Dubai rent hike calculator to be updated

The rental increase calculator launched by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) on the Dubai Land Department (DLD) website will be updated soon, XPRESS reported quoting a senior official.

Following a new decree on rents, several Dubai residents went online to calculate their rental increase. But since the rental index had not been updated they got no answers.

“The rental index is being updated. We are working on different mechanisms for the implementation of Decree No. 43,” said Sultan Bin Mejren, Director General of the Dubai Land Department. According to the decree, a property has to be at least 11 per cent below market rental value to be eligible for a rent increase.

As per the new decree, a property leasing between 11 per cent and 20 per cent below average market rent is eligible for a five per cent increase.

If it’s leasing between 21 per cent and 30 per cent below market rate, it will see a maximum increase of 10 per cent. Those leasing at 31 per cent to 40 per cent below average can be increased by a maximum of 15 per cent. Properties leasing at 40 per cent below average can be hiked a maximum of 20 per cent.

Many residents had been trying to find out how much their rents would go up, but the online calculator was of little help for contracts expiring after December 31, 2013.

Any attempt to calculate hikes for 2014 threw up a message that read: ‘The rental index under updating. Please contact [email protected]’.

“The index is updated every four months. We collect rental data from several sources such as property leases recorded by the DLD, field surveys conducted in various areas of Dubai; rent adverts on billboards, newspapers, property websites and data collected from real estate companies,” said Mohammad Khalifa Bin Hammad, senior manager, Real Estate Relations Management, Rera.

Property experts have urged DLD and Rera to consider other details as the calculation is generic at the moment.

“The calculator must take into account factors like the size of the unit, floors and the view. For example, a 4,000 square foot, three-bedroom apartment is subject to the same increase as a 1,800 square foot three-bedroom home in the same area. This is not fair,” said Manoj Gur of Blue Water Real Estate.

Link to the rental increase calculator – http://www.dubailand.gov.ae/English/eServices/RentalIncreaseCalculatorEN.aspx