Service charges are the most underestimated number in a Dubai purchase. On a high amenity tower they can take a serious share of the rent, and a buyer who models a yield without the actual figure is modelling a fiction.

Find the real number, not the estimate

Service charges in Dubai are charged per square foot per year and are reviewed and approved for each building, so a real figure exists rather than a range. Ask for the current approved figure for the specific building and the specific unit type, in writing. An agent quoting a rough guide from memory is not the same thing.

Then multiply it out for your actual size. A charge that sounds small per square foot becomes a substantial annual sum on a large apartment, and it is payable whether the property is let or empty.

What should the figure include?

The general fund, covering cleaning, security, insurance, common area power and landscaping.
The reserve fund, which pays for lifts, chillers and facade work when they eventually need replacing. See the reserve fund explained.
Whether cooling is inside or outside the charge. This single question can change your annual cost materially, and the answer varies by building. Our guide to DEWA and chiller charges covers it.
What the amenity actually costs. A pool, gym, concierge and landscaped podium are paid for by the owners, every year, whether they are used or not.

The warning signs

Nobody can produce the approved figure. Treat this as a finding, not a delay.
A history of special levies. One-off demands to owners usually mean the reserve fund has not been keeping up.
Arrears on the unit you are buying, which can follow the property to you.
A charge that looks too low for the building. Either it is genuinely efficient or it is underfunded, and those look identical in a listing.
A very high charge justified by amenity you would never use. Perfectly legitimate, and still a bad deal for you specifically.

How it changes the maths

Take the gross rent, subtract the service charge, then subtract the other real costs: management, maintenance, void periods, and the agency cost of finding each tenant. What is left is the yield. Our guide to rental yields in Dubai works through the difference between the advertised gross figure and what actually reaches you.

Two apartments at the same price and the same rent can produce meaningfully different returns purely on this line.

Ask before the offer, not after

The point of this check is that it can change your decision, which only helps if you do it early. If you are comparing buildings and want the real numbers side by side, ask us to pull them. It is a short conversation and it occasionally saves a purchase.