By Arami VHR Team · Updated November 2026 · 4 min read
If you live outside Dubai, begin with a list of decisions you want to retain and tasks you want your holiday-home manager to handle. Discuss guest communication, apartment access, cleaning coordination, maintenance and reporting separately. This is a planning guide for overseas owners, not a statement that all managers include the same services.
Ask for a written scope and a named contact. Explain your time zone and how you prefer to receive important questions. Agree a practical escalation route for an unresolved issue and a separate process for urgent incidents. Clear responsibility is more useful than a general reassurance that you never need to be involved.
Ask how the apartment will be inspected and how you will receive the condition record, inventory and outstanding task list. Review dated photos and query anything unclear before approving proposed work. Identify who checks completion when you cannot visit personally, and keep the answers with the handover plan.
Confirm access arrangements and how documents are shared securely. Provide only what is needed through the agreed channel rather than sending sensitive documents into a broad message group. For registration, ownership or authority-to-act questions, obtain current advice from DET, DLD or a lawyer; do not assume that living abroad changes or removes the applicable requirements.
Before signing, request the reporting format and ask what you can see, how it is updated and when statements are issued. Discuss how bookings, owner-use dates, maintenance blocks and financial adjustments are distinguished. A dashboard screenshot is a starting point for questions, not evidence that every record you need is available.
Ask how payouts are scheduled under your particular agreement and what information accompanies them. Confirm payment arrangements through a trusted channel and independently verify unexpected requests to change payment details. Keep financial questions linked to specific references so your manager can explain them without sharing unnecessary guest information.
Discuss how repairs are assessed, approved and reported when you are unavailable. Ask which situations require your decision and which follow an agreed urgent process. Keep any authority to spend clearly defined in the agreement and request qualified assessment for technical problems. Distance should not leave responsibility for a fault unclear.
If you expect to visit the apartment, agree how you request owner-use dates and receive confirmation. Check existing reservations before making travel plans that depend on the home being free. Ask how access, cleaning and any work are coordinated around the visit, and how owner-use dates are reflected in performance discussions.
Compare management proposals on the same apartment details, costs and intended owner-use dates. Ask for the fee basis, included services, reporting, payout terms and exit process in writing. According to Arami VHR's supplied service information, revenue sharing or guaranteed rent is available in selected buildings; ask whether either proposal applies to your home rather than assuming eligibility.
Use an AI earnings estimate as an initial planning conversation, then request a written management proposal with its own assumptions and responsibilities. Arrange a review of actual results and unresolved tasks after management begins. Seek legal advice on unclear contract terms and specialist advice on personal tax or cross-border questions; this guide does not determine those obligations.
Agree the service scope, local contact, inspection record, reporting, repair approval, owner-use process and contract terms. Confirm legal and registration questions with qualified advisers and the relevant authorities.
No. Ask how owner-use dates are requested and confirmed, check existing commitments and coordinate access and cleaning before relying on the apartment for your trip.
No. Use it as a planning starting point, then request a separate written proposal covering assumptions, responsibilities and commercial terms.