If you live in the world’s tallest building, there is one thing you almost certainly cannot do without – access to the elevator.

But for the residents of the 160-storey Burj Khalifa in Dubai that has become a very real possibility.

They have been threatened with having to haul themselves up as many as 2,900 stairs after the developers warned it might cut off the lifts in a dispute over unpaid fees.

Emaar Properties, which runs the 2,722ft tower, says some residents have failed to pay their service charges – which can be as high as $25,000 (£15,000) a year – since 2012.

It has not yet unplugged the air conditioning or the elevators, but has threatened to do so, according to CNN.

The Burj Khalifa contains nearly 1,000 apartments from floors 12 to 108.

One-bedroom flats fetch around $55,000 (£33,000) in rent a year, while service charges can add a further $25,000 (£15,000) to the total.

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