Dubai service charges and the real cost of owning property: what you pay after the purchase price

Dubai is sold as a tax-free market, and that is true in one narrow sense: there is no annual property tax and no personal income tax on rent. It does not mean a flat costs nothing to hold. A yearly bill arrives from the building, the utilities, the manager and the insurer, and it is this bill, not the headline gross yield, that decides what you keep. This guide goes through the costs in the order you meet them, gives the ranges brokers and portals quote in October 2026, and ends with a worked example. Treat every number as a range to confirm for the specific building. Most of the figures come from broker and portal summaries, not from the Dubai Land Department itself.

The buying side (the 4% transfer fee, trustee office, agent) is in Dubai property prices and buying costs and is not repeated line by line here. For the one-off total, think of roughly 4.2% to 4.5% in government and trustee costs for a cash buyer, and 6% to 7% once an agent and the other extras are added, as brokers usually put it.

Service charges: the cost that decides your net yield

A service charge pays for the common parts of a building or community: lifts, security, pool and gym, landscaping, cleaning, insurance of the structure and the management company. It is charged per square foot of your unit per year and it is due whether the flat is let, empty or used by you.

Broker ranges for apartments in 2026:

• Citywide average: about AED 16 to 18 per sq ft a year. The spread is wide, from about AED 8 in basic towers to 40 or more in the most expensive branded buildings.
• Downtown Dubai: about AED 21 on average, with a typical range of AED 17 to 40 and above.
• Dubai Marina: AED 18 to 24 in the sought-after towers.
• Dubai Hills Estate: AED 14 to 20.
• Villas in communities such as Arabian Ranches: roughly AED 3.5 to 10 per sq ft, because the plot is large and the shared amenities are lighter.

For an 800 sq ft apartment, AED 16 per sq ft is AED 12,800 a year, or about EUR 3,100 at about AED 4.13 to the euro. Older sources and some brokers expect charges to keep rising in 2026, so use the latest approved figure, not last year's.

How to check a service charge before you buy

Service charges are not set freely. Every jointly owned building files an annual budget through the RERA service-charge platform, called Mollak. The budget must be audited and approved at the owners' association meeting, and the management company needs RERA approval before it can charge. The Dubai Land Department publishes a service charge index, so you can look up the approved rate per sq ft for a given building.

Before you reserve, ask the agent for three things in writing: the approved rate per sq ft for the current year, the rate for the last two years, and whether any special levy for repairs or a sinking fund is planned. A building whose charge jumped sharply, or whose accounts the seller cannot explain, is a warning. On a new off-plan project there is no history, and the developer's first-year figure is an estimate: ask what it is based on.

If you think the charge is too high, or if you do not pay it

The reported route for a dispute is: first a written request to the management company or owners' association for the itemised budget and the RERA approval reference, then a written complaint to it, and only after that a complaint to RERA, which sources put at about AED 500 and 30 to 60 days. Going to RERA without the first written step is reported to be a reason for rejection.

Not paying is the worse option. Under Dubai's jointly owned property law (Law No. 6 of 2019) the owner has to pay. Reported consequences are late penalties, suspended services, a withheld NOC (so you cannot sell or, in practice, let the unit), registration as a defaulter and, in the end, an auction of the unit after RERA approval. If you live abroad, make sure the bill goes to an address or an email you actually read.

Utilities, cooling and registration

• DEWA (electricity and water): a refundable deposit of AED 2,000 for an apartment or AED 4,000 for a villa plus a small activation fee, per portals. When a flat is empty between tenants, the owner usually pays the bills.
• District cooling: in many towers the air conditioning is billed separately by a provider such as Empower, at roughly AED 500 to 1,500 a month depending on size and season. Check whether it is in the service charge or billed on top, and who pays under the lease.
• Ejari (the tenancy registration that every rental contract needs): about AED 220 to 250 per registration. Without it a landlord has weak standing in a dispute.
• Internet, furnishing and the first set of repairs if you let it furnished are yours as well.

Management, letting and maintenance

If you live in Poland, you will almost certainly use a manager for a long let. Reported fees: 5% to 8% of annual rent, sometimes up to 10%. A tenant-finding fee of about one month's rent is common, with a renewal fee (AED 500 to 2,500 is quoted) and charges per inspection. Some firms add 10% to 20% on top of contractor invoices. Read the contract for what the percentage includes. For short lets the fee is far higher and the permit and rules are covered in Dubai short-term rental rules.

