Dubai property owners to pay service fee before renewal

Dubai Property owners who did not pay their service charge dues cannot get their ‘Ejari’ rental contracts renewed, as the first verdicts get delivered by Rental Disputes Centre. This comes as more cases pile up before RDC on unpaid service fees, with multiple instances of non-payment over several years.

The property cannot be leased without an Ejari certificate and by extension, it cannot have access to electricity and water connections.

The RDC verdicts do not stipulate a seizure of the property if the dues remain unpaid. But by not being able to get their rental contracts renewed, the authorities expect to pile on enough pressure to get the property owners to pay up… at the earliest.

A property owner in Dubai commented: “These are the first judgements passed by RDC after they started taking on service charge related disputes. Based on what’s been passed, the authorities are taking a lenient approach by giving some time for owners to clear their dues.”