Your Maintenance Charge Is Due

One of the Dubai developers (which will remain nameless) has actually completed several large developments and allowed the 'buyers' to move in (for reasons which escape me). The 'buyers' are more like permanent lessees, rather like the US and the UK were to Panamá and Hong Kong, until they broke their leases, thereby enfuriating their Panamanian and Chinese landlords.

The buyers have to pay the developer a substantial sum each year for 'maintenance charges,' partly to cover the common expenses of each development, and partly to make it clear that they are really lessees, not buyers. This particular developer sent out a notice that the annual maintenance charge (for 2005, but they didn't say that) was due in late 2005, and many owners raced to pay their 2006 maintenance charges. A notice demanding payment of the 2006 maintenance charges went out in summer 2006. Worried owners asked, 'Didn't we already pay our maintenance charges?' The answer, 'We sent the notices out to everybody, whether they had paid or not.' Then, in October, they sent out notices and SMS messages saying, 'Please pay your maintenance charges before 1 December and win a prize.' So owners thought there was going to be a bonus for paying 2007 maintenance charges early. No, this was another request for 2006 maintenance charges. Owners, whether they paid the 2007 maintenance charges (hoping to win the prize) or not, will all get a notice to pay early in 2007, and another notice in Summer 2007, and yet another notice to please pay the annual (2007) maintenance charges late in 2007.

So why, one might ask, don't they just dun the deadbeats who haven't paid? Their answer, 'It's easier to dun everybody.'