Over the past few years Dubai has implemented various laws that seek to transfer responsibility for the management and maintenance of common areas in developments from the developer to the owners of the individual units within the development, most notably Law No. 27 of 2007 and its Directions issued in 2010 (jointly owned property law) (JOP Law).

There have been some difficulties in achieving the aims of the JOP Law, particularly in relation to the recovery of service charges. This article introduces the JOP Law and its aims and goes on to highlight the difficulties that are being encountered with implementation. The article concludes by discussing how these issues have led to adaptations in the market and suggests potential longer term solutions.

This article is part of the PLC multi-jurisdictional guide to corporate real estate law