In force Last amended 10/6/1447 AH
Saudi Real Estate Registration Law
نظام التسجيل العيني للعقار
The Real Estate Registration Law of Saudi Arabia. This page presents the official Arabic text of each article with plain-English explanations for residents and businesses.
- Articles
- 40
- In force
- 40
- Amended
- 3
- Issued
- 19/9/1443 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم (م/91) وتاريخ 1443/9/19هـ · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم (537) وتاريخ 1443/9/18هـ
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Real Estate Registration Law by topic
Definitions of Real Estate Registration and Its Scope2 articlesPowers of the In Rem Registration Authority2 articlesEvidentiary Force of the Real Estate Register and Access to It5 articlesFirst In Rem Registration of Real Estate5 articlesObjecting to First In Rem Registration2 articlesRegistering Real Estate Transactions6 articlesRegistration Request and Challenging a Refusal3 articlesAnnotating Cases and Pre-emption in the Real Estate Register5 articlesUpdating Property Data in the Register4 articlesOff-Plan Property Registration3 articlesSurveying, Subdividing and Merging Property2 articlesIn Rem Registration Fees1 articleIn Rem Registration Violations and Penalties2 articlesRegulations and Entry into Force of the In Rem Registration Law3 articles
Articles of the Saudi Real Estate Registration Law
الفصل الأول: الأحكام العامةArticles 1–2
- Article 1The article defines the key terms of the Real Estate Registration Law, such as real property, real property right, the real estate register, first in rem registration and the title registration deed.
- Article 2The article provides that the Real Estate Registration Law applies to all real property located within the territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
الفصل الثاني: اختصاص الجهة المختصةArticles 3–3
الفصل الثالث: السجل العقاريArticles 4–6
- Article 4The article gives the real estate register absolute authority as evidence before the courts and all bodies, allows it to be challenged only for a clerical error or forgery, and sets out its contents.
- Article 5The article bars amending the real estate register's data except under the Law and the Regulations, and obliges the competent authority to correct purely clerical and material errors on request or on its own initiative, notifying those concerned.
- Article 6The article makes the real estate register's data open to inspection by everyone, except the data of owners of real rights and data of properties that the relevant bodies determine to be confidential.Amended M/123
الفصل الرابع: التسجيل العيني الأولArticles 7–12
- Article 7The article regulates designating the real estate zone by a decision of the competent authority, its jurisdiction over first in rem registration there, and documenting dealings made during the registration procedures.
- Article 8The article sets the conditions for first in rem registration: a title deed meeting legal requirements and complete geospatial data. It requires disclosure of documents, regulates survey work, and provides for issuing the title registration deed.
- Article 9The article obliges the competent authority to prepare lists of properties registered in rem and publish them by the means the Regulations set, including each property's number, location, area and planning data.Amended M/123
- Article 10The article allows any interested person to object to first in rem registration before the competent court, as long as the registration has not acquired absolute authority under the Law.
- Article 11The article requires cases on first in rem registration to be annotated in the real estate register, provides that the registration acquires absolute authority within a period not exceeding one year, and limits the harmed person to compensation afterwards.Amended M/123
- Article 12The article allows owners of properties outside a real estate zone to apply to register them in the real estate register under the conditions and controls set by the Regulations.
الفصل الخامس: تسجيل التصرفات العقاريةArticles 13–28
- Article 13The article requires registration of every dealing after first in rem registration that creates, transfers, changes or extinguishes a real right, and these rights are not effective without registration.
- Article 14The article requires lease contracts and documented obligations on the use of a property to be annotated in the real estate register where their term is 10 years or more, and they are not effective without the annotation.
- Article 15The article obliges the relevant bodies to supply the real estate register with the facts of property owners' deaths and the deeds establishing their heirs, by a mechanism agreed with the competent authority.
- Article 16The article requires cases relating to a real right in property that involve changing its data to be annotated in the real estate register before being heard, and allows an urgent request to erase the annotation if the case is vexatious.
- Article 17The article makes a right established by a final judgment in an annotated case binding on those who acquired rights in the register after the annotation, if the judgment is registered within 90 days of becoming final.
