Dubai Housing Fee
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 90
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From: In the Desert
Dubai Housing Fee
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?
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?
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 280
Likes: 7
From: Dubai
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.
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 90
Likes: 0
From: In the Desert
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...
Perhaps it's just one of those things that if you ignore it, it may just go away and never catch up with you...
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 95
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From: Plastic Paradise
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!
Have been out in sunny sandy Mirdif for the past 2 years and not a dicky-bird..... Until now!
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 96
Likes: 0
From: Landan!
Rental fees
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.
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.
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 29
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From: Dubai U.A.E.
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.
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.
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,034
Likes: 2
From: UAE
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.
