Facilities management is only one aspect of community management, according to Said El Haouasli, General Manager of LOAMS, which is the community management arm of Damac Properties.

"In community management, there's the aspect of facilities management, but that becomes only one aspect. You have to add the legal aspect, and you have to add the financial aspect because community managers should prepare budgets and perform financial audits for every jointly-owned property," he said during a recent interview with CM today magazine.

To clarify further, he said that facilities management is all about the direct delivery of services, such as MEP, cleaning, or security. "When you are in facilities management, you depend on tenders that you receive in the market. It could be for schools, could be for shopping malls, could be for residential buildings. But the moment you speak about community management or what we used to call association management, it's directly the freehold sector that comes into the mind and Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) is directly involved," he said.

When joint property law changed in 2019, it was challenging for community management to adapt to the new changes. But the move has proven beneficial in the long run due to increased transparency. 

"By moving from Law No. (27) of 2007 to Law No. (6) of 2019, there was a difference, and this difference impacted the market. For instance, earlier, there was no obligation of having regulated accounts or what we call escrow accounts. So community management had to go through a new experience. But things have progressed a lot. And today, I believe the community management industry in Dubai is the best," he said. 

Watch the full interview here: