With the announcement of the Jointly Owned Property (strata) Declaration, Dubai homeowners need to come to grips with the concept of ‘units of entitlement'.
A key factor of the calculation of service fees, units of entitlement will depend on an apartment's gross surface area, among other factors. So the owner of a larger unit will pay higher fees than the owner of a smaller one, in addition to charges for common areas (passages, pools and so on).
As part of the transition to owner control, developers of existing projects must start the process by registering owners' associations (OAs) and calculating units of entitlement.
Kent O'Brien, CEO of Strata Global, says, "The first unit entitlement registered for all units in a development will be calculated by the developer and included with the Jointly Owned Property Declaration lodged for registration at the Land Department. A methodology statement must also accompany the schedule and be approved. This will prevent any manipulation of the entitlement to the benefit/detriment of any one owner."
For buildings yet to be handed over, units of entitlement will be subject to the upcoming Surveying Regulations, which will set out standards for determining common area and unit area.
Kent says units of entitlement will also depend on "the extent a unit draws on the resources of the owners' association. However, this will require a methodology statement approved by Rera (the Real Estate and Regulatory Agency) stating the criteria used for allocating the entitlements among the units."
