Owners Associations in Dubai
Mollak, Service Charges and the Law That Governs Your Building
Every apartment and villa in a shared Dubai community sits under a management structure defined by law — who runs the common areas, who sets the service charge, where that money is held, and who audits it. Here is how the owners’ association system, the Mollak platform and Law No. (6) of 2019 actually work, and what an owner should check.
What an Owners’ Association in Dubai Actually Is
When you buy an apartment or a villa in a shared community in Dubai, you are not just buying the space inside your walls. You are also buying a share of the common parts — the lobby, lifts, corridors, pools, gyms, landscaping, car parks, roads and building services that everyone uses. Someone has to run, maintain and renew all of that, and someone has to collect the money to pay for it. That is the job of the community’s management structure, historically referred to as the owners’ association.
The whole system is set by law. The current framework is Law No. (6) of 2019 Concerning Ownership of Jointly Owned Real Property in the Emirate of Dubai, issued on 4 September 2019, which replaced the older Law No. (27) of 2007. It applies across the emirate — including special development zones and free zones — and it changed one fundamental thing about how communities are run: the day-to-day management of most shared buildings is now handled by a professional management company under the supervision of the Агентство по регулированию рынка недвижимости (RERA), the regulatory arm of the Dubai Land Department, rather than by an owner-run association alone.
In practice, three parties matter to you as an owner: the management company that runs the building and its budget; the owners’ committee, a small group of owners that oversees the manager and represents residents; and RERA, which approves the service-charge budget, audits the money and can step in when a community is badly run. The digital backbone that ties them together is Mollak — the Arabic word for “owners” — the DLD’s official e-system for registering communities, approving budgets and monitoring service-charge payments.
The Governance Structure at a Glance
Who does what in a Dubai community
Who Manages the Common Areas of Your Building
Law No. (6) of 2019 does not treat every development the same. It sets out different management arrangements depending on the type of project — which is why the “owners’ association” you may have expected often turns out to be a RERA-supervised management company.
| Project Type | Who Manages the Common Parts | What It Means for Owners |
|---|---|---|
| Major projects (large master communities) | The master developer manages the common parts, or delegates management to a specialised management company. | Developer-led |
| Hotel projects (serviced / branded residences) | Management is outsourced by the developer to a dedicated hotel-project management company. | Hotel operator runs it |
| Other projects (standalone buildings & communities) | A specialised management company is selected and contracted by RERA to manage the common parts. | RERA-appointed |
| Owners’ committee (all types) | Up to nine owners who oversee the manager, review the annual budget and can raise concerns to RERA — but do not run the building day to day. | Oversight, not management |
Management arrangements summarised from Law No. (6) of 2019 Concerning Ownership of Jointly Owned Real Property (Dubai Land Department legislation reference). The exact structure for a specific development is set out in that project’s registered management documents.
How the Service Charge Is Set, Held and Audited
The single most important thing the law does is control the money. Under Law No. (6) of 2019, an owner pays a share of the annual service charge calculated on the ratio of the unit’s area to the total area of the development — so the charge tracks size, not the price you paid. A management company cannot simply set a figure and bill you: it must first obtain RERA’s approval, and RERA will not approve a service-charge budget unless it has been signed off by a certified audit firm recognised by the regulator.
Once collected, the money is protected. The management entity must hold service charges in a dedicated bank account at a bank licensed in the emirate, and collected amounts must be deposited into that account within seven working days. Crucially, the funds in that account cannot be seized by the management company’s own creditors — they are ring-fenced for the community. RERA has the power to audit the revenue collected and the expenditure paid out of that account.
This is where Mollak comes in. Launched by the DLD through RERA, Mollak is the e-system that operationalises the 2019 law. Management companies register on it, upload their audited financial statements and maintenance contracts, obtain budget approvals, and issue service-charge invoices to registered owners through it. Owners can see approved budgets and their own account status through official DLD channels such as the Dubai REST app. The point of the platform is transparency: it makes it far harder for a manager to charge an unapproved figure or to move money without an audit trail.
Service Charge Rules Under Law 6/2019
The financial controls that protect owners
What to Check About the Owners’ Association Before You Buy
Six checks that reveal how well a Dubai community is governed — and how predictable your costs will be once you own.
Want the governance record on a specific building?
Tell us the tower or community and TruHauz will check the management company, the approved budget and the reserve position before you commit.
What the Law Gives You — and What It Asks of You
The owners’ association framework is a two-way arrangement. It gives owners real protections, but it also imposes duties, and it is backed by significant penalties for those who run a community outside the rules.
Transparency & Oversight
A RERA-approved, independently audited budget; service charges held in a ring-fenced account; access to the figures through Mollak and the Dubai REST app; and the right, through the owners’ committee, to review the budget and raise a badly run manager with RERA.
Pay Your Share
Every owner owes the annual service charge on their unit — calculated on area. Non-payment is not just a community problem: unpaid charges must be cleared, typically via a No Objection Certificate, before ownership can transfer, so arrears follow the unit to a sale.
The Penalty Backstop
Law No. (6) of 2019 sets a fine of not less than AED 1 million for breaching its provisions, doubling on repetition within a year up to a maximum of AED 2 million. It is a deliberately heavy deterrent against mismanaging jointly owned property.
Часто задаваемые вопросы
The questions owners and buyers ask most often about owners’ associations, Mollak and service charges in Dubai.
Buy Into a Well-Run Community
TruHauz reviews the management company, the approved service-charge budget and the reserve position on every property we advise on — so you know how the building is governed before you sign. Tell us what you are looking at.
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