From AED 40,000 to AED 80,000: fixing a Dubai Marina owner’s rental income

In short: an owner had handed his Dubai Marina unit to a holiday home company. After all their deductions, he was left with around AED 40,000 a year, and still had to pay the service charges out of that. I got him AED 80,000 a year, so the service charges became a small part of his income and he kept the rest.

The problem he didn’t see at first

On paper, a holiday home arrangement sounds easy: hand over the keys, and money arrives. But by the time the operator had taken all its deductions, what reached this owner was around AED 40,000 a year.

And that wasn’t the end of it. The service charges still had to be paid out of that 40,000. So what actually stayed in his pocket was far less than it looked. He owned a property in one of Dubai’s best-known waterfront communities, and it was barely working for him.

What I did

We looked honestly at what the unit was really earning, and what it could earn on a long-term lease. Then I moved it to a long-term tenancy and secured a stable tenant at AED 80,000 a year.

What it meant for him

Before, the service charges swallowed a large part of a small income. After, they were a small cost against a much larger one. Same property, same building, completely different result, plus a stable tenant instead of the ups and downs of holiday lets.

What this shows

Many owners never check what their property really earns after every deduction. Holiday letting suits some properties and owners; here, the numbers clearly favoured a long-term lease. Results depend on the property and the market at the time, so the same outcome isn’t guaranteed elsewhere, but asking the question is always worth it.