Service charges in Dubai: per square foot rates by building, 2026.
The service charge is the least discussed number in Dubai property and the one that does most to decide your net return. How the per-square-foot rate is set under Law 6 of 2019, how to find your own building's figure in Mollak, and what to do when it looks too high.
A Dubai service charge is a yearly fee per square foot, set against a building budget that RERA approves and billed only through Mollak, the Dubai Land Department system where every approved rate is recorded. Villa communities tend to charge AED 3 to 10 per square foot, mid-rise apartments AED 10 to 18, full-service towers AED 18 to 30 or more, and branded residences AED 30 to 60 or more. The rate belongs to the building, so two neighbours can pay very different amounts. Your own figure is public: look it up before you read the ranges below.
The ranges, at a glance
| Building class | AED / sq ft / year |
|---|---|
| Townhouse & villa communities | 3 to 10 |
| Mid-rise apartment communities | 10 to 18 |
| High-service towers | 18 to 30+ |
| Branded residences | 30 to 60+ |
Bands read from the per-building Mollak rates in our service charge dataset, the same source the calculator searches, reviewed June 2026. Use them as a sense check. The charge is set per building, so search yours by name for the figure that applies to you.
In short
Service charges are set per square foot for each building, approved by RERA, and invoiced only through Mollak. Yours is listed in the Dubai REST app.
Typical rates run from AED 3 to 10 per square foot in villa communities to AED 18 to 30 or more in full-service towers, and AED 30 to 60 or more in branded residences.
In the worked example below (900 sq ft, AED 1.4M), a difference of AED 10 per square foot costs AED 9,000 a year and takes the net yield from 5.6% to 4.9%. On a smaller unit the effect is larger.
Unpaid charges block the developer NOC, and without an NOC you cannot sell. Raise disputes through the owners' association and RERA while you keep paying.
The idea
Take two one-beds in Dubai Marina, the same size and the same rent, a street apart. Building A charges AED 14 per square foot and Building B charges AED 24. On 900 square feet that is AED 12,600 a year against AED 21,600, so the owner in Building B pays AED 9,000 more every year they hold. Neither figure is a guess. Each is set for that building, approved by RERA, and recorded in Mollak against the unit. Most buyers never open it before they sign.
Check yours in two minutes
Open Dubai REST and find your unit.
The DLD's Dubai REST app lists your property against your Emirates ID. Under the unit there is a Mollak service charge section showing the approved rate per square foot, the current invoices and your payment history.
Read the rate, not just the invoice.
The invoice is this period's bill. The rate, in dirhams per square foot per year, is the figure to compare with other buildings and the one to put in your yield calculation. Check whether cooling is included in it or billed separately; in district-cooled towers it usually is not.
Multiply, then put it in the yield.
Rate multiplied by your unit's square footage gives the annual charge. A 780 sq ft unit at AED 16.50 pays AED 12,870 a year. Enter that in the yield calculator and see what it does to the net figure. That is what your building's level of service costs you.
Where the rate comes from
The rate is the approved budget for the building divided across its total square footage, which is why it is a building-level number rather than anything to do with your own unit beyond its size. The approval that budget has to clear, where the money is held afterwards and what your invoice should let you check are set out in our guide to Mollak.
General fund and reserve fund.
The general fund runs the building this year: security, cleaning, cooling, lifts, insurance and so on. The reserve fund is saved up for the expensive years ahead, when the façade, the lifts and the chiller plant all need replacing at around the same time. A charge that looks unusually low often means the reserve fund is empty and a special levy is coming.
Two buildings, two rates, same street.
Service level drives most of the gap. A tower with a concierge, a gym, a pool deck and district cooling infrastructure carries costs that a plainer building down the road does not. Neither rate is wrong. What matters is whether you are getting the service you are paying for.
What it does to yield
| Line | Building A (AED 14) | Building B (AED 24) |
|---|---|---|
| Annual rent | 95,000 | 95,000 |
| Service charges | −12,600 | −21,600 |
| Maintenance & insurance | −4,500 | −4,500 |
| Net income | 77,900 | 68,900 |
| Net yield | 5.6% | 4.9% |
An illustration in round figures. Maintenance and insurance are held at AED 4,500 a year in both columns, so the only thing that changes is the Mollak rate. Put your own building's published rate in to see your net figure.
The owner in Building B gives up AED 9,000 a year. Over eight years that is AED 72,000, roughly the cost of a new kitchen, or two years of school fees, paid for a level of service the cheaper building provides perfectly well. The rate is also priced in a second time when you come to sell, because buyers now run the same sum before they make an offer. That is why the Mollak rate belongs in every purchase decision and every sell-or-hold review, and why net yield rather than gross is the figure worth tracking. Put your building’s rate into the yield calculator and see where your net lands.
