In force Last amended 22/8/1444 AH
Saudi Eminent Domain Implementing Regulations
اللائحة التنفيذية لنظام نزع ملكية العقارات للمنفعة العامة ووضع اليد المؤقت على العقار
Implementing regulations covering the defined terms, expropriation procedures and cases, locating public utility networks, compensating a landowner for land taken for planning, the contents of the approval decision, and cases of temporary taking of property.
- Articles
- 26
- In force
- 26
- Amended
- 1
- Issued
- 11/2/1437 AH
Issued by: قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم (54) بتاريخ 11 / 2 / 1437
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Eminent Domain Implementing Regulations by topic
Definitions in Eminent Domain for the Public Benefit2 articlesCases and Conditions of Eminent Domain3 articlesEminent Domain for Utility Networks2 articlesCompensation for Cuts for Roads and Planning5 articlesStart Decision and Property Inventory Committee2 articlesAssessment Committee and Compensation Methods4 articlesCompensation for Affected Property and Partial Taking2 articlesIn-Kind Compensation and Concluding Procedures3 articlesRelinquishing and Recovering Expropriated Property1 articleTemporary Taking of Property3 articles
Articles of the Saudi Eminent Domain Implementing Regulations
- Article 1The article defines the key terms of the Eminent Domain Regulations, such as taking of ownership, public facilities, compensation, developed and white land, the statutory percentage and the initial planning concept.
- Article 2The article requires the project-owning authority, before starting eminent domain procedures, to confirm there are no government lands or properties that meet the project's need at its planned site.
- Article 3The article sets three cases of eminent domain for budget-approved projects, and in two of them requires a preliminary selection and notice to owners and then telling them the fate of their properties within 6 months.
- Article 4The article requires the State Properties Authority to be notified of public-use sites within 30 days of the plan's approval, and sets the basis for assessing compensation for land allocated to them that the statutory percentage does not cover.
- Article 5The article requires public utility network routes to be coordinated with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs or the General Authority for Roads, and requires compensation for areas taken outside road routes and for high-voltage tower clearance zones.
- Article 6The article allows a company managing a public utility to take ownership of properties blocking its networks' route to the extent of its technical need, under procedures ending with the approval of the Minister supervising the utility.
- Article 7The article provides that the owner of land of ten thousand square meters or less is compensated, by the project-owning authority, for the whole area taken to build main road networks.
- Article 8The article provides for compensating the owner of planned white land from which the statutory percentage was taken and which a main road then crosses, unless the remaining undeveloped area exceeds ten thousand meters.
- Article 9The article provides that when a main road passes through developed land, of whatever kind of development, compensation is paid for the areas taken and for the buildings, facilities and plantings on them.
- Article 10The article provides that the owner of developed land who requests its planning or subdivision is not compensated for what is taken from it within the statutory percentage, nor for what exceeds it if at his request or with his consent.
- Article 11The article details the landowner's entitlement to compensation for what is taken for planning or main roads, inside and outside the development protection boundary, according to the statutory percentage or the 12% rate and the ten-thousand-square-meter limit.
- Article 12The article sets what the decision approving the start of expropriation procedures must contain, including project details, a call to the bodies to name their representatives within 15 days, and a request to owners for ownership documents.
- Article 13The article regulates notifying owners and occupants of the date the inventory committee will enter, what is added to the inventory report, and preparing a detailed plan for each property covered by the inventory.
- Article 14The article requires notifying owners and occupants of the date the assessment committee will visit, well before it starts, and regulates what is done when they refuse to let the committee carry out its work.
- Article 15The article regulates the assessment committee's work: quorum and decisions, its report and its approval within 15 days, finality of its decision after 30 days, the conflict-of-interest declaration, and the accreditation of the two expert members.
- Article 16The article requires the assessment committee to use one or more valuation methods, such as comparison, cost and income, and to state them in the decision, and sets what it is guided by in valuing buildings and structures.
- Article 17The article regulates the procedures for assessing compensation for owners of properties harmed by carrying out the project without anything being taken, from the request and the technical committee to its report and referral to the assessment committee.
- Article 18The article sets how compensation is assessed when only part of a property is expropriated, whether land, or land with buildings and plantings, depending on whether the remainder is usable; the body bears demolition costs; and the owner may ask to benefit from an adjoining remainder.
- Article 19The article allows the project owner to offer the owner in-kind compensation from State-owned properties instead of cash, subject to controls including his consent, simultaneous valuation within 90 days, and a difference not exceeding 30%.
- Article 20The article provides that not knowing the property owner does not prevent starting the project, while requiring the body to keep a separate dated record for each case for any future claim.
- Article 21The article specifies the documents the file for concluding compensation procedures must contain, from the start decision and ownership documents to the detailed plan and the inventory and assessment reports.
- Article 22The article regulates the body's relinquishing an expropriated property that cannot be allocated to another public project, notifying the owner or heirs, and their right to ask to recover it within six months in return for repaying the compensation.
- Article 23The article requires, for temporary taking of property, a decision from the competent authority, an inventory report given to those concerned, and compensation assessed by the assessment committee of not less than the fair rent.
- Article 24When the project owner wishes to relinquish a temporarily taken property, it must notify its owner at least thirty days before vacating, by a two-copy letter with specified particulars.
- Article 25The article regulates assessing the damage to a property that was taken temporarily by a technical committee and report, the owner's right to record reservations while still receiving the property, and the assessment committee's review of objections within 90 days.
- Article 26The article provides that the Regulations on expropriation for public benefit and temporary taking of property are published in the Official Gazette and take effect from the date of their publication.