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Dubai service charge calculator 2026
A Dubai service charge is a rate per square foot per year, multiplied by your unit's built-up area. Enter the size and the rate below for the annual, quarterly and monthly cost — and, because the charge comes out of rent before you see a return, exactly how much of your yield it takes.
Your property
If you don't know your rate yet, pick the closest band and refine it later.
Property typeYield impact optional
Fill these in to see what the charge does to your return.
Annual service charge
| Per quarter how most OAs bill | |
| Per month | |
| Share of your rent | |
| Gross yield | |
| Net yield after service charge |
Get your building's official rate
The bands on this page are observed market ranges, not RERA figures — a starting point, nothing more. The authoritative number for your building is in the DLD Service Charge Index.
Open dubailand.gov.ae → Service Charge Index, then search by community, project and year, or look it up by title deed number. The Dubai REST app carries the same index. That rate is what RERA has approved for your building's budget, and it is the one to plan against.
We publish the arithmetic here rather than a table of invented per-building numbers. Several sites advertise a “DLD Service Charge Index” and then list three rows and no building names; we would rather send you to the real thing.
What the bands mean
Typical published ranges as at September 2026. A rate outside these is not automatically wrong — amenity depth and central cooling move it a long way.
| Property type | Typical range | Midpoint |
|---|---|---|
| Villa / townhouse communitySprings, Jumeirah Park, Mudon, Damac Hills 2 villas | AED 2–6 / sqft | AED 4.0 |
| Budget apartmentInternational City, Dubai South, Discovery Gardens | AED 6–13 / sqft | AED 9.5 |
| Mid-market apartmentJVC, Arjan, Dubai Sports City, Silicon Oasis | AED 10–16 / sqft | AED 13.0 |
| Mainstream high-riseBusiness Bay, JLT, outer Dubai Marina | AED 15–20 / sqft | AED 17.5 |
| Premium tower / master communityDowntown, Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai Creek Harbour | AED 18–28 / sqft | AED 23.0 |
| Branded / waterfrontPalm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Bay, beachfront stock | AED 25–40 / sqft | AED 32.5 |
| Ultra-prime tailBurj Khalifa and a small number of branded towers | AED 45–70 / sqft | AED 57.5 |
Questions owners ask
How is the service charge calculated in Dubai?
It is a rate in dirhams per square foot per year, multiplied by your unit's built-up area — not the plot. A 900 sqft apartment at AED 15 per sqft pays AED 13,500 a year, billed by the owners' association, usually quarterly. The rate is set in the building's annual budget, which the management company must submit to RERA for approval, so it is not something a developer or an owners' association can raise at will.
What is a normal service charge in Dubai?
Most apartments sit somewhere between AED 10 and AED 30 per sqft a year. Villa and townhouse communities are far lower — commonly AED 2 to AED 6 — because there are no lifts, no central cooling plant and much less common area per home. The extremes run from around AED 3 in the cheapest stock to AED 60 or more in a handful of branded and ultra-prime towers. A high rate is not automatically bad: chilled water, concierge, podium gardens and pools all cost money, and they are part of what the unit rents for.
How do I find the exact service charge for my building?
Use the Dubai Land Department's official Service Charge Index. Go to dubailand.gov.ae, open the Service Charge Index service, and search by community, project and year — or look it up by title deed number. The Dubai REST app carries the same index. That figure is the RERA-approved rate for your building and it is the one to budget against; any range you read on a property website, including the bands on this page, is only a placeholder until you have it.
Do service charges affect rental yield?
Yes, and it is usually the single biggest deduction. Service charges come out of rent before you see a return, so they are the main gap between the gross yield an agent quotes and the net yield you actually receive. On a 900 sqft apartment renting at AED 75,000 with a AED 15 per sqft charge, AED 13,500 — 18% of the rent — disappears before management fees, vacancy or maintenance. Two units at the same price and rent can produce materially different returns purely because of the service charge, which is why it belongs in the comparison, not in the small print.
Are Dubai service charges paid monthly or yearly?
The rate is annual but most owners' associations invoice quarterly through Mollak, the DLD platform that holds service charge accounts. Some management companies will agree to monthly instalments. Unpaid service charges accrue against the unit and can ultimately block a sale, because the DLD requires a clearance from the owners' association before transfer.
Can the service charge go up?
It can, but not arbitrarily. Every owners' association has to submit an annual budget that RERA reviews and approves, and the approved rate is what appears in the Service Charge Index. Increases usually follow a real cost — a chiller replacement, an insurance rise, or a sinking-fund top-up for major works. Check two or three years of the index for a building before you buy: a rate that has jumped repeatedly is worth asking about.
Next: the one-off cost of buying, in the Dubai property fees calculator · what buyers actually paid, in the DLD transaction register · browse Dubai areas and off-plan projects.