Tenants must update Dewa on new rents to reduce fees

Tenants in Dubai must update new rental agreements with the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) showing new rental prices on their villas/ apartments in order to avail reduced housing fees charges, a Dubai Municipality (DM) official said.

Speaking to Emirates Business, Abdulla Abdulghafoor, Head of Housing and Marketing Fees, Dubai Municipality (DM), said in light of the recent drop in rental prices in Dubai, DM urged all Dubai residents to submit their updated rental contracts to Dewa which will enable a revised and reduced housing fee charges.

"The contracts will have to be updated immediately with Dewa. It will not be retro-effective. The tenant will have to go across the counter in Dewa and submit the papers," said Abdulghafoor. With respect to property owners, he said: "For property owners they must regularly check their SPAs with Dewa. Dewa will see the location of the property and check the corresponding rentals for that area and update the owner with the housing fees accordingly."

"Rental prices in many areas dipped almost 40 per cent to 50 per cent in the last one year. But the fees will be an on-going charge. The only thing is that tenants will have to bring the changed contracts quickly to Dewa to avail of the new housing fee charges. They must do that as soon as the rent is changed. The problem is that they delay going to Dewa for a month and they come back asking for new housing charges to be levied," he said.

Abdulghafoor clarified that DM will not back-date any housing fee charges. "We are not going to back-date any charge – the moment the rental contract is changed they have to go to Dewa in order to update it in their system."

On May 31, this newspaper reported that all occupants of residential units in Dubai would compulsorily have to pay housing fees from January 1, 2011, as the Dubai Municipality aims to bring in around 300,000 unit occupants who are evading the fees.

According to DM, all unit occupants in Dubai, whether villas/apartments in free zone or free hold areas, will be required to pay the housing fee charges.

Meanwhile, Abdulghafoor clarified that residents of Dubai are not being double-charged when they pay the housing fees and the master-community charges.

"Firstly, we want to clarify that the housing fee applies to all the residents in Dubai whether they are in gated communities or they are in free zone and all other locations in Dubai. Housing fees are charged for all the services that are provided by DM for the city of Dubai in general. This fees does not apply for master-community charges as that pertains to services that are provided within gated communities. What we are saying is that if this is a housing fee it is levied for a general service for the residents of Dubai regardless of where they are staying. While the master-community charges pertain to the fees for that particular area in Dubai, the housing fee charges are for the entire city of Dubai," he added.

The Dubai Municipality provides services to the entire city of Dubai and these are services for the benefit of all the residents of Dubai, said Abdulghafoor.

"Tenants have to pay both the housing fee charges and the master-community charges because this is something agreed between the freehold owners and the master-developer. DM is not part of that agreement."

According to Abdulghafoor, currently there are no plans to have talks with the master-developers with regards to the housing fee charges. "At the moment there is no such plan because that is not our mechanism for targeting all the residents. The way we are going to send the message out on the housing fee charges is through the Dewa bills. Every resident must register their accommodation details on the DM website."

With regards to how many people have started registering their accommodation details, Abdulghafoor said: "Because this is something new, awareness is happening and registrations are happening. Our application is online for anyone who has access to them before receiving housing applications.

"Some people have heard it in the media or have heard about it through friends and they are using the application to register their accommodation details. We are hoping this will pick up."

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