Mollak: how your service charge is approved before you are billed.
Dubai runs service charges for jointly owned property through a single regulated system. Knowing the sequence tells you what your invoice should stand on, and what to ask for when it does not.
Mollak is RERA's platform for service charges in jointly owned property, operating under Law No. 6 of 2019. A management entity cannot impose or collect a service charge until the budget behind it has been approved. Money collected goes into a dedicated account for your building at a Dubai-licensed bank within seven working days, and your approved rate, invoices and payment record sit against your unit in the Dubai REST app.
In short
No approved budget, no lawful invoice. Approval comes before collection.
Your money sits in an account tied to your building, separate from the managing agent's own funds.
Tenders are required as part of the approval submission, with no fewer than three.
Your approved rate, invoices and payments are visible against your unit in Dubai REST.
The sequence
Most owners meet Mollak as a line on an invoice and assume it is the name of a fee. It is the name of the process that produced the fee, and the order of that process is where an owner's footing comes from.
| Stage | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Budget prepared | The management entity costs the period ahead by category, with tender proposals and an evaluation forming part of the submission. No fewer than three per service provider. |
| Approval | The budget goes through Mollak for approval. Until it is approved, no service charge can be imposed or collected. |
| Account opened | A service charge account for the property, at a bank licensed in Dubai and recognised by RERA, separate from the agent's own money. |
| Invoices issued | Owners receive approved invoices against their unit, most often quarterly. |
| Funds deposited | Collections reach the building's account within seven working days. |
| Spending and audit | Expenditure runs against the approved lines only, and the accounts are audited. |
Law No. 6 of 2019 concerning the ownership of jointly owned real property in the Emirate of Dubai, Articles 27 and 30, together with the Land Department's published requirements for approval of service and usage charges. Read 18 September 2026.
What this gives you
A number you can trace.
Every charge should map to a line in an approved budget. That is a higher standard than most owners apply to their own invoice, and it is the basis of any challenge. If a managing agent cannot point at the line a charge came from, the gap is theirs to explain.
Money that cannot quietly move.
The separate account and the seven-day deposit rule exist so that service charge funds are not working capital for a management company. It matters most when an agent is replaced, because the building's money stays with the building.
Evidence that the work was priced.
Requiring tenders as part of the submission is a procurement rule with teeth. It does not guarantee the cheapest contractor was chosen, and it does mean somebody had to compare.
Reserves that belong to the building.
Buildings put money aside for lift replacement, facade work and the other costs that arrive once a decade. Those reserves sit inside the approved budget rather than at the agent's discretion, and a thin one on an ageing building tends to arrive later as a special levy.
Reading your own
Open Dubai REST and find your unit. The approved rate per square foot is what your charge is calculated from, and your invoice and payment history sit alongside it. Where a figure quoted to you by an agent or a broker differs from what Mollak shows, Mollak is the record to work from.
Pay through the bank account printed on the invoice, or through Noqodi. It is tempting to settle a chased balance whichever way is quickest, and the reason not to is that a disputed charge is argued from records. An owner with dated invoices and matching bank transfers is in a different position from one without.
If the figure looks wrong, the route is set out in our guide to disputing a service charge, and the grounds that carry weight are narrower than most owners expect. For what the rate should look like in the first place, the per square foot ranges by building type are the better starting point.
Describes the Mollak framework under Law No. 6 of 2019 concerning the ownership of jointly owned real property in the Emirate of Dubai, and the Land Department's published approval requirements, read 18 September 2026. Procedures change, and some communities now operate on fixed multi-year service fees rather than annual budgets. Your own Mollak record in Dubai REST is the authoritative source for your unit. General information for property owners, not legal advice.
Questions
- What is Mollak?
- Mollak is the system RERA uses to regulate service charges in jointly owned property. The name is the Arabic word for owners. Buildings and communities with shared areas run their service charge accounts through it, which means the budget your managing agent works to has been through the regulator before an invoice reaches you.
- Who can invoice me for service charges in Dubai?
- The management entity for your building, and only once the budget has been approved. An invoice raised against an unapproved budget has no standing. If you receive a demand and cannot match it to an approved budget, that is the first thing to ask about, because the approval is what makes the charge due.
- Where does my service charge money go?
- Into a dedicated account for your building, held at a bank licensed in Dubai and recognised by RERA, rather than the managing agent's own operating account. Money collected has to reach that account within seven working days. The separation is the point: the funds sit against your building instead of mixing with a company's cash.
- How do I check my service charge in Mollak?
- Through the Dubai REST app, against your own unit, where you can see the approved rate, your invoices and your payment record. If a broker or an agent quotes you a rate that does not match what Mollak shows, the Mollak figure is the one that counts.
- Can my managing agent spend service charge money on anything they like?
- No. Spending has to fall inside the approved budget, and the categories are defined: cleaning, security, maintenance and repair, insurance, audit fees, the management fee itself, administration, and reserves for major or emergency work. Anything outside those lines needs its own approval.
- How often do Mollak invoices arrive?
- Quarterly is the common pattern, though it varies by building. Payment goes to the bank account printed on the invoice or through the Noqodi platform. Paying the managing agent by some other route is worth avoiding, because the audit trail is what protects you if a charge is later disputed.
- Is the budget always set a year at a time?
- Usually, and no longer always. Annual budgets remain the norm, but the Land Department has introduced fixed multi-year service fees for some communities, starting with Palm Jumeirah in 2025. If your community is on one of those, the figure is set for a longer horizon and your planning changes accordingly.
- Does Mollak mean my service charge is fair?
- It means the charge is approved, documented and auditable. Those are not the same as cheap. A budget can clear every procedural hurdle and still come in above the building next door, which is a question about how the building is run rather than whether the process was followed.
Mulki tracks every service charge against the unit it belongs to, and tells you when one moves.
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