What the budget pays for
Law No. 6 of 2019 entitles you to the audited budget behind your building’s Mollak rate. Ask for it and the same shape tends to appear, at least across the budgets in our dataset. A quarter to a third goes on the air conditioning plant and utilities for the common areas, about a fifth on security and cleaning contracts, and a tenth on the building manager’s own fee. Insurance, lift maintenance, the pool and gym, and pest control make up the rest. On top of that sits the reserve fund contribution, usually 10 to 20% of the budget, which pays for the capital works of the next decade. These are the proportions a typical audited budget settles into, not a formula, so read your own building’s statement for its exact split.
The reserve fund line deserves more attention than it usually gets. A building that charges very little is often not putting anything aside, which feels fine until year twelve brings a special levy of AED 30,000 per unit for new lifts. When you compare two buildings’ rates, compare their reserve funds as well. The audited financials show both, and under Law No. 6 of 2019 the accounts have to be independently audited and made available to owners, so you only need to ask.
When the number looks wrong
Ask for the audited financials.
Law No. 6 of 2019 gives you the right to them. Comparing the approved budget with what was spent is where padding shows up, and it is the main job of a competent owners' committee.
Compare with similar buildings.
A rate 30% above towers of the same age and specification needs an explanation. Sometimes there is a fair one, such as a higher level of service or a reserve fund catching up after years of underfunding. Sometimes it is padding that nobody has questioned. The audited budget will tell you which.
Go to RERA if you need to, but keep paying.
Irregularities are raised with RERA through the owners' association. Withholding payment only adds penalties against your own title and stops you selling. Make the argument on paper, not by ignoring the invoice.
General information, not legal advice. Governed by Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly owned property and administered through RERA and Mollak, the Dubai Land Department system, at dubailand.gov.ae. Rates and budget composition read from building-level Mollak data. Reviewed June 2026.
Questions
- How are service charges calculated in Dubai?
- Per square foot of your unit, against a yearly building budget that RERA has approved. The owners' association or its management company proposes the budget, RERA reviews it, and the approved rate is invoiced through Mollak, usually in two instalments a year. The general fund pays for running the building; the reserve fund is set aside for major works later on.
- What is a normal service charge per square foot?
- In 2026, townhouse and villa communities mostly fall between AED 3 and 10 per square foot. Mid-rise apartment communities run AED 10 to 18, full-service towers AED 18 to 30 or more, and branded residences AED 30 to 60 or more. Two towers on the same street can sit at very different rates, because the figure is set for each building rather than for the area.
- How do I check the service charge for a building in Dubai?
- Through Mollak, the Dubai Land Department system that every legitimate charge has to go through. Open the Dubai REST app and your unit's rate, invoices and payment history are listed against the title. You can also search a building by name in our service charge calculator, which reads the same DLD records. If someone quotes you a figure that is not in Mollak, go with Mollak.
- What is the service charge in areas like Dubai Marina or JVC?
- There is no area rate. A new full-service tower in Dubai Marina might charge AED 18 to 25 per square foot or more while an older block a street away charges far less, and most JVC apartment buildings fall somewhere in the AED 10 to 18 band. Look up the building you are interested in rather than working from an average.
- Can I dispute a service charge?
- You can query the budget through your owners' committee, ask for the audited accounts (you are entitled to them), and take anything irregular to RERA. What you cannot do is stop paying. Unpaid charges block the developer NOC, which blocks any future sale, and the debt can be pursued through the courts.
- Do service charges affect what my property is worth?
- Yes. Buyers and their agents now check the per-square-foot rate before they make an offer, and investors work out the net yield before they bid. A tower charging AED 10 more than its neighbours is harder to let competitively and sells for less, which is one reason two apparently identical units can trade at different prices.
- Mollak, and how your charge is approvedThe RERA approval that has to come before any invoice, and where the money is held.
- Look up your building's service chargeSearch your building, pull its per-square-foot rate from DLD records, and see the annual and monthly cost.
- Rental yield in Dubai: the owner's guideTypical yields area by area from DLD records, and where service charges sit in the net figure.
- Rent increases in Dubai: the Decree 43 bracketsWhat the RERA index lets you raise, and how that interacts with a rising charge.
- What owning in Dubai costs each yearService charges alongside every other annual cost.
Search your building by name and see its Mollak rate.
Look up my building