Dubai Service Charges Explained: Who Sets Them and What If You Do Not Pay

Published 15 October 2026 · satisofisi.com Editorial Desk

Service charges in Dubai are the yearly costs every flat owner pays towards running the building: management, cleaning, security, maintenance, repairs and insurance. Your share depends on the floor area of your flat as a proportion of the building's total, and no charge can be collected until the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) has approved it. You cannot refuse to pay. Unpaid charges become a lien on the flat, and ultimately the flat can be sold at auction to clear the debt.

This guide covers what UK buyers usually want to know about Dubai service charges: how much, whether you have to pay, and what happens after 99 years. On 15 October 2026 we checked the rules against Dubai Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly owned property, Law No. 7 of 2006 on property registration and the Dubai Land Department's own pages.

What do service charges pay for?

The law defines service charges as the annual charges collected from owners to cover the management, operation, maintenance and repair of a jointly owned building. If you have owned a leasehold flat in England, the idea will be familiar. What differs is how tightly the law limits what the money can be spent on.

The law sets out exactly what the money can be spent on, and nothing else:

• cleaning of the common parts;
• security and safety in the building;
• operating, maintaining, repairing and improving the common parts and their fittings;
• buildings insurance;
• auditing the service charge accounts;
• the fees of the management company, at the level RERA sets;
• a reserve for emergencies and for replacing equipment, held in a separate account that cannot be touched without RERA's approval except in a critical emergency;
• RERA's own inspection fees, and other costs approved under the master community declaration (the rulebook for the wider development).

On a large development there is often a second charge. The master developer, the company behind the whole estate, can also collect usage charges for shared facilities across the wider community, and these apply to finished buildings, buildings under construction and vacant land. Ask for both figures before you buy.

How is your share worked out?

Your share of the annual budget is based on the area of your flat compared with the total area of the building. The law says the area used is the one recorded in the Real Property Register, not the figure in a brochure. The owner of a larger flat pays proportionally more, whatever it cost.

The developer pays the share for every flat it has not sold. It also pays for flats it has sold if the sale contract or reservation agreement says it will cover the service charges on the buyer's behalf. If you are buying off-plan and a developer offers to pay your service charges for a period, make sure that promise is written into the contract.

Who sets the amount, and where can you check it?

A management company cannot charge owners anything for running the building without RERA's prior approval. RERA, in turn, cannot approve a service charge budget until an audit firm recognised by RERA has signed it off. In the meantime, RERA can approve a temporary budget. So the figure you are asked to pay should match an approved budget.

You can check it yourself. The Land Department's Service Charge Index shows the service charges RERA has approved for jointly owned buildings. You log in on the Land Department's website or app, then choose the project, the usage type and the year, and the approved figures appear. Look up the building before you make an offer, and compare the figure with the one the seller or agent has given you.

Once at least 10% of the flats are registered in owners' names, RERA forms an owners' committee of up to nine members. Members must live in the building and be up to date with their charges, and the committee reviews the annual maintenance budget. If you won't be living in Dubai, you can't sit on it, but you can still raise concerns through it.

Can you refuse to pay, or hold back payment over poor maintenance?

No. The law says an owner cannot refuse to pay service charges approved by RERA, nor give up their share of the common parts to get out of paying them. Withholding payment because the lifts are slow or the pool is closed puts you in breach, even if the complaint is fair.

Instead, the law gives you other remedies. The developer or management company cannot keep you out of your flat, or bar you from the common parts, as a way of making you pay; it has to go through the proper legal process. If the common parts are not properly maintained, RERA can order the work with a deadline and, if it is not done, appoint someone else and charge the cost to the service charge account. Disputes under the law go to Dubai's Rental Disputes Settlement Centre, which, despite its name, has exclusive jurisdiction over them.

What happens if you fall behind?

The management company has a lien on every flat for unpaid service charges, and a flat cannot be sold until those charges are paid. If you fall behind, you first receive a RERA-approved written notice and have 30 days to pay. After that, the claim can be enforced by the execution (enforcement) judge at the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre.

Where necessary, the execution judge can order the flat to be sold at public auction to recover the charges. For an owner living in the UK, the real risk is simply missing the letters. Give the management company an email address you check, and set up payment so it doesn't rely on you being in Dubai. If you let the flat, the charges stay with you unless the lease passes them to the tenant; letting rules are covered in Letting your Dubai flat from the UK.

