{"id":10654,"date":"2016-04-14T23:47:48","date_gmt":"2016-04-14T16:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/?p=10654"},"modified":"2016-04-14T22:52:46","modified_gmt":"2016-04-14T15:52:46","slug":"new-3-municipality-fee-on-abu-dhabi-expat-rentals-could-give-government-dh612m-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/new-3-municipality-fee-on-abu-dhabi-expat-rentals-could-give-government-dh612m-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"New 3% municipality fee on Abu Dhabi expat rentals could give government Dh612m boost"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nThe new municipality charge being levied against rental contracts in Abu Dhabi is likely to boost government revenues by about Dh612 million a year, according to National Bank of Abu Dhabi.The levy, which will be added as a monthly charge to utility bills, has been introduced as another method for generating revenues to help plug the emirate’s budget deficit, according to a note from the bank.NBAD’s economists based their figure on the forecast that Abu Dhabi would have 255,000 units on the market by the end of 2016, that they would attract an average rent of Dh100,000 per year, and that 80 per cent would be occupied.
\n“It is evident that the government is looking for recurring and sustainable revenue streams that will continue to increase steadily over time,” it said in its note. “It seems likely that more such measures will be implemented, across various aspects of the economy, which in aggregate will deliver – in our opinion – not just meaningful but substantial incremental and diversified revenues for the government.”
\nA new charge on hotel stays has also been introduced.David Dudley, the head of the property consultancy JLL’s Abu Dhabi office, said that the property market was currently in a “fairly fragile” stage of its cycle.”Over the last few years, there has been various ways in which the cost of living has increased – increases to rents, to the cost of goods and the reduction of fuel subsidies. “In the current environment of low oil prices, the government needs to reclaim more money to subsidise municipal costs, so I can understand why they are thinking about it. But adding further to the cost of living could have a detrimental affect on demand,” he said.
\nD M, 28, a French national who has lived in Abu Dhabi for two years, said: “Most expats did not receive any pay increase this year, and we are all already subject to a rent increase of at least 5 per cent every year.”This will directly impact my savings and my quality of living, which are the two main reasons why I decided to move to Abu Dhabi.”The city’s developers shrugged off any potentially negative impact to investment sentiment. A spokesman for Aldar said that it was unlikely to affect its operations, stating that the charge was emirate-wide, and is in line with costs already imposed in Dubai.
\n“It’s a marginal cost, and I think people understand that it’s not going to make a difference if you’re renting something for Dh200,000 or Dh250,000.”Sameh Muhtadi, the chief executive of Bloom Holding, agreed. He said it may have a slight impact on tenants, but many of its schemes – including its new affordable housing project planned near Abu Dhabi airport – were on offer only to UAE nationals who are exempt from the charge.
\n“And as a UAE company, if we’re leasing out to UAE nationals, it’s not going to affect us either.”Anthony Mallows, the executive director of the Masdar City project, argued that the charge was a sign that Abu Dhabi’s property market is maturing.”It’s an indication that the regulatory environment is maturing around real estate.”He said that when increased regulation and zoning has been introduced in US markets, for example, there is initial negativity because of a fear of increased costs, but “good zoning actually increases property values and maintains them”.
\nmfahy@thenational.ae
\n
\nSource : thenational.ae
\nRead more…New 3% municipality fee on Abu Dhabi expat rentals could give government Dh612m boost<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new municipality charge being levied against rental contracts in Abu Dhabi is likely...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-property-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75ss1-2LQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":39557,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/abu-dhabi-introduces-three-per-cent-municipality-charge-on-households\/","url_meta":{"origin":10654,"position":0},"title":"Abu Dhabi introduces three per cent municipality charge on households","date":"January 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\r ABU DHABI \/\/ The new municipality fee payable by every expatriate tenant in Abu Dhabi is to be backdated to February last year. The fee, equivalent to 3 per cent of a tenant's annual rent, has begun appearing in water and electricity bills from Abu Dhabi Distribution Company.\u200bThe backdating\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51514,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/abu-dhabi-homeowners-told-to-alter-value-of-homes-to-avoid-municipality-fee\/","url_meta":{"origin":10654,"position":1},"title":"Abu Dhabi homeowners told to alter value of homes to avoid municipality fee","date":"April 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\r ABU DHABI \/\/ Homeowners have been advised to falsify the value of their property on an official document to avoid being billed for Abu Dhabi's new municipality fee, which should be charged only to tenants.The extraordinary advice came from Abu Dhabi Distribution Company, the utilities provider that collects the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39635,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/homeowners-off-the-hook-for-abu-dhabis-three-per-cent-municipality-fee\/","url_meta":{"origin":10654,"position":2},"title":"Homeowners off the hook for Abu Dhabi's three per cent municipality fee","date":"January 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Abu Dhabi's Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport (DMAT) said on Wednesday that the new 3 per cent municipality charge being introduced this month will not apply to homeowners, merely expatriate renters of property.A spokesman confirmed to The National that the fee covers tenancy agreements only, and is directly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50926,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/abu-dhabi-property-owners-wrongly-billed-for-municipality-fees\/","url_meta":{"origin":10654,"position":3},"title":"Abu Dhabi property owners wrongly billed for municipality fees","date":"April 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\r ABU DHABI \/\/ Property owners are being wrongly billed for tens of thousands of dirhams in taxes from which they are exempt - and threatened with having utilities cut off if they do not pay.It is the latest problem for the new municipality fee system, introduced in January.Expatriate tenants\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9298,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/abu-dhabi-starts-handover-of-1400-homes-to-emiratis\/","url_meta":{"origin":10654,"position":4},"title":"Abu Dhabi starts handover of 1,400 homes to Emiratis","date":"March 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Abu Dhabi Municipality says keys to 60% of total 1,463 residential units handed over as part of national housing plan\r \r Source : arabianbusiness.com\r Read more...Abu Dhabi starts handover of 1,400 homes to Emiratis","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20756,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/average-abu-dhabi-housing-rents-fall-for-first-time-in-three-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":10654,"position":5},"title":"Average Abu Dhabi housing rents fall for first time in three years","date":"July 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Average housing rents in Abu Dhabi have fallen for the first time in three years driven by thousands of job cuts and an increase in the cost of living.The first signs of long expected falls in housing rents in Abu Dhabi started to appear in the three months to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10654"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}