What a Service Charge Should Actually Cover
A low service charge is not automatically good news. What the monthly figure should be paying for, and the warning signs.
Nadia Rahman · 30 May 2026 · 4 min read
The monthly service charge is the least examined number in most Dhaka apartment purchases, and one of the more revealing. It should cover security, cleaning, lift maintenance, generator fuel and servicing, water pumping and treatment, common-area electricity, and a sinking fund for major repairs.
That last item is the one most often missing. A building with no sinking fund is not cheaper to live in — it is deferring the cost of lift replacement, façade repair and pump overhaul until the day it arrives as a lump-sum demand on every owner.
Ask for two years of building accounts before you buy. If the committee cannot produce them, treat that as information in itself.
Published 30 May 2026. Market conditions change; this piece reflects our reading at the time of writing and is general information rather than advice on a specific property or transaction.
