Housing fee to cover all of Dubai

All expat tenants are now charged five per cent of the rent of their housing units and owners of freehold residential properties are charged five per cent of the rental value of their property. All expat occupants of rented and freehold residential properties in Dubai are now being charged housing fees, with the system of levying civic charges through utility bills covering all areas in the emirate from 2014 end. Khaleej Times reported that this is as per the rental index of their areas issued by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera). It has been four years since the Dubai Municipality started collecting housing fee for all general civic services it is providing through utility bills from the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa). “We have covered all residential areas in Dubai now. It was done by the end of 2014,” the head of marketing and housing fees unit in DM’s Finance Department, Abdulla Hashim AbdulGhafoor said. “But still a few accounts here and there are not reflecting in the system. So every month Dewa is checking the system and including the units that are missed,” he said, estimating a billing error of one or two in every 1,000 housing units billed.