Short answer. Under Dubai Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly-owned real property, the service charge for every jointly-owned building is prepared by the property management company, reviewed by a RERA-certified auditor, approved by RERA, and collected from owners through the Mollak system. You can verify what you should be paying by using the DLD Service Charge Index (rate per sq.ft × unit area from your title deed). Management companies cannot legally charge owners for anything RERA hasn't approved.

What service charges pay for

  • Security and access control.
  • Common-area cleaning, landscaping and pest control.
  • Common-area utilities (lifts, corridor lighting, pool, gym).
  • Insurance of the common property.
  • Sinking fund contribution (long-term replacement of major systems).
  • Management company fee.

The Mollak system — what it actually does

Mollak is DLD's mandatory system for the escrow-based collection of jointly-owned property fees. Every owner receives an invoice through Mollak, pays through Mollak (bank transfer or online payment) and the funds sit in a dedicated building account — not the management company's operating account. Withdrawals from the building account are for approved budget items only. This closes a loophole where, in the past, some management companies commingled owner money with their own funds.

How the service charge is calculated

  1. The management company drafts an annual budget for each building (services, utilities, insurance, reserves, management fee).
  2. A RERA-certified auditor reviews the budget.
  3. The budget is submitted to RERA for approval.
  4. The approved budget is divided across all units by the service charge per sq.ft rate. Each owner's invoice is that rate multiplied by the area on their title deed.
  5. Payments are collected on Mollak and held in the dedicated building account.

Because the budget is public and audited, service charges are far more predictable in Dubai than in many other markets.

How to verify your charge

  1. Look up your building on the DLD Service Charge Index. It shows the RERA-approved rate per sq.ft for the current year.
  2. Take the area from your title deed and multiply by the rate. That's what you should be paying.
  3. Log into Mollak and check your invoice matches.

Why service charges matter for investors

Service charges are the biggest single running cost of owning a Dubai apartment or villa. Always subtract them from your gross rental income to calculate net yield:

Net yield = (Annual rent − service charges − insurance − minor maintenance) / (Purchase price + one-off fees)

A 7% gross yield in a building that charges AED 25/sq.ft becomes a very different number after costs than a 7% yield in a building that charges AED 12/sq.ft.

Reserves and sinking funds

Part of every service charge feeds a reserve fund for future major works — chiller replacement, waterproofing, façade cleaning, lift refurbishment. A building with a healthy reserve fund is much less likely to hit owners with a special assessment later.

Red flags before buying

  • Buildings with historic service-charge arrears or unresolved auditor findings.
  • Newly handed over buildings without a Mollak account yet in place.
  • Big gap between the "developer forecast" service charge at launch and the actual RERA-approved charge once the building is live.

How Eylül Estate handles it

Before we introduce a listing we pull the DLD Service Charge Index history for the building, ask the seller for the last two Mollak statements, and use them in the yield calculation we share with clients. No surprises after handover.

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