Dubai's Service Charge Index shows RERA-approved charges by property, use and year. One 2026 Residential record totals AED 16.04/sq ft for General Fund plus Reserved Fund, excluding Additional Charges. Annual cost depends on the confirmed chargeable area; the owner is the default payer unless the lease states otherwise. (DLD record, Article 16(b), verified 3 October 2026.)

Source: withlida.com, 3 October 2026. Components: DLD's 2026 detail record, property group 867226, usage 1. The official project menu lookup maps that identifier to 23 Marina - Dubai Marina; its usage lookup maps 1 to Residential. The live index page labels rates AED/Sq.Ft. These are one record's components, not a Dubai average or an actual unit invoice.

Last verified: 3 October 2026. Verification dates below are access dates, not claims that a page or rate was revised that day.

How do I find the approved service charge for my property?

The official lookup starts with the property selection, its use and the relevant year. Dubai Land Department, or DLD, lists its website, Mollak and Dubai REST as channels for the enquiry, as verified on 3 October 2026. RERA is DLD's Real Estate Regulatory Agency; Mollak is its system for jointly owned property service-charge accounts and payments. (DLD service overview, Mollak.)

Jointly owned property combines individually owned units with shared parts or facilities. A project name can therefore contain more than one usable selection. A residential unit, an office and a separately identified shared area can describe different enquiries even when their everyday building name sounds the same.

1. Open the official enquiry

   The overview's Access this Service link leads to the live Service Charge Index. The form offers Title Deed No, Service Charge Index and Select on Map routes, as verified 3 October 2026.

2. Match the property and use

   On the project route, select the full menu label and then the applicable usage. Preserve the whole label, including any tower, phase or shared-area wording. For the example in this guide, the official menu and usage lookups join property group 867226 to 23 Marina - Dubai Marina, Residential.

3. Select the year being checked

   Choose the year relevant to the approved-charge question. On the title-deed route, the certificate year and budget year are separate fields. A certificate's issue year does not substitute for the charge's budget year.

4. Preserve the result

   The live form provides start and end date fields and an Export as PDF option. Save the selection, returned dates, component scope, units and retrieval date together. A number copied without its selection cannot be matched reliably to an invoice.

Source for the form fields and export function: DLD live index, accessed 3 October 2026.

For an owner with the certificate, the title-deed route offers a property-specific enquiry. For a buyer examining an approved budget, the project route is useful while the unit's own area and invoice remain separate evidence. A tenant can read the same approved record, but that lookup alone does not determine the lease's allocation of the cost.

An identifier also needs the right name. The detail response used here contains propertyGroupId, while projectName and propertyGroupName are null. The name above comes from the official menu lookup, not from a manager's name or an account title.

How is service charge calculated in Dubai?

DLD explains the owner's approved share as the approved rate multiplied by the unit area recorded in the title deed. That calculation needs both the rate's units and the applicable area basis. (DLD Jointly-Owned Property FAQ, verified 3 October 2026.)

A title deed is the official ownership document. A rounded sales description is a different source of area information. If the record distinguishes suite, balcony or another applicable area, one combined listing area cannot establish how each part is charged. The example detail response contains no unit-area values, so it cannot supply an actual unit calculation.

The component table describes how the rate is organised. DLD's FAQ names services such as security and cleaning, maintenance, utilities, administration, insurance, master-development usage and reserves. Reserve contributions support emergency and major repairs. Those are category explanations, not a list of the exact contracts behind this example's budget. (DLD FAQ, verified 3 October 2026.)

In this record, General Fund groups the operating component rows. Reserved Fund is a separate contribution. The official page's display and export logic keep Additional Charges outside the General Fund plus reserve total. That separation matters more than the physical order of the rows. (DLD live index, accessed 3 October 2026.)

Budget approval happens before this public enquiry. DLD's approval service, accessed 3 October 2026, describes submission through Mollak, audit, acceptance or rejection, emailed approval and display of the data. Its supporting documents include an annual budget, provider tenders, service contracts, consumption bills and an accredited external audit report.

The sequence explains the different jobs. Approval establishes the approved budget. The index retrieves approved-charge information. An invoice applies billing information to an owner account. A payment then settles an amount through a payment channel. One output cannot substitute for all the others.

How do I calculate my service charge?

For the retained 2026 record, an assumed applicable area of 800 sq ft gives AED 12,832 for General Fund plus Reserved Fund over the full returned annual period. This is a teaching calculation using a real approved record and an illustrative area, not the bill for a real unit.

The record was retrieved on 3 October 2026 at 01:02:45 UTC. It returned Success, propertyGroupId 867226, usageId 1 and year 2026. Its startDate is 2026-01-01T20:00:00 and endDate is 2026-12-31T20:00:00; those two fields contain no timezone suffix. The menu mapping and Residential use were retrieved separately during the same run. (Official detail record, project lookup, use lookup.)

