Service Charge Clearance

Service charge clearance is the confirmation that all service charges owed on a unit have been paid up to date — a document with outsized importance at two moments in UAE property life. At resale, the developer or owners association management will not issue the NOC needed for transfer while arrears exist, so clearance is effectively a precondition of selling; buyers should additionally demand the unit's Mollak statement, because charges become their problem the moment title transfers. At handover of a tenancy or property management arrangement, clearance letters confirm nothing is owed under the departing arrangement. Disputes typically involve sellers who contest the charges being demanded — disputed sinking fund contributions, retroactive charges, penalties — but face a transfer deadline; the pragmatic route is often payment under written protest preserving the right to reclaim, then a complaint to RERA or a claim afterwards. Keeping service charge receipts throughout ownership makes clearance painless.