What a service charge is
A service charge is the annual cost of running the parts of a community you do not own outright. It pays for the pool you swim in, the road you drive on, the lifts, the landscaping, the security gate and the insurance on the common areas. In Ras Al Khaimah it is billed by the developer’s community management arm or by an owners association, and it is charged either as a rate per square foot of your unit or as a flat sum for the unit.
Al Hamra sets out what the money covers for its communities. The general fund splits into operating expenses, which include maintenance of common infrastructure, street lighting, pools and water features, lift and generator maintenance, cleaning, waste collection, pest control, security and the periodic replacement of capital equipment, and administrative expenses, which include common-area insurance, audit fees, legal and professional fees, community events, statutory permits and the management fee itself.
The important point is how the number is arrived at. Al Hamra says the fee is determined each year from a detailed estimate of what it will cost to run the community, invoiced to all owners annually, and reviewed every year, so it can rise or fall with operating costs. Ras Al Khaimah publishes no service charge index and has no approval step for the rate. That means the only way to know what you will pay is to ask for the budget and the last two statements for the specific building.
Rates by community and building
Every figure below was read off live listings and the pages named in the sources list, in the month shown. Rates are AED per square foot of built-up area per year unless the row says otherwise.
| Community | Building or district | Rate | As at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al Hamra Village | Royal Breeze 1 to 5 | AED 11 | September 2026 |
| Al Hamra Village | Al Hamra Marina Residences | AED 9 to 11 | July 2026 |
| Al Hamra Village | Marina Residences Phase 3 | AED 10 | April 2026 |
| Al Hamra Village | Golf Apartments | AED 9 to 11 | August 2026 |
| Al Hamra Village | Bayti Homes | AED 5, or AED 14,000 a year on a 2,885 sqft home | November 2025 |
| Al Hamra Village | The Townhouses at Al Hamra Village | AED 10,080 a year per unit | July 2026 |
| Al Hamra Village | Falcon Island | AED 6 to 6.15 | September 2026 |
| Al Marjan Island | Bab Al Bahr, all three buildings | AED 12 | September 2026 |
| Al Marjan Island | Pacific, all five towers | AED 17.50 to 18 | September 2026 |
| Al Marjan Island | Danah Bay | AED 5.70 | October 2025 |
| Mina Al Arab | Flamingo Villas and the Lagoons villas | AED 6 | September 2026 |
| Mina Al Arab | The Lagoons apartments | AED 10 | November 2025 |
| Mina Al Arab | Hayat Island, Bay Residences | AED 10 to 14 | September 2026 |
| Mina Al Arab | Northbay Residences | AED 12 | May 2026 |
| Mina Al Arab | Enta Mina Residences, off plan | AED 16 to 18 quoted | August 2026 |
Three things stand out. Villas and townhouses are the cheapest per square foot everywhere, because there is far less shared plant to run. Older apartment stock in Al Hamra Village is the cheapest apartment option in the emirate. And the newest towers cost the most, with the off-plan Hayat Island buildings quoting nearly three times what a Falcon Island villa pays.
Two figures on the list are single sightings rather than a pattern. Danah Bay at AED 5.70 comes from one townhouse listing, and the Enta Mina range is an estimate for a building that has not opened. Treat both as indications.
Nothing is published for the branded towers that have not handed over, including the JW Marriott and Waldorf Astoria residences. That is not evasion on the developers’ part. A budget cannot exist for a building that is not yet running. Figures for those projects that appear on broker sites have no source behind them, and we do not repeat them.
What service charges do not cover
Your own electricity and water, which FEWA bills separately. Chiller consumption where it is separately metered. Anything inside your front door, from a failed air conditioning unit to a leaking tap. Contents insurance. And any permit you need to let the property short term, which is a RAKTDA matter rather than a community one.
The effect on your yield
Service charge is the single largest fixed cost of owning in Ras Al Khaimah, and it is charged whether the unit is let or empty.
Take a 770 sqft one-bedroom. In the Pacific towers on Al Marjan Island at AED 18 per sqft it costs about AED 13,860 a year. The same size unit at Bab Al Bahr at AED 12 costs about AED 9,240. On a gross rent of AED 65,000 that is 21 per cent of income against 14 per cent, which moves net yield by close to half a percentage point.
The gap is wider on larger homes. A 4,000 sqft villa on Falcon Island at AED 6 per sqft costs about AED 24,000 a year. The same floor area in a new Hayat Island tower at AED 16 would cost AED 64,000.
Villas against apartments
A villa charge usually looks cheaper per square foot and can still come to more in total, because villas are bigger. Some communities bill a flat annual sum for the unit rather than a rate, which makes comparison harder. On Falcon Island we have seen both: a rate of AED 6 to AED 6.15 per sqft on some homes, and flat bills of AED 8,500 and AED 12,500 a year on others. The Townhouses at Al Hamra Village are billed at AED 10,080 a year regardless of size.
Always convert to a rate per square foot before comparing two communities, and always ask which basis applies to the specific plot.
Questions to ask before you buy
Ask for the last two years of service charge statements, not a verbal figure from the agent. Ask for the current year’s budget. Ask what the reserve fund holds, because a thin reserve on an older building is how special levies happen. Ask what the collection rate is in the building, since unpaid charges are made up by the owners who do pay. And ask whether the rate is per square foot or per unit.
If you are weighing two communities against each other, our guides to Mina Al Arab and Al Hamra Village carry the same figures in context. For a specific unit, call WayHome on +971 58 569 4663 and we will give you the charge for that building.