{
  "id": 9906863,
  "title": "UAE Property: ‘Are you paying too much in service charges for your apartment?’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/26/uae-property-are-you-paying-too-much-in-service-charges-for-your-9906863",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-26T04:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The National UAE",
    "slug": "the-national-uae",
    "url": "https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/money/2026/09/26/uae-property-are-you-paying-too-much-in-service-charges-for-your-apartment/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In this article, a reader named Emma L in Dubai asks for advice on whether her husband and her are paying fair service charges for their apartment. Service charges, Emma is informed, are crucial to consider when purchasing a property, especially those with extensive amenities like pools and landscaping. She's advised to review the owners' association's annual budget to understand exactly what they're paying for. Emma's concern is echoed by another reader, SM in Dubai, who is facing a situation where a developer is collecting provisional service charges before the building's Rera/Mollak registration is complete. The developer argues this is permissible under their sales and purchase agreements, but Emma questions the legality of these interim charges. The article explains that Dubai Law No 6 of 2019 requires a management entity to obtain approval from Rera before charging or collecting service charges. If the developer hasn't obtained the necessary temporary Rera approval, then there might be grounds to question the invoicing process. The article emphasizes that while developers may have a contractual right to recover service charges, this does not automatically override the statutory framework established by the 2019 Law, especially concerning approvals, accounting, and deposits into Rera-recognised service charge accounts.",
  "summary": "Question: My husband and I bought our apartment three years ago. One thing that worries us is that our service charges seem to increase almost every year. I completely understand that swimming pools, gyms, security and landscaping all cost money, but how can owners tell whether they are paying represents a fair amount? Is there a way of checking whether the charges are reasonable compared with…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The National Business",
        "title": "UAE Property: ‘Are you paying too much in service charges for your apartment?’",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/26/uae-property-are-you-paying-too-much-in-service-charges-for-your",
        "published": "2026-09-26T04:00:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}