The new fees were spotted on the ADDC website…

It’s not a great week for keeping costs down in the capital. Earlier today we reported that a new 30 per cent tax on alcohol will come into effect from June 15, and now it looks like municipality fees are set to rise as well.

The National spotted a tweak to the Abu Dhabi Distribution Company (AADC) website, which lists the municipality fee that residents pay as part of their monthly utilities bill having increased from 3 per cent of their annual rental contract to 5 per cent.

The new fee covers all residences except residential villas which, according to the website, has been increased to 7.5 per cent, more than doubling the amount that was previously payable.

That means if you are renting a villa in Abu Dhabi for Dhs220,000 per year, you will now need to pay Dhs1,375 per month in municipality fees, rather than the Dhs550 per month you were previously paying. Ouch.

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The website doesn’t indicate when these new fees will be applied, however, the law related to the changes already appears to be in effect, so you should expect to see the new charges cropping up sooner rather than later.

This substantial bump in fees is liable to affect large portions of the community, however Emiratis, homeowners and government employees whose rent is paid for them are exempt.

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