Yardi Meets Regional Needs in Dubai

Develops Rent Calculator Solution

By Courtesy Gulf Property on Aug 12, 2019 in Global

Yardi has recently aligned its Residential Property Management solutions – RentCafe CRM and RentCafe –  as per the ruleset of Dubai Land Department’s Rent Calculator that will help tenants and landlords to adjust rents when the facilities come up for renewal.

“We have recently developed a Rent Calculator solution within our residential marketing and leasing  platform. This Rent Calculator gives automated advance notice to tenants with the benchmark rent as per the norms set by the Dubai Land Department’s Rent Calculator well in advance, so that the tenants could make up their mind on whether to negotiate new rent or relocate,” said Aditya Shah, Yardi’s Director for Middle East Operations, told Gulf Property in an exclusive interview.

“This will help both the landlords and tenants to adjust their budgets or decision on renewal well ahead of time and makes things better for all parties.”

Rent increase or decrease remains a major area of conflict between landlords and tenants globally and in the UAE. Rental disputes are major areas of concern for the Dubai Land Department.

Dubai’s Rental Disputes Centre (RDC), judicial arm of Dubai Land Department set up to resolve mounting rent and payment disputes, resolved 1,863 lawsuits and 326 appeals in 9 months of 2017. And its Smart Judge app, which serves out instant judgements, managed to snag a high user base totalling 3,544 since its launch.

Rent defaulters in the emirate are automatically banned from travelling as the case gets linked to the tenant’s immigration file. However, they can now settle their dues at the airport and get on their flights, thanks to the Rental Dispute Centre’s (RDC) new smart system.

Imposing a travel ban on individuals with outstanding debts has been stipulated in the Federal Civil Procedure Law since 1992. Article 329 of the law states that a creditor has the right to request a travel ban for a defaulter with a loan of at least Dh10,000.

Though figures are yet to be available, a RDC official recently said rental debts appear to be one of the main reasons why people in the emirate are being placed on the travel ban list.

According to industry reports, more than 60,000 new homes will be delivered in Dubai in 2019 and 2020 – as the emirate prepares for the World Expo 2020 mega event.

According to a recent report by global property management advisory Knight Franks, rental rates across Dubai fell on average by 7.7 percent in the year to November 2018 with apartment rents falling by 8.4 percent and villa/townhouse rents by 8.3 percent over the same time period.

Gross yields in Dubai currently stand at 6.27 percent as at November 2018, down from 6.45 percent a year earlier, this is as a result of rents declining at a faster pace than sales prices over this time period, the report said.

This is expected to put downward pressure on property prices and rents – that could trigger either a massive relocation to cheaper homes or more rental disputes.

“Our Yardi rent management system, which works as per the norms set by Dubai Land Department’s Rent Calculator, could effectively reduce both the number of rent dispute cases and the extent of relocation efforts by tenants to cheaper homes,” Shah says. “This is a great news for both tenants and landlords that our property management solutions could help reduce underlying tensions amongst the residential stakeholders.”

“We have already signed up more than 150,000 residential units in Middle East under our property management system while we expect our business  will grow by 15 percent this year,” Shah says.

Some of the largest UAE-based developers and asset managers use Yardi Voyager, the company’s flagship accounting platform, to help centralize operational, financial, leasing and maintenance management for entire property portfolios in a single database. Established in 1984, the 35-year-old company employs nearly 7,000 professionals in 45 regional offices across the world.

The UAE’s facilities management market is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.8 percent and expected to generate $23.88 billion revenue by 2024. The growth is driven by the higher number of new residential supplies that is also putting pressure on rent and property prices.

The major drivers for the market are the increasing investments in the construction sector and the growing tourism industry. To ensure the functionality of built structures, such as residential buildings, railway stations, and offices, professional services covering multiple disciplines are used, which are referred to as facility management services.

Property management, including lease and tenancy management, building maintenance, security, landscape, common area management, waste management, mechanical, electrical and plumbing works, is a rapidly growing global business.

The worldwide property management market size is growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.8 percent from US$12.83 billion in 2017 to reach US$22.04 billion by 2023, according to a recent report.