Add the categories within their fund

General Fund: 2.61 + 3.98 + 0.91 + 2.71 + 1.05 + 1.78 + 0.83 = 13.87 AED/sq ft.

General Fund plus Reserved Fund: 13.87 + 2.17 = 16.04 AED/sq ft.

The separate 4.17 Unit A/C (Charges) row belongs to Additional Charges. It is not part of either sum. All component values above come from the same 2026 DLD response retrieved 3 October 2026.

Multiply only after declaring the area

Source: withlida.com, 3 October 2026. Rates: DLD 2026 component record. Area: publication illustration. The direct calculation is also 800 × AED 16.04 = AED 12,832.

The calculation assumes that the full illustrative area is applicable to both funds for the full returned annual period. It makes no assumption about balcony weighting, a partial period, instalments or tax treatment. It excludes Additional Charges, arrears, credits and unit-specific adjustments. Any separately documented charge still needs its own scope and basis.

The A/C row illustrates the limit clearly. The page uses a per-square-foot header, but the detail response does not identify the unit area to which that additional row applies. A category name and an isFixedService flag do not resolve that missing basis.

The owner or buyer now has an explainable annual amount for the declared scope. A broader income calculation belongs in the separate after-service-charge Mollak worksheet; the approved-cost question stops here.

Who pays service charges in Dubai, the owner or tenant?

The owner is the default payer, with a lease exception expressly stated in Article 16(b) of Law No. (6) of 2019. The same provision says the owner remains liable if the tenant fails to pay. (Official law, verified 3 October 2026.)

DLD's Rental Services FAQ separately identifies the landlord as responsible for property service fees. Its Jointly-Owned Property section describes service and usage charges collected from owners. Those statements establish the official starting point; the statutory lease wording supplies the contractual exception. (DLD full FAQ, verified 3 October 2026.)

For a tenant, three pieces of information answer different questions: the approved record establishes the charge, the lease identifies any agreed allocation, and the invoice identifies the billed account and period. Occupying the unit, seeing a service-charge line or accessing the public index does not by itself establish a private payment obligation.

An A/C charge also needs its own explanation. DLD's Rental Services FAQ says an A/C contribution may arise where consumption is not individually metered. That general explanation does not determine the basis of the example's Unit A/C (Charges) row. (DLD FAQ, verified 3 October 2026.)

For an owner, an agreed tenant contribution and the owner's continuing statutory liability are separate matters. For a buyer, the same distinction keeps an approved annual owner cost separate from any tenancy arrangement. The relevant contract wording needs confirmation in the contract; this guide does not interpret an individual clause.

DLD also published the Article 16(b) explanation on 6 January 2020. That is the explanation's publication date, not a new rule announced in 2026. Its current retrieval supports the reading alongside the official law. (DLD explanation, accessed 3 October 2026.)

Does the index year match the invoice period?

The selected budget year and a unit invoice's billing period need to be read separately. The live index records a year plus start and end dates; the example returns a 2026 annual period. An invoice's issue date alone cannot establish which approved period it bills. (DLD live index and retained record, verified 3 October 2026.)

A useful comparison puts the invoice's period beside the returned start and end dates. It then compares the property, use, component scope, rate units and applicable area. The amount only becomes comparable when those inputs refer to the same thing.

For an older invoice, the relevant enquiry is its own selected year. A 2024 record and a 2026 record answer different dated questions even if the property and use match. The existence of the newer selection does not establish what was approved for the earlier period.

If an invoice covers part of a year, the annual illustration above remains a full-period reference. This guide cannot establish the project's partial-period method from a project-level rate. The invoice or management's supporting calculation needs to identify the actual period and method.

Arrears mean unpaid amounts carried from earlier billing. The live result explicitly says the service charge does not include arrears, as verified 3 October 2026. A rate-times-area calculation therefore cannot prove an account's outstanding balance. (DLD index.)

Payment history, credits and adjustments likewise need the unit account's own records. The index has no payment-history fields in the retained response. The separate Mollak budget register explains the scope of dated budget records; it does not replace a unit statement.

What if the Service Charge Index returns no data?

A missing result leaves the enquiry unanswered. DLD's live form distinguishes a no-data message from an invalid-captcha message; neither provides a rate or an approval determination. (DLD live index, verified 3 October 2026.)

The next useful step depends on what the screen actually says. A validation message concerns the submitted fields. An invalid-captcha message concerns the verification step. A no-data message says the supplied selection did not produce information. Recording that state keeps a technical result separate from a conclusion about the property's charge.

