I have seen inquiries on other threads and being that I'm a real estate agent in the UAE, perhaps I can ease your minds a bit. I will also apologize ahead of time if any new laws have been executed the month or so that I have been on holiday. I just returned a few days ago.
Since my return, I've not been advised of any new taxes being imposed on tenants who rent in Dubai
There has been in place for a while now a housing tax included in your DEWA bill which over a 12 month period, adds up to 5% of your annual rent.
Here are a couple of options that I've known others to do but at their own risk, especially if they are EK pilots:
If your landlord is an emirati, keep the DEWA bill in his name if he is willing, it avoids the tax and the utility bill is 1/3 of the cost of an expat having them in his/her name.
I don't know if that will work for EK pilots as I am not sure the reimbursement policy and if its figured into your salaries.
Negotiate this 5% with your landlord. There are always so many ways to get around this. It just takes good negotiating by your agent.
If your housing allowance is 150 or 170k PA stay under 95% of that amount. It will cover the difference.
Ask to have the landlord pay the 5% commission ( if applicable) to your agent. We don't care which side pays and to be honest, I prefer the landlord to pay. They are more keen to keep the tenant happy if they've had to pay for them!
If you're EK, ask your agent to negotiate a lower rent for you. I do it all the time. They want EK tenants ! Especially EK landlords !
Last but not least, go live in another Emirate! Go to RAK. Al Hamra, Mina Al Arab are 2 developments where you can have a villa on the beach. I work directly with the developer of Mina Al Arab and have a very good rapport with them. Neither property is on DEWA and does not charge any type of tax.
I will follow up with this inquiry with RERA as well as the managing partners at my firm to confirm nothing new has been added to the rules and regulations (I am catching up with a months emails on outlook to see if anything has been sent to me).
If EK is charging this to their employees direct, well there are ways to get around it.
Best of luck !!!