- Article 18The article requires a declaration of the wish to exercise pre-emption (shuf'a) to be annotated in the real estate register, and the pre-emptor's right established by a final judgment binds those who acquired rights after the annotation if the judgment is registered within 90 days.
- Article 19The article leaves it to the Implementing Regulations to set the mechanisms for registering the final judgments referred to in Articles 17 and 18 in the real estate register.
- Article 20The article regulates submitting a registration or annotation request and its documents, treats the request as void if documents are not submitted within 30 days, bars registration where restrictions exist, and examines requests by priority.
- Article 21The article lets a person whose registration or annotation request was rejected, whose priority lapsed, or whose proceedings were stayed file a grievance with the competent authority within 30 days, then before the competent court within 30 days.
- Article 22The article provides that the content of legally documented instruments received from the relevant bodies is registered in the real estate register in the order they reach the competent authority, subject to Article 20.
- Article 23The article obliges the bodies that issue property and property-use licenses to notify the competent authority of licenses they issue or cancel for properties in the real estate zone, so they can be annotated.
- Article 24The article obliges the property owner to notify the competent authority of any change in the property's description due to constructing, adding, modifying or removing buildings within 90 days, so the register is updated.
- Article 25The article allows the competent authority to update the real estate register on its own initiative by adding any licensed change to an existing property not recorded in the register, notifying those concerned.
- Article 26The article gives a person harmed by the registration of real estate dealings the right to go to the competent court to claim compensation from whoever caused the harm.
- Article 27The article allows the holder of a usufruct right over a property to register a dealing in that right in the real estate register without the property owner's permission, unless otherwise agreed.
- Article 28The article provides that each separate real estate unit in a jointly owned property has its own title registration deed, and that the joint ownership documents specified by the Regulations must be registered.
الفصل السادس: سجل التصرف في العقار الموصوف على الخارطةArticles 29–31
- Article 29The article obliges the competent authority to establish a register of properties described on the plan, linked to the real estate register, and leaves its procedures to the Regulations.
- Article 30The article requires all dealings in properties described on the plan to be registered in the register under Article 29, which issues a certificate of this, and they are not effective without this registration.
- Article 31The article obliges the owner of a property described on the plan to request transfer of its data to the real estate register and issuance of a deed within 30 days of completion, and allows transfer by decision of the licensing body.
الفصل السابع: أعمال المساحة والفرزArticles 32–33
- Article 32The article requires anyone carrying out survey work relating to in rem registration to be licensed by the competent body and entered in a register prepared by the competent authority.
- Article 33The article requires the approval of the relevant body for dividing a property or merging it in the register, and keeps the real property right whole on each property resulting from division unless otherwise agreed.
الفصل الثامن: رسوم التسجيل والمقابل المالي للخدمات المضافةArticles 34–34
الفصل التاسع: العقوباتArticles 35–36
- Article 35The article punishes five violations of the Real Estate Registration Law with a fine of up to one hundred thousand riyals.
- Article 36The article establishes a committee to consider violations of the Real Estate Registration Law and impose their penalty, and allows objection to its decisions before the Administrative Court within 60 days.
الفصل العاشر: الأحكام الختاميةArticles 37–40
- Article 37The article sets the conditions for working as a real estate registrar: a Sharia or law university degree, no conviction for an offense involving dishonor or breach of trust, completing a qualifying course, and any condition the Regulations set.
- Article 38The article requires the competent authority to issue the Implementing Regulations, in agreement with the Ministry of Justice, within 90 days of the Law's publication, to take effect when the Law does.
- Article 39The article provides that this Law replaces the Real Estate Registration Law issued by Royal Decree No. M/6 dated 11/2/1423 AH, and repeals anything that conflicts with it.
- Article 40The article provides that the Real Estate Registration Law takes effect 90 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.
A question about the Saudi Real Estate Registration Law?
Describe what happened and specialist lawyers answer. You can write in English.
- Completely free
- Lawyers from the directory answer
- Your name stays hidden
Need a lawyer who knows the Saudi Real Estate Registration Law?
Describe your situation briefly and we'll suggest a lawyer who specialises in this law, free and with no commitment.