DUBAI // A new tribunal could be set up to mediate service charge disputes in property developments.
Mohammed Sultan Thani, the assistant director general of the Dubai Land Department, said such a body was needed, but no firm decision had yet been made.
"It is being discussed," he said. "There's a lot of complaints about service charges and owners' associations.
"I don't know how many people there will be [adjudicating], or how it will work. Its just an idea until now. Ultimately, it's the government's decision whether to establish such a tribunal."
Residents in many areas of Dubai have been plagued by disputes over service charges with their developer. Some tenants have found themselves shut out of beaches, gyms and car parks because their landlords have failed to pay the charges.
Many owners at the Shoreline apartments on the Palm Jumeirah are refusing to pay a portion of the service charges, which they say have not been approved by the Real Estate Regulatory Authority.
Ian Albert, regional director of real estate brokers Colliers International, said the mere existance of a tribunal could stop disputes even before they began.
"The fact that there is a tribunal means that contracts will be drafted with a lot more care and attention at the beginning, for fear of them being overturned later on," he said.
"It should actually start to balance the system in advance, prior to any cases actually being brought to a tribunal."
mcroucher@thenational.ae
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
Second Test
In Dubai
Pakistan 418-5 (declared)
New Zealand 90 and 131-2 (follow on)
Day 3: New Zealand trail by 197 runs with 8 wickets remaining
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind