Service and maintenance charges?

[vieras]

To this point I haven't got a clear picture of how much living on the Palm is going to cost. What will the service and maintenance costs be? I'd really appreciate it if someone could give some real info. I own a canal facing/park facing apartment.

[Dune]

Hi vieras,

I don't have any specific information myself (yet) but here is a couple of "cut and paste" comments from another forum that might help (thanks in advance to AltTab and numnut for the quotes)

There are two service charges:-
1. Community Service Charge.
2. Building Service Charge.
Club house charges not included in either of these.



Community Service Charge will include-

- Maintenance, repairs and any improvements to the roads and
footpaths within the Palm development;

- Operation of the common use facilities and structures, including
repairs and maintenance;

- Landscaping maintenance for all common use landscaped areas;

- Cleaning and maintaining of beaches;

- Refuse handling, collection and disposal for all common areas;

- Enforcement of the development control regulations that regulate
the orderly development and protect the visual amenity of the
community;

- Management and administrative services to facilitate the provision of these services;



Building Service Charge will include-

- Air Conditioning Systems - Garbage chutes.

- Building Ventilation Systems - Natural Gas Distribution Network.

- Chilled Water Reticulation Network - Conveying Systems.

- Chilled Water Consumption in Common Areas - External Wall Painting.

- Internal Common Areas Lighting Fixtures - Basement Floor Painting.

- External Building Lighting Fixtures - Common Areas Cleaning.

- Electrical Power and Distribution Network - External & internal painting.

- Building Security Systems - Basements Cleaning.

- Lightning Protection System - External Window Cleaning.

- Car Parking Access Control System - Indicative Sinking Fund.

- Rain Water System - Internal Common Areas Wall Painting.

- Domestic Water Reticulation System.

- Sanitary Waste System - Waste Management

- Fire Protection Systems - Pest Control.

- Electrical Power Consumption by Common - Physical Security.

- Areas' Systems and Assets - Associated Sinking Fund (Capital Replacement)

AltTab

Hi folks,

In answer to Salty's request for info I was there over xmas (23th Dec - 3rd Jan) and went to the Nakheel offices to try and get some info re the service charges etc. I dont think imbecile is too stronger work to describe the employee that I was lumbered with but here goes, he couldnt give me a straight answer to most of the questions I asked but I'm sure thats no surprise to your good selves. I enquired about what the costings would be for my place (a B-Type) so off he sloped for about 25 mins and came
back with some numbers scribbled on it. These were typical Building Service Charge figures for B-Types (which had already been handed over) 10,300, 11,600 & 11,000 AED so the average is around the 11000 AED mark.
On top of that the service charges were approx 5580 AED (and dont forget the 1.5% land reg on top). He also showed me some letters which
were drafted up on xmas day (if you havent seen them then I'll scan & post them on the forum) but basically they attempt to justify these exhorbitant costings. The true breakdown of costings will make interesting reading particularly the manual labour element given that the poor so and so's that are building the place are paid soo badly. They also have standard forms for you to use if you are going to task an external company with your snagging and taking delivery of keys etc. Have your passport photocopies (of you and your witness !) at the ready.

One thing that may be of interest is that when I first received my PSA document there were 2 or 3 pages missing and after numerous phonecalls and emails I managed to get them sent to me..... baddabing! precisely the pages detailing the Building Service Charges... - I kid you not.

I've been reading the whole snake thing with interest and one thing that you guys might want to know is that I came across a live snake on the beach on 1st Jan 07 (I will post the photo tomorrow), didnt know what type it was and I didnt hang about to find out but after nudging its tail to see if it was
still alive the little blighter sprang to life. It was about 3 feet long and kind of a beige colour with black rings about 6" apart down the length of its body. Any snake experts out there who fancy doing a bit of detective work ?.

numnut

I'm not sure if this is an accurate measure or not but extrapolating the above it appears the total yearly service charges for a "B type" will be approx. 14 dhs/sq ft (11,000 + 5580 = 16580 dhs per year divided by 1184 sq ft). If this is accurate you could probably extrapolate to come up with an idea of the charges for your unit?

Anyone who has actually taken delivery and can update us on this would be much appreciated.

[vieras]

There were also speculations about costs being about AED 17.3 per square foot. And that does NOT include the beach club yet.

[TOLLS]

Hi there, I have just joined this forum but have been following the posts on skyscrapercity.com for some months now. We have purchased a Shoreline Apt in Al Nabat thru IFA Hotels & Resorts and we too are still wondering what the overhead costs are going to work out to be! What is the deal with air con??

We recently received an email from IFA telling us that that a company called Palm District Cooling (PDC) has been exclusively contracted to provide aircon to all Palm properties. And then gave us the estimated annual charge, which in Yr1 includes setup fee, annual capacity fee and security deposit, plus we will be billed monthly for actual consumption charges. Is everyone else aware of this charge?

