Lifestyle

An Eye on Real Estate

by: Bill Grieve - Wed, 12 Nov 2025

Real Estate and Property Management are at the core of Bill Grieve’s experience. In this series, he provides insight and opinion from both himself and people of standing in the real estate industry, helping to transfer knowledge and provide a platform for property owners and the wider sector.

In conversation with Hanya Ahmed Sulaiman – Experienced Home Owners Association Member – Amwaj Plaza 1 Board Secretary and Acting Chairman since 2016.

Beneath the Surface: The Hidden Challenges of Apartment Ownership
How gaps in oversight and accountability can expose private apartment owners to exploitation.

Apartment ownership always begins the same way – with excitement and the anticipation of quiet evenings and stability. What isn’t imagined is the bureaucratic maze, the sudden bills, inconsiderate neighbours doing extensive noisy internal unapproved maintenance and renovations and the creeping realisation that ownership doesn’t always mean control. For many owners there are only two happy days of residential apartment ownership – the day the apartment is bought and the day the apartment is sold.

The local residential apartment market, long seen as a gateway for both locals and expatriates to plant roots, is a complex web. The Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), established to bring order and accountability, sets frameworks for how residential buildings should be managed. But for individual apartment owners, the reality often feels hollow. RERAs scope is primarily regulatory and supervisory by design, and for apartments, it primarily engages with Owners Association Boards (OABs) – collective legal bodies established to represent all owners. In practice, this means private apartment owners are like minor shareholders in a commercial company, with little direct say individually in how their own property is run.

Problems often begin with the Owners Association Boards themselves. Many are formed hastily, with members volunteering out of obligation rather than expertise. Lacking the knowledge – or the energy – to manage complex budgets and maintenance schedules, they often simply ‘throw the monkey’ by handing full control to a building management company (BMC). These companies, often overstretched, unchecked and under-regulated, take advantage of the oversight vacuum. Service charges climb without explanation. Common areas deteriorate while ‘administrative costs’ mysteriously increase. “We discovered we were paying double for pest control, reception, security and other services,” recalls Lina, a former property owner in Seef. “When we questioned it, they became uncooperative because they were benefitting at every turn and charge.”

Behind the scenes, a disturbing pattern emerges. Some residential apartment building management companies operate like magicians – overpromising by illusion and under-delivering in reality. Their growth strategies rely less on performance and more on persuasion, winning new contracts through guile, charm and selective truths rather than measured KPIs. This culture of overpromising/under-delivering has even resulted in many real estate developers creating their own management divisions to protect their brand integrity and avoid being associated with unscrupulous or incompetent BMC failures.

RERA’s structure provides a foundation on which reform can be built. One key step could be the establishment of an independent Ombudsman’s Office – a neutral authority empowered to hear individual complaints, audit management practices, and hold Owners Association boards and building management companies accountable. “An Ombudsman would change everything,” says a property law consultant. “It would give individual owners a voice without destabilising the entire system.”

Equally crucial might be the creation of an Owners Association, Institute or Society, functioning independently of RERA. Such an institution could provide training, governance guidance, and a platform for experience-sharing among Residential Apartment Building Owners Association Boards, ensuring that Boards act transparently and with competence rather than convenience.

Apartment ownership, at its core, should symbolise stability – a sense of belonging and security. However, all too often, it turns into a quiet endurance test. Owners deserve more than polite circular advice and vague ‘Financial Trends’ spreadsheets instead of audited accounts with verifiable supporting contracts, invoices and receipts. They deserve transparency, accountability and dignity. Until these are guaranteed, the promise of apartment home ownership will remain an uneasy dream for many, balanced on a fragile foundation of trust.

A few tips to consider when buying an apartment –

• Check the building OA Boards history for stability and effective decision making.

• Carefully ask to see and examine the approved budgets and accounts.

• Read the last four years of AGM Minutes.

• Ensure that the OA does not have enormous outstanding debts (maintenance/service charges) or accumulated losses that you will inherit and pay towards annually.

• Read the reviews on the BMC if there is one managing the building.

• Ask to see the Complaints Register data – Complaints by type (Noise, maintenance etc.).