The lien also protects you as a buyer. Because a flat with unpaid charges cannot be transferred, the seller has to clear them before completion. Ask for written confirmation from the management company that the account is clear, and make sure you don't end up paying the seller's arrears, either directly or built into the price.

Who looks after the money you pay?

The management company must open a separate account for each building with a bank licensed to operate in Dubai and recognised by RERA, and pay in what it collects within seven working days. Money in that account cannot be seized by the company's creditors. RERA audits the account, and the company reports to RERA every six months.

This won't keep the charges low or the building well run, but the money is ring-fenced, and a regulator has the power to step in.

Are building defects paid from service charges?

Not in the early years. The developer is liable for ten years from the completion certificate to put right defects in the structural parts of the building. For one year from handover of your flat, it must repair or replace faulty installations, such as the mechanical and electrical systems, plumbing and drainage.

If you buy into a new building and a structural problem appears, ask whether the cost should fall on the developer rather than on the owners through the service charge. Keep a note of the completion certificate date and your handover date, because those dates start the clock.

Does your flat have a 99-year limit?

That depends on what you own. In areas designated by the Ruler of Dubai, the registration law lets foreign buyers hold either freehold ownership with no time limit, or a usufruct or leasehold right of up to 99 years. A freehold flat does not end after 99 years; only leasehold and usufruct rights are capped.

A usufruct is the right to use a property and take its income without owning it outright. Check which right is on the title deed before you buy, because the document, not the sales brochure, decides it. Holders of a leasehold or usufruct right are still treated as owners for service charge purposes, so they pay the same way. Where you can buy as a foreigner, and what the deed should say, are covered in our checklist for buying a Dubai flat from the UK.

What should you ask before you buy?

Many service charge surprises can be avoided by asking the right questions before completion. These are worth putting in writing to the seller, the developer or the management company before you commit, and every answer can be checked against the official sources above.

• What is the RERA-approved service charge for this building this year, and does it match the Service Charge Index?
• Is there also a master community usage charge, and how much is it?
• What floor area is recorded for the flat in the register?
• Are there any unpaid charges on the flat, and will the seller clear them before transfer?
• For a new building: when was the completion certificate issued, and when is handover?
• For an off-plan flat: does the developer pay the charges for any period, and is that written into the contract?
• Is the title freehold, or a leasehold or usufruct right with a fixed term?

Frequently asked questions

How much are service charges in Dubai?

There is no single rate. Each building has its own RERA-approved budget, and your share depends on the registered area of your flat. The Land Department's Service Charge Index shows the approved figures by project and year.

Do I pay service charges on an off-plan flat before it is finished?

The developer pays the share for unsold flats, and for sold flats where the sale contract or reservation agreement says it will; check yours for the date from which you pay. A master developer's usage charges can apply to buildings under construction.

Can the management company cut off my access if I do not pay?

No. It can't keep you out of your flat or the common parts to make you pay. It has to serve a notice and go through the execution judge.

Who do I complain to if the building is badly managed?

Raise it with the owners' committee once one exists, and with RERA, which can order repairs and replace a management company. Disputes go to the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre.

Does a freehold flat in Dubai expire after 99 years?

No. Freehold ownership for foreigners has no time limit; the 99-year cap applies to leasehold and usufruct rights.

Sources

We checked the rules against the official texts below on 15 October 2026. English versions of Dubai legislation are unofficial translations; the Arabic text prevails.

• Dubai Law No. 6 of 2019 concerning ownership of jointly owned real property: Dubai Legislation Portal, Articles 2, 22 to 30, 32 to 35, 40 and 42.
• Dubai Law No. 7 of 2006 concerning real property registration: Dubai Legislation Portal, Article 4.
• Dubai Land Department: Service Charge Index, page last updated 7 October 2026.

Service charges are a running cost for as long as you own the flat, so build them into your sums alongside the purchase fees. The 4% Land Department fee, Oqood (the off-plan sale register) and escrow are explained in our guide to Dubai off-plan payment plans, and the costs of buying in Dubai, North Cyprus and Greece are compared in North Cyprus, Dubai or Greece. To see which buildings are under way, browse new residential projects in Dubai, then look each one up in the Service Charge Index once it is completed.