In force
Saudi Real Estate Unit Ownership, Division and Management Law
نظام ملكية الوحدات العقارية وفرزها وإدارتها
The Real Estate Unit Ownership, Division and Management Law of Saudi Arabia. This page presents the official Arabic text of each article with plain-English explanations for residents and businesses.
- Articles
- 33
- In force
- 33
- Amended
- 0
- Issued
- 2/7/1441 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم (م/85) وتاريخ 1441/7/2هـ · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم (440) وتاريخ 1441/7/1هـ
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Real Estate Unit Ownership, Division and Management Law by topic
Articles of the Saudi Real Estate Unit Ownership, Division and Management Law
الفصل الأول: تعريفاتArticles 1–1
الفصل الثاني: فرز العقارArticles 2–4
- Article 2The article allows a landowner holding a compliant deed to build on it and divide the building into independent units with a deed for each, and requires the units to be numbered sequentially without repetition.
- Article 3The article allows re-dividing the shared property or changing its use with the approval of the general assembly and any mortgagee, with the plan amended, and sets owners' shares in what results from the change.
- Article 4The article makes the General Authority for Real Estate responsible for approving division and re-division, leaves the procedures to the Regulations, and lets the Authority assign some of its activities to the private sector.
الفصل الثالث: أحكام الملكيةArticles 5–11
- Article 5The article requires the partnership contract for building shared property to include the partners' details, the land, the deed, and their rights and obligations, and lets partners divide their shares into divided units, with recourse to the court in case of dispute.
- Article 6The article requires an owner of a divided unit to give the buyer a disclosure statement on its specifications, rights, obligations and the shared property, and gives the buyer the right to cancel within 30 days if disclosure is deficient.
- Article 7The article provides that unit owners are partners in the common parts, regulates ownership of dividing walls and ceilings, sets each owner's share by the area of his unit, and attaches the share to the unit in dispositions.
- Article 8The article provides that disposing of each divided unit is independent of the others, and that the owner may use his unit in a way that does not conflict with its designated use.
- Article 9The article bars an owner from going too far in using his unit or the common parts to the detriment of his neighbor, allows a request to remove abnormal harm, and prohibits harming the structure or facades or obstructing the common parts.
- Article 10The article sets how compensation is distributed when shared property or part of it is expropriated for the public interest: to each owner in proportion to the value of what he owns, or to the owner of the divided part if that is what is taken.
- Article 11The article provides that ownership of units is transferred before the authorities competent for documenting contracts and declarations and issuing deeds, under the approved legal procedures.
الفصل الرابع: جمعية الملاكArticles 12–25
- Article 12The article requires owners of shared property, when there are 3 or more, to form an owners' association and register it with the Authority, gives it legal personality and a separate financial liability, and requires articles of association.
- Article 13The article allows owners of shared properties within a real estate complex to form a "complex association" with independent legal personality, made up of representatives of the owners' associations, to which the owners' association provisions apply as consistent with its nature.
- Article 14The article provides that the owners' association represents the owners in dispositions arising on the common parts.
- Article 15The article provides that owning a divided unit in a shared property that has an owners' association is acceptance of its articles of association and a commitment to the general assembly's decisions, without prejudice to Article 6.
- Article 16The article bars the owners' association from limiting or restricting the owner's rights to dispose of his unit or use it or the common parts within their purposes and without harming the other owners.
- Article 17The article requires the co-owners of a single unit to choose who represents them in the general assembly, and makes its decisions binding on all of them, each according to his share in the unit.
- Article 18The article governs the owners' association general assembly: its composition, powers, chair, meeting times, and the quorum of three quarters of the area for decisions, with the Authority's representative able to attend.
- Article 19The article covers the manager of the shared property: appointment, powers and delegation, the builder's right to appoint alone on conditions, and liability for damages caused by violations.
- Article 20The article requires the manager to prepare the draft annual budget, financial statements and annual report, sets the association's financial year and deadlines, and requires copies to go to the Authority and each owner.
- Article 21The article makes the shared property manager's decisions and contracts, issued within his powers and approved by the Authority, an enforceable instrument against owners under the Enforcement Law.
- Article 22The article requires the owners association to appoint a licensed auditor in the cases set by the Implementing Regulations, gives him the right to inspect its books and request information, and requires an annual report to the general assembly.
- Article 23The article keeps the owner of a leased unit bound toward the owners association and third parties unless he agrees otherwise with the tenant, and lets tenants under leases longer than 5 years agree with the owner to form an association.
- Article 24The article sets the owners association's resources and how its money is spent, requires every owner to pay his contribution to management and maintenance costs, and bars him from giving up his share to avoid them.
- Article 25The article provides that the owners association ends if the number of owners falls below the number needed to form it, unless the remaining owners wish to continue it, and its liability for earlier debts is unaffected.
الفصل الخامس: الإدارة والصيانةArticles 26–30
- Article 26The article divides the costs of maintaining and managing the common parts among owners in proportion to the area of their units, allows this to vary by use, and lets an owner improve the common parts at his own expense with the association's approval.
- Article 27The article requires the owner to maintain his unit even if he does not use it, to prevent harm to the property, and bars him from objecting to necessary work inside it for the property's safety, with the unit restored and no costs charged to him.
- Article 28The article requires the owners association to manage the shared property according to standards set by the Implementing Regulations.
- Article 29The article requires owners to repair a partly damaged shared property as the general assembly decides unless otherwise agreed, and lets the general assembly decide what to do if it collapses, with recourse to the court in case of disagreement.
- Article 30The article bars any change to the shared property's external appearance without the general assembly's approval, and requires its approval before any work that increases its value, at the requester's expense and on the assembly's conditions and compensation.
الفصل السادس: أحكام ختاميةArticles 31–33
- Article 31The article provides that the Authority's board of directors proposes the Implementing Regulations and that they are issued by decision of the Minister of Housing within 180 days of the Law's issuance.
- Article 32The article provides that this Law replaces the Real Estate Unit Ownership and Division Law issued by Royal Decree No. M/5 dated 11/2/1423 AH, and repeals any provisions that conflict with it.
- Article 33The article provides that the Law takes effect 180 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.
A question about the Saudi Real Estate Unit Ownership, Division and Management 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 Unit Ownership, Division and Management Law?
Describe your situation briefly and we'll suggest a lawyer who specialises in this law, free and with no commitment.