Article 11 of the Saudi Real Estate Unit Ownership, Division and Management Law

This article specifies where and how ownership of real estate units is transferred: the procedures for transferring ownership are carried out before the authorities competent for documenting contracts and declarations and issuing the deeds relating to them, under the approved legal procedures.

In practice this means:

• The agreement between seller and buyer to sell an apartment or unit does not by itself complete the official transfer of ownership until its procedures are carried out before the authority competent for documentation and issuing deeds.
• The article does not create procedures of its own and does not name a specific authority, but refers to the approved legal procedures before the competent authorities.
• This includes documenting contracts and declarations and issuing deeds, meaning that the new deed in the new owner's name is issued through these authorities.

In the context of the Law, this article appears within the ownership provisions, which also address expropriation of shared property; Article 10 provides that compensation on expropriation of the shared property or part of it goes to each owner in proportion to the value of what he owns, or to the owner of the divided part expropriated. Transfer of ownership by sale or other dispositions proceeds under this article.

A person facing a problem in transferring ownership of a unit, such as a mortgage or a dispute over the deed, would do well to consult a lawyer specialized in real estate matters.