Saudi Arabia sets transfer rules for fee-liable vacant land

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Municipalities and Housing has approved procedures for property transactions involving “white land” — undeveloped urban plots subject to fees intended to encourage development. Under a Cabinet decision now being put into practice, ownership transfers generally cannot be documented until the outstanding fees have been verified as paid. The rules also create routes for transactions that cannot simply wait, including inheritance divisions, court-ordered transfers, certain real-estate fund contributions, and sales to buyers who will develop the land within an approved additional period. Those routes do not erase the fees; they allow qualifying transactions to be documented after the required process. The practical change is to make a landowner’s fee status part of the transfer process while avoiding disruption to development and legally necessary deals.