contradict any statements issued by the municipality before.

'There are various types of villas licensed in Dubai. Most of them are meant for use by just one family.'

'However, in some areas (for example, but not limited to, Mirdif and Al Barsha) there are multiple villas in a single compound that are designed for varying number of families with enough partition and segregation licensed by the municipality. Only in such cases, we will allow more than one family,' he pointed out.

He noted that all buildings in Dubai are being licensed taking into consideration the existing service infrastructure including water, electricity, roads and parking.

'To use those buildings in contravention of the rules will add pressure on the entire infrastructure resulting in breakdown of some services,' he added.

AbdurRahman said that overcrowding would also pose serious threats to the residents' safety and security and the municipality is keen on preventing any untoward incident such as fire mishaps.-TradeArabia News Service