Service charge and reserve fund audits for owners associations and developers. RERA-approved auditor status across Dubai.
The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) mandates annual independent audits of service charge accounts and reserve funds for every owners association in Dubai. The audit must be conducted by a RERA-approved auditor and submitted alongside the annual budget approval.
ECOVIS JRB is a RERA-approved auditor. We audit dozens of OAs across Dubai every year — from small mid-rise buildings to large mixed-use master developments.
We work with owners associations, developers, master developers and property management companies. Common engagement types include annual audits, budget reviews, snagging audits, handover audits and forensic reviews where there's a dispute.
RERA audits in Dubai are governed primarily by Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007 concerning the Real Estate Development Trust Account (the Escrow Law), Law No. 6 of 2019 on Joint Property Ownership, and the RERA Approved Auditor Rules. Only auditors specifically listed on the Dubai Land Department (DLD) approved auditor list can conduct RERA audits.
Three core RERA audit obligations apply to Dubai real estate:
Real estate developers with active off-plan projects must have escrow audits. Owners' Associations (now structured as JOPs under Law No. 6/2019) and property management companies handling service charges must have annual service charge audits. Audits typically need to be completed by 31 March of the following year for JOP service charges, with earlier deadlines for escrow audits depending on the project completion stage.
We extract the full transaction history from the Mollak system for the property — service charge collections, expenses, reserve fund movements and arrears.
Bank reconciliations for service charge accounts. Supplier invoice testing for major expense categories — cleaning, security, maintenance, utilities, insurance.
We test that service charges have been correctly allocated to unit owners based on unit area or share of common property, per the master community declaration.
Verification of reserve fund balances. Issue the formal RERA audit report and upload to the DLD Mollak portal within deadlines.