Maintenance of apartment in Dubai: service charges and regular expenses

Consider content separately from purchase

Two flats at the same price may require different annual budgets: costs are affected by the building, the composition of infrastructure, service contracts, the area and the use scenario.

Make an annual table and separate the payments that arise only when you move in. Return deposit, current expense and reserve for future repairs solve different problems; they are useful to show in different lines.

How to check service charges

In the official Service Charge Index DLD, you can search for project and year information. You can compare the building you find with the apartment documents, you can specify the area and the composition of the accrual. One number per square foot is not enough if you don't know what services it includes.

Ask for the latest bill, current billing and debt information, and when you buy a finished apartment, agree on the accruals that apply to the seller and which are transferred to the buyer's period, and record the result in the transaction documents.

DLD / Mollak: Service Charge Index →

What to include in the regular budget

In addition to building maintenance, check the electricity and water, cooling, communications, insurance and maintenance of the apartment itself, specify the supplier and contractual cooling scheme: do not assume that it is already included in another payment.

If you live abroad, add the cost of apartment control, minor renovations, and the manager's job, and record the manager's authority and the expense limit that he can negotiate without your separate decision.

• Maintenance of common property according to building documents.
• Utilities and individual services under your contracts.
• Insurance and maintenance of apartment equipment.
• Management, inspections in the absence of the owner and repair reserve.

Compare the three use cases

For your own living, count your habitual consumption; for a second home, your maintenance during periods of absence; for renting out, separate the costs of the owner and the tenant under the contract; do not deduct from the yield payments that are already included in the other calculation.

Don't zero your annual expenses just because your apartment is empty. Check your mandatory accruals and make a full-year payment calendar.

What information to request before buying

The minimum package for comparison is the last annual service bill, debt information, supplier listings, and management conditions. If you don't have the data yet, leave the "unconfirmed" line instead of the conventional zero, which allows you to compare objects honestly and see what's missing for a solution.