Dubai residents refuse to pay service charges

DUBAI: Residents of beachside apartment complex Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) have been refusing to pay their service charges after a rise in the fees.

The original service fee written into owner's contracts was Dh9.5 per square foot. Dubai Properties are believed to have wanted to increase it to Dh21. They finally settled on Dh15 per square foot.

It's thought that the rise in the charges has resulted in as many as 50 per cent of owners not paying their charges. Last year JBR residents were perturbed when the complex car parks were left open, allowing anyone to park there.
 
One resident said: "Security wasn't enforcing that the car parks were only for residents so we couldn't find any spaces. As a suggestion we asked for card access but the developer used the cards to block people who hadn't paid service fees."