How are Dubai service charges set, and where to check?
In a jointly owned building in Dubai, the service charge budget is approved by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) after an audit by an auditing office RERA has approved, according to Dubai Land Department's FAQ (read 12 October 2026). The approved charge for a project can be looked up in DLD's Service Charge Index, on its website or in the Dubai REST app.
DLD is the Dubai Land Department; RERA is its Real Estate Regulatory Agency. Mollak is DLD's system for jointly owned property.
What is a service charge?
DLD's FAQ defines the service charge as the annual charges approved by RERA and collected from unit owners to cover managing, operating, maintaining and repairing the jointly owned property (FAQ read 12 October 2026). It says the charge is subject to control and audit.
The FAQ defines a separate usage charge: annual charges approved by RERA and collected from owners for the common facilities of the wider master project.
What does it cover?
The FAQ lists these items, read 12 October 2026:
- services such as security and internal and external cleaning;
- maintenance contracts;
- utility consumption bills: electricity, water and air conditioning;
- administrative fees and insurance;
- master community charges (usage charges);
- a reserve, collected each year for emergencies and major repairs.
The FAQ says charges differ from one project to another, with the services in the building, the size of the common areas and the number of units.
Who approves the charge?
The FAQ says the budget for service or usage charges is approved by RERA after an audit by a certified auditing office that RERA approves (FAQ read 12 October 2026). It says management may not claim service charges before RERA's approval, and that legal measures are taken where owners are asked to pay unapproved charges.
DLD's e-services also list the jointly owned property management companies registered with DLD. The FAQ describes the management company as licensed and approved by RERA to manage the shared parts of a project.
How is my share worked out?
The FAQ says an owner's share follows the area in the unit's title deed: the total cost is divided among all the owners in the project by the area each owns (FAQ read 12 October 2026). It says an owner can also take the rate approved by RERA from DLD's Service Charge Index and multiply it by the unit's area.
How do I look up a project?
DLD's Service Charge Index page says the service shows the service fees approved by RERA for jointly owned properties (page read 12 October 2026). Its channels are the DLD website, the Mollak system and the Dubai REST app.
The FAQ gives the website route: e-services, Service Charge Index, start the service, enter the master project, project, usage and fiscal year, then Calculate.
The index form, read with a plain download on 12 October 2026, offers three ways in:
- by project, usage and year;
- by certificate number, certificate year, property type and budget year;
- by selecting an area on a map.
Its result labels include the project, usage, year, start date, end date and the company the project is managed by. The form notes that the service charge does not include arrears. Keyva did not run a calculation, so no result is described here.
Is the full budget published?
The pages read on 12 October 2026 describe the approved rate in the index. None of them says that a project's full audited budget is published for owners to download, so that is not claimed here.
How are service charges paid?
DLD's FAQ says owners pay into accounts approved by RERA, after an email or text message from the Mollak system (FAQ read 12 October 2026). It describes two options:
- a transfer to the project's regulatory bank account printed on the invoice, then the payment slip sent to the management company;
- payment through Noqodi, by wallet, card or net banking.
DLD's page about the Dubai REST app says owners can see their property's service charges there and pay them through the app.
Where can owners raise a problem?
For complaints about poor services or maintenance, the FAQ says unit owners can file through the Real Estate Violations System (RVS) in the Dubai REST app (FAQ read 12 October 2026). Tenants whose services are cut off are directed to the Rental Disputes Center.
The FAQ says an owners committee is formed once at least 10% of a project's units are registered in the names of their owners (FAQ read 12 October 2026). Its members must live in the building and pay their service and usage charges, among other conditions. DLD's owners association registration page adds a certificate of good conduct from Dubai Police addressed to RERA.
Keyva's own pages
Keyva's area pages start their yield section from the typical owners' association budget recorded for the area's projects, and label it as the area's typical budget, not any one building's. For one project's approved rate, the Service Charge Index above is DLD's own lookup.
Keyva is independent and is not part of, or endorsed by, the Dubai Land Department.
Prepared 12 October 2026 from pages read that day.