Dubai Housing Fee

[Desert Nomad]

So much for our tax free salary in this place now. Although it doesn't come straight out of the pay packet it still comes out.

For those of you in the UAE not in company accommodation we now have an additional 5% of annual rent to pay in the form of Housing Fee. So with the rents going up at least 10% and this additional 5% the very generous 10% increase in utilities does not appear to be so generous after all!!

What will be the next tax they start to impose on us all?

[Global Nomad]

Sounds like another good reason to take the company accommodation.

It's paid for, wired, watered, fixed and it's in your contract.

[ekpilot]

The Municipality Tax, 5% of your annual rental, has always been there but it's just that nobody ever paid it. So the government havce added it to your water and electricity bill to collect instead. Not a rise in the expense of outside housing, just a different and more efficient way of collecting the money.

[Coastrider26]

Heard something like it will not be in your DEWA bill unless you got a new lease or if you renewed your lease. Can anybody confirm this or is it just another gossip story?

[cargosales]

Coastrider , I think it's pot luck.

Different friends have / haven't had it charged yet but we took out a lease a few months ago and it's just appeared on this months bill :(

CS

[Desert Nomad]

Spoke to the municipality yesterday and they said that if it is a new lease then it can go on your DEWA bill and be paid off through the year in monthly installments. If it is a renewal then you need to go to the municipality and pay it to them in full.

Perhaps it's just one of those things that if you ignore it, it may just go away and never catch up with you...

[SecurID]

... or it may not.

[Seaton Approach]

Spent my first couple of years living in a flat in Bur Dubai and every year a note from the Municipality was shoved under the door requesting the aforementioned 5% Municipality Tax, to be paid in one lump sum!

Have been out in sunny sandy Mirdif for the past 2 years and not a dicky-bird..... Until now! :{

[airvlad]

Seaton Approach,
please check your PM
Airvlad

[gccpro]

It still does not add up, there have been no increases in any allowances, yet rents have gone up and so have utilities.

The recent rise will only cover the utilities nothing else, I haver had to bear the brunt o fhte rent increases that have been regular in the last 6 years.

[mig21bis]

can you buy a house or apartment in dubai, so instead of paying a rent use the housing utility to pay a loan???? I know that means stay there in a long term.

[sandkfir]

Here is something that may yet raise its head for those who have taken out Islamic finance to purchase property in Dubai. In order to be Sharia compliant the borrower must cede the property to the finance company who will in turn lease it back to the purchaser at an agreed monthly sum for a set period of time. At the end of the elapsed time the finance company agrees to sell the property back to the purchaser for a nominal fee.

Despite the purchaser having heavily invested already in the property he will now have to pay an additional 5% per municipal tax over and above his monthly finance repayments as he will now be deemed a lessee rather than an owner.

Ouch I hear you say. My feelings entirely. It will be interesting to see how this issue is dealt with and weather it is brought in to effect in new developments such as Arabian Ranches Meadows, Springs etc.

[BigGeordie]

My understanding is that if you "own" your property (via Amlak, Tamweel or whoever) the municipality will work out the tax based on the "estimated rental cost". They know what the initial price of the property was (ie direct from Emaar, Nakheel or whoever), so they take 10% of that as an estimated rental cost and you pay 5% of that 10%. In this rather clever way, nobody escapes. If anybody knows different please let everybody know.:{