The recently introduced expat housing fee in Abu Dhabi will be enforced retroactively to the day the decree was issued and will have to be paid in a single payment, reported Arabian Business on Thursday, quoting an Abu Dhabi Municipality (ADM) official.

The expat housing fee was introduced in February 2016 and will be paid in monthly instalments in 2017. It is applicable to all non-UAE citizens and amounts to 3% of the annual rent.

There have however been delays in the implementation of the decree as, according to the official, there were a lot of entities involved in the implementation.