Question 1

What is strata title in the UAE?

Accepted Answer

Strata title is the legal architecture that allows individual ownership of units within a multi-unit building or master community, while common areas (lobbies, gyms, pools, district cooling, structure) are jointly owned and managed by a Jointly Owned Property Owners Association (JOPOA). In Dubai, strata is governed by Law No. 6 of 2019 on Joint Ownership of Real Property, replacing the earlier Law No. 27 of 2007. The 2019 law materially modernised the regime — clearer JOPOA powers, mandatory reserve fund, unit-owner protections, and enforcement mechanics. Abu Dhabi has the parallel framework under Law No. 3 of 2015 (Real Estate).

Question 2

What documents constitute a strata scheme?

Accepted Answer

Three constitutional documents: (1) the Master Community Declaration (MCD), drafted by the master developer, governing the master-community level; (2) the Building Management Statement (BMS), specific to each building, allocating use rights and cost responsibility for shared building services; and (3) the JOPOA By-Laws, governing the day-to-day operation of the JOPOA — voting, quorum, rules, dispute resolution. All three are registered with the Dubai Land Department and must be reviewed by RERA before registration. The drafting choices made in these documents — particularly around cost-sharing formulas, voting power and amendment rights — set the long-term economics of the scheme.

Question 3

How are mixed-use schemes (hotel + retail + residential + office) structured?

Accepted Answer

Mixed-use schemes are the most architecturally complex strata structures. The chain of rights typically runs: master developer → master community → individual buildings → within each building, sub-divisions for hotel (held by the developer or hotel-owning vehicle, operated under HMA), retail (sold by floor or held by a retail master tenant), office (strata-titled to individual buyers or held by a single office owner), and residential (strata-titled to individual buyers, governed by JOPOA). The cost-sharing formulas across these uses — for shared structure, district cooling, security, valet parking — must be negotiated at design stage; they are extremely difficult to amend after units are sold.

Question 4

What disputes commonly arise in strata schemes?

Accepted Answer

Common dispute categories: (1) interpretation of the Master Community Declaration — particularly cost-sharing formulas; (2) JOPOA boundaries and standing — which JOPOA has authority over what space; (3) modification disputes — unit owner alterations to common-property elements; (4) common-area defect claims against the master developer; (5) hotel-vs-residential noise and amenity disputes in mixed-use towers; (6) phase-handover disputes when the master developer hands over to the JOPOA. We act for developers, JOPOAs and unit owners — typically before the Rental Disputes Centre, the Court of First Instance, or arbitration where the relevant document specifies.

Question 5

How are the major capital expenditures approved?

Accepted Answer

Law 6 of 2019 imposes tiered quorum requirements scaled to the value and nature of the proposed expenditure. Routine maintenance is delegated to the OA Manager under the JOPOA budget. Major capital works require General Assembly approval, with the quorum threshold rising for higher-value works (typically 50%+ of unit owners by value for substantial works, with super-majority requirements for structural alterations or amendment to the constitutional documents). The reserve fund — mandatory under the 2019 law — exists precisely to fund these major capital works without imposing one-off levies on unit owners.

Strata title in the UAE — for developers, JOPOAs and unit owners.

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