The relevant fields can be checked without inventing a substitute: the full project label, any tower or shared-area suffix, the usage, and the selected year. For the title-deed route, the certificate number, certificate year, property type and budget year are distinct inputs. A nearby building or another use is a different enquiry, not a replacement rate.

For an unresolved selection, a clear enquiry contains the exact menu wording, selected use and year, the retrieval date, the message shown, and the property or invoice details being matched. A screenshot of the actual result can preserve that information; an image of a different selection cannot.

The official DLD contact page, verified 3 October 2026, offers Have an Enquiry, Technical Request, Live Chat and Call Support at 8004488. A form-loading or verification problem fits the technical route; a question about the approved record fits an enquiry. Management can provide the invoice and explain the property-specific match.

DLD's Jointly-Owned Property FAQ says management authorities must not claim service charges before RERA approval. An unmatched public lookup is not evidence that approval is absent. The confirmation request therefore concerns the approval reference, selected record and billed basis, rather than a conclusion drawn from a blank screen. (DLD FAQ, verified 3 October 2026.)

How do I reconcile an invoice and pay through Mollak?

Reconciliation starts by separating the current-period charge from the account balance. Mollak describes approved-rate enquiry, invoice components and computation, account monitoring and owner payments as distinct functions. (Mollak, accessed 3 October 2026.)

For each invoice line, the explainable calculation has a label, period, applicable area, rate or other stated basis, and resulting amount. General Fund and Reserved Fund can be compared to their matching approved categories. An Additional Charges line needs its own explanation before it is combined with them.

A repeated label deserves a scope check. In the retained record, Master Community is already a General Fund component. Adding the same row a second time would repeat part of the cost. Conversely, the name alone does not establish whether a separate invoice line covers another scope. The approved budget and invoice description need to close that match.

The remaining balance can then be read from the statement's actual opening balance, current charges, payments, credits and adjustments. No amount for those items is assumed here. The illustrative annual total describes its selected funds; the statement establishes the unit account's position.

Where a line remains unmatched, the management enquiry can identify the line verbatim and ask for its approved reference, period, area and calculation. This makes the question specific enough to resolve without judging the charge from its size. DLD's enquiry route remains available for confirmation of the official record.

DLD's FAQ describes payment through the regulatory account printed on the invoice, with the owner providing payment evidence to management, or through Noqodi's wallet, credit-card and net-banking routes. Noqodi is the electronic payment service named by DLD. The current invoice and approved channel identify the payment destination; no account details are reproduced here. (DLD FAQ, verified 3 October 2026.)

A payment receipt answers whether a payment was made. The updated account record answers how it was applied. The public approved-charge lookup cannot independently answer either question. The broader history of records from handover is covered in service charges from handover to the annual statement.

How to check rental index?

DLD's Rental Index is the official route for the rental-increase and average-rent question. It takes tenancy and property inputs, including contract expiry, property type, area, rooms and current annual rent. The Service Charge Index takes a property, use and budget year for approved charges. (DLD Rental Index and Service Charge Index, verified 3 October 2026.)

The distinction helps a tenant choose the relevant enquiry. A rent-renewal question belongs to the Rental Index process. A question about an approved building charge belongs to the Service Charge Index. Neither result alone interprets the lease or establishes the balance of a service-charge account.

FAQ, verified 3 October 2026

How is service charge calculated in Dubai?+

DLD describes approved rate multiplied by title-deed area. In this guide's full-period illustration, the retrieved General Fund plus Reserved Fund rate of AED 16.04/sq ft multiplied by an assumed 800 sq ft gives AED 12,832. Additional Charges and account balances are excluded. (DLD FAQ and 2026 record, verified 3 October 2026.)

How do I calculate my service charge?+

Match the property, usage, approved period, category scope and applicable area first. The record used here supplies rates, not a unit's area or final invoice. Its separate Additional Charges row remains outside the illustrative total. (DLD index, verified 3 October 2026.)

Who pays service charges, the owner or tenant?+

Article 16(b) identifies the owner as liable unless the unit lease stipulates otherwise. It also preserves owner liability if the tenant fails to pay. The public rate lookup does not determine an individual lease clause. (Official law, verified 3 October 2026.)

Can I use the 2026 index for a 2024 charge?+

Each year is a separate dated enquiry. An older charge needs its own period and matching approved record; this guide's 2026 example does not establish a 2024 rate. (DLD index, verified 3 October 2026.)

How to check rental index?+

Open DLD's Rental Index for the rent-increase and average-rent enquiry. Use the Service Charge Index for approved property charges. Their inputs and outputs serve different questions. (DLD Rental Index, verified 3 October 2026.)

Checked by the publication's independent check, 3 October 2026.

CHANGE LOG: 2026-10-03 · first publication version · official lookup, payer sources and 2026 components verified; illustrative annual calculation excludes Additional Charges.

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