The RDC or the Rental Dispute Center was established as the judicial wing of the Dubai Land Department to deal with the rental disputes and conciliation procedures in order to endure economic and social stability along with supporting the sustainable growth of the Emirate. It is an online system where all the rental dispute procedures take place; everything is automated through the RDC.
The RDC is responsible in reconciling the issues between the unitholders and Owners Association Management Companies which happen mainly in the name of service charges.
Unitholders who have failed to pay the service charges on time will not be given official clearance to rent or sell that unit until the arrears have been cleared. This follows the end of 30 day grace period after they are served with legal notices from the Owners Association Management Companies and from RERA. All these cases will be resided by RDC and verdicts will be given accordingly. The RDC has even opened a new window to look into cases involving the owners association and service charges.
There are numerous reasons for disputes which are all handled by the RDC, the most common among them are:
- Outstanding balance from unit holder wrongly carried forward to Mollak
- Any unidentified payments or partial payments not properly allocated
- Wrong classification of outstanding balance (service charge, chiller charge and penalties, etc)
- Any amount due from the previous unit holder/developer which is not settled
- Any difference with the provisional approval rate and approved budget rate
The owners association began to issue legal notices to property owners who had failed to pay the service fees and in order to defend themselves, the unitholders were provided with a provision by RERA, where RERA will appoint an independent body of auditors to verify and report discrepancies if any. HLB HAMT is an auditor approved by RERA who can review the service charge disputes.