Annual and monthly service charges on your apartment.
Annual service charge
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Monthly charge
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VAT included
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The recurring cost that decides your real yield
Service charges are the running cost of owning an apartment in the UAE, and they are easy to underestimate because they do not appear at purchase. They pay for the lift, the pool, the security guard, the chiller maintenance, and the building’s insurance and reserve fund. The charge is set per square foot of built-up area and approved each year by RERA through the Mollak system in Dubai, which is the platform that ringfences owners' money in escrow and publishes the approved rates. The arithmetic is simple, area times rate, but the rate is where two apartments of the same size can cost wildly different amounts to hold.
This calculator takes your built-up area and the rate per square foot and returns the annual and monthly charge. There is an optional tick to add a 5 percent VAT estimate, because some chargeable components are taxable supplies even though others are outside VAT.
A 1,200 square foot flat at AED 18 per foot
Take the default: a built-up area of 1,200 square feet and a rate of AED 18 per square foot, VAT left off. The calculation is one multiplication, then a division to find the monthly slice.
| Step | Working | Amount |
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The rate is the whole story, so the chart holds the area at 1,200 square feet and varies the rate across a realistic spread. A modest building at AED 10 costs AED 12,000 a year, the AED 18 default lands at AED 21,600, and a facility-heavy tower at AED 30 reaches AED 36,000, three times the cheap end for the same floor space.
Where Mollak and RERA fit in
In Dubai the per-square-foot rate is not whatever the management company fancies. It is reviewed and approved by RERA and collected through Mollak, which holds the funds in a dedicated escrow account so owners can see where their money goes. Typical rates span a wide band, roughly AED 10 to AED 30 per square foot in the range this calculator illustrates, depending on the facilities and the age of the building. Those figures are the model’s illustration rather than a fixed schedule, since each community has its own approved rate that changes year to year, so check your building’s current Mollak statement or RERA approval for the exact number.
Who needs this, and the VAT and area pitfalls
This tool is for buyers comparing two apartments, investors working out a net rental yield, and owners sanity-checking an invoice that looks high. The most useful habit it builds is checking the rate before you buy, not after, because a low purchase price paired with a high service charge can quietly erode the return that drew you to the property.
Two pitfalls are worth flagging. First, VAT. The 5 percent tick adds a flat estimate across the whole charge, but in reality only some components are taxable, so your real VAT may be lower than the estimate suggests. Treat the ticked figure as a cautious ceiling and confirm the VAT treatment on your statement. Second, the area. Service charges are levied on built-up area, which is larger than the usable area you live in, so always use the built-up figure from your title deed or sale agreement rather than the carpet area, or you will understate the cost.
A practical tip: ask for the last two years of approved rates before buying, not just the current one. A building with a thin reserve fund can push the rate up sharply when a major repair, a chiller replacement or a facade job, falls due, and that increase lands on every owner. This calculator estimates the recurring charge from a rate you supply, it does not predict future rate rises, so build in a margin.
Why is my service charge higher than a friend’s in a bigger flat?
Because the rate per square foot, not just the size, drives the bill. A smaller apartment in a tower with a pool, gym, concierge and extensive chiller plant can carry a higher rate than a larger unit in a simple building, so it ends up costing more despite the smaller area.
Can I refuse to pay if I never use the facilities?
No. The charge funds the upkeep of shared parts of the building whether or not you personally use the pool or gym, and non-payment can lead to action through the owners association and RERA. If you think the rate is unjustified, the route is to query it through Mollak and the owners committee, not to withhold payment.