Dubai Municipality will collect its housing fee from all homes in the emirate by the end of this year, a senior official says. The collection timetable was the second part of a plan that began in 2005, when the authority introduced the fee to cover the cost of the services it provides, Aref Abdulrahman Ahli, the director of the finance department at the municipality, said yesterday.
The rate is 5 per cent of the yearly rental cost and can be paid monthly along with the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) bill or in an annual single payment. The fee applies to all housing units in Dubai, whether they are in free zones or freehold areas. Thousands of residents have already paid the fee, but others are "only just starting to be charged", said Mr Ahli. Some Dubai residents complained this year about what they thought was a "hidden" municipal fee that had appeared on their utility bills.
In fact, it was the housing fee. But at the time, the collection of the fee was somewhat random and not all residents were being charged. "We've already started, but for some customers it's coming much later," said Mr Ahli. "We will cover the whole of Dubai by the end of the year." The municipality hopes to collect between Dh500 million (US$136.1m) and Dh600m by the end of next year from the fee. DEWA told The National in January that it served as a collection service for the municipality and had no role to play in the calculation of charges.
At the time, Abdullah al Hajri, the executive vice president for customer service at the utility, said the housing fees were calculated by the civic authority and then communicated to DEWA. agiuffrida@thenational.ae
