After another few days of Nakheel giving unclear and mixed messages it is now rumoured that Nakheel will deny access to the car parks and buildings to all residents who live in apartments where service charges are in arrears.
I agree that service charges should be paid and any developer has a responsibility to both collect these charges and provide the comensurate services.
The main point I think Nakheel are forgetting is that Dubai freehold property is learning as it goes along on how to perform 'best practice' and does not have a set of rules that can be followed and implemented yet. It is work in progress and to be fair Nakheel have benefitted from this lack of structure for years. For example, the collection and registration of title deeds which was sadly remiss by the mighty Nakheel and left the Lands Department out of pocket.
To play the heavy hand and not put in a procedure that shows an element of thoughtfulness and common sense is naive and corporate suicide in most parts of the world. As Nakheel and Emaar account for about 80% of dubai development they will always get away with behaviour which would jeopordise other developers around the world.
To threaten that they will deny access to legal tenants because a landlord hasn't paid service charges is ludricous.
A sensible solution would be to state their intentions and put in a responsible plan to address the problem. Something like the following would suffice:
1. Insist all future tenancy contracts are Ejari compliant.
2. Insist that an NOC from Nakheel is required and given to a tenant. This will show the property is fully paid and no other outstanding charges are due.
This then means that there will be a maximum of 12 months before all service charges are collected but will give a reasonable amount of time to landlords to get thier finances in order.
This is a fair compromise and ensures that all service charges are collected on rented property thus safeguarding tenants.
I think there is always a solution that suits the majority but it has to be well thought out and sensitively implemented. Not just extreme demands that are impractical and casually thrown into the arena.
Developers and Property Managers must at this stage of the property cycle work together to find soultions that benefit the market and individual developments.
