Palm Shoreline Apartment owners have no other alternative but to pay their unpaid service charges to Nakheel, the master developer, if they want access to the beach or use the gym and swimming pool.

In an email sent to Emirates 24|7, the Dubai Land Department said that Sultan Butti Bin Mijren, Director-General of the Land Department’s decision to allow Nakheel to prevent residents at the Shoreline Apartments on the Palm Jumeirah from using the beach if landlords don't pay the service charges was “final”.

He restated that Nakheel also has the right to move the court if property owners refuse to pay the accumulated service fees.

Nakheel Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah could not be reached for comment.

A resident, on conditions of anonymity, said the Interim Owners Association (IOA) of building no 1 and 2 had left a note outside each apartment on January 9 saying they were still in talks with Nakheel and no solution had been agreed upon yet. It also urged residents to share their names and their contact details so to make it easy for the IOA to reach them.

“They [IOA] have asked us to give them our comments on the service provided by Nakheel,” the resident said.

Lootah said on January 5 that owners of Shoreline Apartments had started paying their service charges and the company was collecting Dh500,000 per day.

“We are collecting half a million per day from apartment owners in service charges… we are only charging them the approved Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) fees, but not a single dirham for club membership.”

However, he did warn defaulters of “every possible action” under the law.

Lootah had told this website earlier that the company was working to make all of their communities safer for the residents and were planning to install cameras and issue access cards to the residents

The master developer of Palm Jumeirah has, however, postponed its decision to issue access cards for entrance to the residential towers and car parks on Shoreline apartments from January 15 to January 31, according to a notice posted in the buildings.