Between tenants there is vacancy. On a long let the manager typically does not charge during it, but the service charge and DEWA continue. A flat vacant for two weeks a year loses about 4% of its annual rent, one month about 8%.

Maintenance is lumpy: the air-conditioning unit, a water heater, repainting between tenants. A reserve of a few thousand dirhams a year for an apartment is a reasonable planning figure, more for a villa.

Insurance

Brokers quote AED 800 to 2,500 a year for building cover on an apartment, with a landlord add-on (liability, loss of rent) of roughly AED 500 to 1,500 more. A comprehensive investor policy starts around AED 1,500 and goes above AED 5,000 for a luxury unit. Many mortgage lenders require cover. The premium depends on the tower and its fire-system record.

What it adds up to: a worked example

This is our own arithmetic on stated assumptions, not a quote. Take a flat of 800 sq ft bought for AED 1,500,000 (about EUR 363,000) and let on a long lease for AED 90,000 a year, which is a 6% gross yield.

• Service charge at AED 16 per sq ft: AED 12,800
• Management at 5% of rent: AED 4,500
• Insurance: AED 1,500
• Maintenance reserve: AED 4,000
• Two weeks' vacancy: about AED 3,500
• Total: about AED 26,300 a year, or 1.75% of the price

The net income is about AED 63,700, a net yield of about 4.25% on the 6% gross. Brokers commonly put holding costs at 1.5% to 2.5% of the price a year, and the example sits inside that. The gap of 1.5 to 2 points between gross and net is the number to plan with. Use the yield and investment guide for market yields and try your own figures in the calculators. See also the true cost of ownership abroad.

Costs when you sell

On a sale the seller usually pays the agent, about 2% plus 5% VAT, and the developer or management NOC, reported at AED 500 to 5,000 plus VAT, and clears any mortgage: release fees of about AED 1,300 to 1,600 and, for early settlement, up to 1% of the balance with a cap of AED 10,000. Brokers add these up to roughly 2.2% to 2.5% of the price for a cash seller and 4% to 6% with an early-settled mortgage. Dubai has no capital gains tax for individuals (see capital gains tax on sale), but the money may be taxed in your home country. Repatriation costs and the exchange rate are extra: the dirham is pegged to the dollar at 3.6725, so what you carry is the dollar-to-zloty or dollar-to-euro rate.

Tax: what the UAE does not charge and what Poland still does

• UAE: no personal income tax, no property tax, no wealth tax. Rent received by an individual from UAE real estate is reported to fall outside corporate tax under Cabinet Decision No. 49 of 2023, unless it is run as a licensed business activity above the AED 1 million turnover test. Confirm with a UAE adviser.
• A company is different. If the flat is held through a UAE company, rent is part of its profit: 9% corporate tax above AED 375,000 and the company's own accounts and filings. Free zone companies get a 0% rate only if they meet strict conditions. For one or two flats a company usually adds cost and paperwork.
• Poland: a tax resident of Poland is taxed in Poland on income from all over the world, so rent from Dubai goes into the Polish return even though the UAE charged nothing. For private rent Polish portals describe a flat rate of 8.5% up to PLN 100,000 and 12.5% above. The Poland-UAE treaty (1993) was amended to give relief by crediting tax paid in the UAE, which is zero in this case, so the credit does not reduce the Polish tax. The details, forms and deadlines are in tax on foreign rental income for Polish residents; the money side is in sending money abroad for a property purchase. This is general information, not tax advice: confirm with a Polish adviser.

Keep the tenancy contract, Ejari certificate, the service-charge statements and the bank statements. They are the evidence for both sides.

Before you commit: five questions

• What is the RERA-approved service charge per sq ft this year, and what was it in the last two years?
• Is district cooling inside the charge or billed separately, and by whom?
• Who manages the unit, and what exactly does the percentage cover?
• What is the net yield after all of the above, in writing?
• If I sell in five years, what will it cost me to leave?

Our team can go through the numbers for a specific listing with you, but we are not tax or legal advisers: use a licensed lawyer and a tax adviser for the final decision. For the legal checks on the developer and the project see the Dubai developer verification checklist, and for the wider market see the UAE country page.