The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) at Dubai Land Department (DLD) has strengthened its efforts to ensure the sustainability of services for common areas in the emirate, in addition to improving the use of related buildings, by launching a series of technical workshops to address projects, experiences and models in Dubai, having succeeded in managing the common areas with great efficiency and distinction.

HE Eng Marwan bin Ghalita, CEO of RERA, commented, “RERA attaches great importance to developing the work system for the common areas in the emirate, given the growing importance of this sector. To this end, RERA's work teams seek to cooperate with various strategic partners and stakeholders from the public and private sectors to work together on establishing innovative and sustainable solutions that would contribute to the improvement of the management of common areas and lead to the creation of comprehensive governance of service fees for those areas. In that regard, we had previously signed a cooperation agreement with Etihad ESCO to achieve a quantum leap in the field of energy efficiency as well as to cooperate in the regular payment of cooling services and the billing of energy bills for units and common spaces, among other related fields.”

Bin Ghalita added, “Based on this vision, RERA launched a series of technical workshops, through which many meetings will be held with technical and specialised teams, including real estate developers, jointly owned property management companies, and owners’ committees. The purpose would be to review the existing best practices of the ongoing projects, in addition to examining the success elements of the implemented projects, whether in the management of the main complex or the management of the buildings themselves, and benefiting from these successful experiences. The importance of the participation of investors in the owners’ committees will also be highlighted, which gives them the opportunity to evaluate and review the charges for the services provided. Dubai is home to many competencies and expertise based on operating real estate complexes and common areas; these workshops will provide opportunities to benefit from these competencies in cooperation with various strategic partners.”

The month-long workshops also aim to simulate successful models and transfer knowledge to the common areas and complexes across Dubai, thus improving the management of the common areas and ensuring the sustainability of providing distinguished services to these complexes and buildings. During the workshops, any projects that have been implemented in complexes and buildings will be discussed, followed by an analysis of the data for these projects, the impact created by this data, and the management methods that contributed to the sustainability of those services.

In addition, the workshops will also highlight the importance of encouraging management companies to benefit from the common area of the property by leasing some of these common spaces and obtaining their revenues as additional income.

RERA keeps in mind the importance of focusing on the sustainability of the services provided in the buildings to ensure the quality of life in Dubai as well as improve the value of operating complexes and buildings in common areas in order to reduce expenses on managing these buildings and complexes.

Following the completion of these workshops, the concerned authorities will work on applying the results, outputs and recommendations to a specific number of buildings and complexes across Dubai in cooperation with developers, real estate management companies, and JOP management companies. The aim would be to register the impact of the change on the management style of the common areas, thus maximising the value of the targeted buildings.