There seem to be lots of various charges hitting and we do not have a full comprehensive list, which would be nice at this late stage.

Also does anyone have any updates on Al Nabat and it's beachclub as IFA give us the usual waffle about satisfactory progress and they are still awaiting details from Nakheel....

Many thanks in advance for any info.

[ATA]

Does anyone know now what the maintenance charge will be at the Palm?

[ATA]

Im looking for maintenance charges for various projects, anyone know where I would be able to obtain this information from. Thanks

[kismet]

I have just had a financial statement from Nakheel for my Type C shoreline Apt which is 2260 Sq feet ( so they say!).

PJU Owners Assoc Admin Fund: AED17,630.00
PJU Owners Assoc Sinking fund: AED18,651.00
PJU Master Community Admin Fund: AED 5,984.00
PJU Master Community Sinking fund: AED 5,100.00
PJU Master Community Sinking Fund No 2 AED 5,100.00

Total AED 52,465.00
divided by 2260 (Sq feet) = AED 23.21 Sq foot !!!!

Compare this with other forums members ( Dune and Vieras) charges which are AED14 sq foot and AED 16 sq foot respectively for 12 months.

Nakheel charges are inconsistent and they are not replying to my numerous requests for clarification.

My contract with Nakheel is quite clear and signed by both parties. Nakheels attempt to unilaterally hike the service/building charges smells of predatory behaviour. Maybe they are trying to hide the fact that their listed charges in the contract are already outrageous and unjustifiable?


Suggest we challenge Nakheel as an owners group

[kismet]

Originally Posted by Dune

Hi vieras,

I don't have any specific information myself (yet) but here is a couple of "cut and paste" comments from another forum that might help (thanks in advance to AltTab and numnut for the quotes)





I'm not sure if this is an accurate measure or not but extrapolating the above it appears the total yearly service charges for a "B type" will be approx. 14 dhs/sq ft (11,000 + 5580 = 16580 dhs per year divided by 1184 sq ft). If this is accurate you could probably extrapolate to come up with an idea of the charges for your unit?

Anyone who has actually taken delivery and can update us on this would be much appreciated.

Dear Numnut,

I am kismet in the Forum

I have just received my financial statement from Nakheel in respect of my type C shoreline apartment. They want AED52,000 in charges which equates to AED 23+ sq foot. Naturally I am challinging Nakheel and it will greatly strenghten my hand if I can prove that other shoreline apartment owners are paying AED 14 sq foot. For this reason will you kindly E mail to me a copy of your financial statement. This will be torn up once I have resolved the situation with Nakheel


Many thanks in advance


kismet E-mail: cyprusvillas@hotmail.com

[kismet]

Service charges are high averaging dhs 17 per sq foot. What's more the club costs extra. Nakheel is giving the running of the beach clubs to a different company and Nakheel employee's talk as if this was always a separate charge. So expect to pay more in 2008. Nakheel has us hostage for Service charges and seem's determined to make a killing. The impression I have is that there will be no ceiling for service and other charges. Bumpy ride ahead!!

Originally Posted by vieras

To this point I haven't got a clear picture of how much living on the Palm is going to cost. What will the service and maintenance costs be? I'd really appreciate it if someone could give some real info. I own a canal facing/park facing apartment.

[peterh]

Here's some info on Palm service charges, based on my own experience. I think these charges are very hign and I am not the only one.

I own a park facing appartment on The Palm Jumeirah. During handover I had to pay, the following:-

Owners Assoc Admin Fund 6900

Owners Assoc Sinking Fund 2,200

Master Community Admin Fund 1,999

Master Community Sinking Fund 1,999

What I did not realise, until I questioned the figures, was that this was the charges for the rest of this year, I.E. for FIVE months, not a full year. Many owners are going to get a shock in January when they receive an annual bill.

So, the above works out at over 2600 Dirums per month, which is bad enough, but then I am told the Air Con (Con being the appropriate word) is ANOTHER 7000 Dirums per year. So thats over 3000 Dirums per month service charge, which is much more expensive than an appartment I have in London's Mayfair with more facilities and does not look over a building site that was supposed to be a canal!

Connection of utility services to my Palm appartment is of course extra and no one at Nakheel can tell me what 2008 service charges will be.

These service charges so high they cannot be justified. It is disappointing to be let down like this and it also relefects badly on the developer and Dubai's emerging property market.

Confidence in the market and resale values will suffer if
1) service charges are not reasonable
2) and are not published in advance
3) developers make significant changes to developments, for example changing a canal in to a 'park' without discussing this with customers first.

I say this as a property investor as well as an owner on The Palm.

I plan to raise the issue of excessive service charges with Nakheel and have joined forces with several other owners. Please contact me if you would like to join us.

Peter