Expatriate tenants in Abu Dhabi have been urged to avoid any failure in paying the new 3 percent municipality fee charge or risk their utility supplies being disconnected.
Abu Dhabi’s Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport, in its first public statement on the new charge, has said: “The Department stresses the importance of paying registration fees of tenancy contracts to avoid legal consequences arising from the failure to pay the prescribed fees, and the disconnection of water and electricity services, as this fee is crucial for the running of said services.”
It reiterated that the fee would equate to 3 percent of the amount a tenant pays on a rental contract, reported The National.
Unless municipal fees are paid, Adwea will not issue clearance certificates to tenants. Adwea has a responsibility to follow up complaints and inquiries submitted to the Abu Dhabi Government call center. Complaints about the details of tenancy contracts on which bill amounts are worked out should be addressed to the relevant local municipality, the report said.
Customers can pay the entire fee in one lump sum if they prefer, and if rent contracts are then retroactively cancelled or annulled they would be entitled to recover fees they had paid.
“All parties of the tenancy agreement are urged to register their tenancy contracts to ensure an effective and continuous supply of government services,” it reportedly said.
A survey compiled by the Abu Dhabi-based digital media analyst Locus Elite found that 22 percent of expats commenting on the introduction of the charge said they were considering leaving the emirate because of increasing costs.
The company, which has vetted comments made on Twitter, Facebook and other online forums over the past couple of days, screening out more frivolous remarks, found that 18 percent of over 200 commenters argued that they felt backdating charges was unfair, and that 16 percent felt that landlords, rather than tenants, should pay fees, reported The National.
