Saudi Arabia regulates real estate transactions on white lands

The Ministry of Municipalities and Housing has approved new rules and procedures to regulate real estate transactions on lands subject to white land fees, including conditions for restricting title transfers under specific terms.

The new measures will help regulate real estate dealings, address the needs of landowners and developers, and support the continuity of real estate development and investment projects, the SPA reported.

The permissible cases include contributing the entire plot as an in-kind share to a real estate investment fund, estate divisions among heirs, selling to a buyer committed to development within the taxpayer’s extended grace period, and subdividing or merging tax-subject plots among existing owners for development. They also cover title transfers executed via judicial rulings, transactions within approved off-plan sales and lease projects, and government-involved transactions or those resulting from eminent domain expropriations and temporary property possessions.

The ministry stressed that registering transactions in these cases requires completing the necessary regulatory procedures, while maintaining full compliance with paying outstanding fees under specified rules. It noted that these provisions do not constitute a tax exemption, but rather regulatory pathways to document certain transactions under legal requirements.

The approval of these rules came in implementation of Cabinet Decision No. 263, which stipulates that real estate transactions transferring title to lands subject to the White Land Tax shall not be registered without verifying the payment of all due fees.