What are the key roles in an Owners Association?
The key roles involved in an Owners Association include:
- The Owners who have the right to vote in the meetings of the Owners Association.
- The Board of Directors (more often referred to as ”the Board”) who are owners elected on a democratic basis by a majority vote of owners on an annual basis at each Annual General Assembly. The role of the Board is clearly defined and governed by the constitution and the Jointly Owned Property Law.
- In some instances subcommittees, which may consist of members other than Board members, may be formed to assist the Board on a specific task with a view to making recommendations to the Board.
Subcommittees can be particularly helpful when some owners who have not been elected to the Board can offer specific skill and expertise in the areas of management, maintenance and repair where such expertise is not an area that is covered by the expertise of any of the elected Board members. - The Owners Association must appoint an association manager by contract and the services to be provided to the Owners Association are clearly defined in the Regulations. An association manager can be an individual or a company on a paid basis or a proprietor on a voluntary basis and the manager appointed must not have a conflict of interest in the management of the Owners Association affairs and/or business.
- Service providers are those individuals or companies who provide goods or services to the Owners Association for the benefit of the owners.
- The property developer is the person or company that had the vision of the development and proceeded to finance and build the development.
- The property builder is the person or company that constructed the development in accordance with the developer’s vision.
- The Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) monitors compliance of all the above in accordance with the law, rules and regulations of Dubai.