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Developers in Dubai can no longer collect any service charges on behalf of property owners, according to the Common Properties Law No. 6 of 2019, which came into effect on November 19. Instead, property owners, or approved property management companies who act of their behalf, will take up such collection activities.
Developers now only have a month left to start invoicing all service charges on ready properties through the Mollak electronic service fee payment system operated by Dubai Land Department (DLD) and the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA).
So far, the platform has registered 231,277 real estate units, 1,240 properties, and 89 real estate companies and is expected to record AED 4 billion towards service fees. “At present, the total amount of service fees audited in the system exceed AED 1.3 billion,” according to DLD.
As of now, 10 financial auditors have been approved to handle the books operated by property management companies and 10 banks have been approved by the RERA for depositing the funds collected as service charges.
Marwan Bin Ghalita, CEO of RERA, said, “From now on, homeowners get to see the breakup of each fil they have paid for the upkeep of their building’s common areas and they will not have to pay for any hike in service charges unless it has been vetted by RERA or its approved financial auditor. We believe the increased transparency of an electronic system and the audits will bring service charges in Dubai down.”
Mollak, which has been designed to be more fair and transparent, comprises an online automation process that requires the developer and the joint ownership property management, through its manager, to provide accurate information regarding the services provided in joint ownership properties so that the RERA can approve the service fees.
The system also assists joint ownership property owners and ascertains smooth and easy operations with property managers as well as provides a new and integrated structure to monitor accounts related to service charges in these projects by relying on the financial accounts that operate as per the mechanism of the escrow account, DLD said.
Cavendish Maxwell is the MENA region’s leading firm of property consultants and chartered surveyors. If you are looking for professional real estate consultation or advice on property related matters, please view our services.
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Content and Communications Manager
Siddhi Sainani is a business and finance writer and a public relations professional with experience across markets in the UAE, Oman, India and the United States.
At Cavendish Maxwell, Siddhi is responsible for crafting research and marketing communications material for the firm’s various stakeholders including clients and government entities. She also leads the public relations activities for the firm, focusing on media outreach, reputation management and spokesperson profiling.
In her previous roles, Siddhi has reported on the financial markets for news outlets, developed institutional research for several institutions, and undertaken corporate communications initiatives for leading firms across sectors such as real estate, finance, banking, audit and advisory, and technology, among others.
Siddhi has a Bachelor of Mass Media degree with a specialisation in journalism and also holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Integrated Communications covering advertising, marketing and public relations from Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai, India.
Sarah-Jane Carter
BA (Hons) DipM
Head of Marketing
Sarah-Jane joined Cavendish Maxwell in January 2020 as Head of Marketing and is responsible for the development of the marketing strategy and execution across the Middle East region. An energetic and results driven marketer, Sarah-Jane possesses a wealth of multi-channel marketing experience, within both B2B and B2C environments which she has gained over a 25 year career. Prior to joining Cavendish Maxwell, Sarah-Jane held senior marketing positions for major developers in Dubai including Emaar, Dubai Properties and Dubai Sports City. She also worked for IWG as the Regional Marketing Director responsible for the MEA and APAC regions. Before relocating to the UAE in 2005, Sarah-Jane held various management roles in public and private sector companies in the UK including ten years at Royal Mail and seven years at the Bank of America.
Sarah-Jane is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has a BA(Hons) Degree in Business and Marketing