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28 March 2024

Housing fee exemption likely for vacant freehold flats

Published
By Parag Deulgaonkar

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) connection is just what the Dubai Municipality needs to charge owners/tenants the housing fee, but the government entity may waive off the fees if the apartment has remained vacant or not been rented out. Requests can be made at the municipality office, which will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, Emirates 24|7 has learnt.

The housing fee is generally calculated as five per cent of the annual rent for a leased apartment, which is to be paid by the tenant in equal monthly installments included in the Dewa bills. An owner-resident is charged five per cent of the annual rent, calculated on the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) rental index basis, which the municipality says is regularly updated.

“If you have a Dewa connection, you are liable to pay housing fee whether you are located in a freehold or non-freehold area of Dubai. But in cases, where the house has remained vacant, we may look to waive off the fees,” Abdulla Hashim Abdulghafoor, Head of Housing and Marketing Fees, Dubai Municipality, told Emirates 24|7.

The proof to be furnished in such cases will be the Dewa bill itself.

Though residents in some projects across freehold communities such as Jumeirah Lake Towers, Downtown Dubai, Tecom, Discovery Gardens, Jumeirah Islands, etc, are still not being charged housing fees, the municipality is keen to cover the entire emirate as soon as possible.

“It is mostly the freehold communities that are still not getting the housing fees. We are working on integrating our system with Dewa and we hope to cover the entire Dubai will as early as possible,” Abdulghafoor revealed.

Dubai Municipality has been conveying the message to residents through Dewa bills and has urged people register their property details using their website.

“We have had more than 65,000 housing fee registration through our website,” Abdulghafoor disclosed.

Those who don’t self register will be penalised in a way that will be charged housing fee as per the Rera rent index - in most cases the tenants actually pay lesser rent than the index estimate.

Abdulghafoor emplasised that nationals were exempt from paying housing fees and that there are no plans to impose the fee on them.

In September 2011, Director-General of Dubai Municipality Hussain Nasser Lootah told this website that all property owners in freehold or non-freehold areas of Dubai will have to pay housing fees, which is charged for using the city’s infrastructure.

“We have to be clear the developers charge for the service they give to the residents but we charge them for using the city’s infrastructure. We inspect the food they eat, we inspect the air they breathe, we inspect the roads they use; we give them all these services. No one else gives them these services,” he had said.