What owning a Dubai property actually costs each year.
No property tax doesn't mean no costs. Here is the full annual ledger of a Dubai property: the version you'd want before buying, and the one to review every year after.
By the Mulki team · Updated 6 June 2026
Dubai charges no annual property tax and no personal tax on rental income, but holding a property still costs roughly 1.5% to 3% of its value every year. That covers service charges, maintenance, insurance, and management if you use it. The cost owners underestimate most is vacancy: one empty month is 8.3% of a full year of rent.
Dubai has no annual property tax and no personal rental income tax. The holding costs are operational, and they are real.
Budget roughly 1.5 to 3% of property value per year all-in: service charges, maintenance, insurance, management.
Vacancy is the silent number one: each empty month costs 8.3% of the year's income.
The same apartment in a high-charge tower versus a lean one can differ by AED 9,000+ a year. Check Mollak before you buy, and every year after.
The idea
Dubai sells itself on what it doesn’t charge: no property tax, no income tax on rent. True, and still only half the ledger. Owners who know the other half buy better buildings, set better rents, and stop being surprised in March.
The annual ledger
| Cost | Typical range / year |
|---|---|
| Service charges (Mollak) | AED 10,000 to 27,000 |
| Maintenance & repairs | AED 3,000 to 15,000 |
| Landlord insurance | AED 1,000 to 2,500 |
| Management (if used, 5 to 8% of rent) | AED 5,000 to 12,000 |
| Owner-paid cooling (building-dependent) | AED 0 to 8,000 |
| Vacancy (per empty month) | 8.3% of annual rent |
Indicative ranges compiled June 2026 for a typical AED 1.5 to 2.5M apartment. Your building's Mollak rate and your contract terms decide the real numbers.
- 01
Service charges: fixed, building-level, non-negotiable.
The single largest line for most apartment owners, set per square foot and invoiced through Mollak. Our service charge guide covers what's normal and how to challenge a budget that isn't.
- 02
Maintenance: small numbers until they cluster.
AC compressors, water heaters, appliances: each is a four-figure event, and buildings age in clusters. Older stock deserves a real reserve, not optimism.
- 03
Vacancy and turnover: the cost between tenants.
Repainting, deep cleaning, listing, and the empty weeks themselves. Pricing the relisting correctly matters more to your annual return than any fee negotiation.
- 04
The mortgage layer, if financed.
Interest, life insurance the bank requires, and valuation and processing fees at setup. Kept separate from the property's own costs. That's what cash-on-cash analysis is for.
A full year, one real unit
Here is the whole ledger for a concrete case: a 750 sq ft one-bed in JVC at the 2026 medians (value AED 960,000, rent AED 72,000) held by an owner who lives abroad and uses a manager.
| Line | AED / year |
|---|---|
| Rent collected | 72,000 |
| Service charges (750 × AED 14) | −10,500 |
| Management fee (6%) | −4,320 |
| Maintenance contract + one callout | −3,200 |
| Landlord insurance | −1,100 |
| Vacancy allowance (2 weeks averaged) | −2,770 |
| Owner keeps | 50,110 |
| Net yield on AED 960,000 | 5.2% |
Service charge at AED 14/sq ft. Management at 6% of rent. Vacancy allowance of two weeks per year averaged over a typical two-year tenancy cycle. Compiled June 2026.
The brochure said 7.5%. The owner banks 5.2%. Nothing went wrong in that year: no burst pipe, no bounced cheque, no legal dispute. This is what a completely normal, well-run year looks like once every line is honest. An owner who self-manages and lives locally claws back the management fee outright, so the same year nets about AED 54,430, or 5.7%, with tighter vacancy control lifting it further. That is why the same unit is a different investment in different hands.
Mulki keeps the ledger live: your Mollak charges, your service history, your rent and vacancy record, the net yield they produce: recomputed continuously, benchmarked against your own area from DLD data. The full picture, before decisions instead of after them.
Indicative ranges, reviewed June 2026. Not financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there an annual property tax in Dubai?
- No annual property tax and no tax on rental income for individual owners. The recurring costs are operational instead: service charges, cooling, maintenance, insurance and management. For tenanted properties there is also the 5% housing fee on annual rent, billed through DEWA. But that one is paid by the tenant, not the owner.
- What does it cost per year to hold an apartment in Dubai?
- For a typical AED 1.5 to 2.5M apartment: service charges AED 10,000 to 27,000 depending on the building, maintenance AED 3,000 to 15,000 depending on age, landlord insurance AED 1,000 to 2,500, and management at 5 to 8% of rent if used. All-in, roughly 1.5 to 3% of the property's value per year before mortgage costs.
- Who pays for chiller, the landlord or the tenant?
- It depends on the building and the contract. In many district-cooled towers the tenant registers with the cooling provider and pays consumption. In some buildings the capacity charge sits with the unit, which makes it the owner's bill. Check this before you buy. Owner-paid cooling can take several thousand dirhams a year straight off a studio or one-bed yield.
- How much should I budget for maintenance?
- A practical rule: around 0.5% of value per year for newer stock and up to 1.5% for buildings past their first decade. AC units, water heaters and white goods drive most of it. An annual maintenance contract for an apartment typically runs AED 2,000 to 4,500 and converts surprise costs into scheduled ones.
- What's the most underestimated cost of ownership?
- Vacancy. One empty month is 8.3% of the year's income, more than most owners' entire maintenance budget. Next is the service charge differential between buildings, which compounds every single year you hold.
- Is it worth owning property in Dubai once the costs are in?
- Often yes, but the answer turns on net rental yield, not the headline number. Once you strip out service charges, maintenance, insurance, management and a vacancy allowance, the gross figure on the brochure shrinks meaningfully. A lean-charge building you hold for years, ideally self-managed, is where the math works. A high-charge tower with frequent turnover is where it doesn't.
Mulki keeps the whole ledger, so you don't have to.
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