Knowledge and sources
A plain explanation of what official bodies say about property, facilities and owners associations. Each article ends with a card naming the authority, the document and its official link.
This content is educational. It does not replace the official source or constitute legal advice.
Property management and facility management: what separates them
Saudi brokerage law treats property management (the financial and administrative side of a property) and facility management (its technical side) as two separate regulated activities. Each needs its own licence from the Real Estate General Authority and may be carried out only by a licensed firm.
Activity code 682020 and the property manager's qualification
The Authority's service for the Fal licence in property management asks for a valid commercial registration that includes the activity of managing real estate for a fee (code 682020) and a responsible manager who has completed the qualification programme. The listed fee is SAR 1,000 per year.
Activity code 811005 and the facility management licence
The Authority's service for the Fal licence in facility management requires a valid commercial registration for operating, running and maintaining buildings and their facilities (code 811005) and a manager qualified through the Saudi Real Estate Institute. The licence is for firms, not individuals.
Rules for online real estate platforms under the marketing and advertising regulation
The real estate marketing and advertising regulation governs both the advertisement itself and the online platform that publishes it: registration, a technical link with the Authority, verified advertisers, hosting inside the Kingdom and a complaints page. It took effect on publication in the Official Gazette.
The owners' association bylaws
The ownership law requires an association to be formed and registered once a property has three or more owners of separate units, and registration needs bylaws. The regulation sets what the bylaws must contain, including the powers of the general assembly, voting procedure and manager conditions.
The shared-property manager's powers and the budget
The association's bylaws choose the shared-property manager and the regulation defines the manager's powers. The key rule is that spending comes only from the budget the general assembly has approved, and the manager's decisions and contracts need the Authority's approval under the regulation.
The association's auditor
The regulation requires an association to appoint a licensed auditor when the shared property has 100 or more units or the association's assets exceed SAR 1 million. The auditor must be independent of the association's members and their relatives.
The association's bank account
The regulation requires an association to open an account in its own name with a licensed bank in the Kingdom and to pay all its funds into it. The association's money stays separate from any personal account of the manager, a provider or a platform.
Sharing the cost of common areas
As a rule, owners bear the cost of maintaining and managing common areas in proportion to the area of their units. Where a common area benefits only some owners, those beneficiaries bear its cost, unless they have agreed otherwise.
Transfer of warranties when the association is formed
When the owners' association is formed, the construction and operating warranties pass to the owners or the complex association. The developer must keep repairing defects until valid warranties have been transferred, and the transfer does not end the developer's contractual or statutory liability.
Ejar's integration with real estate marketing and management platforms
Ejar publishes a page on digital integration between its network and real estate marketing platforms. We could not read the page directly, so this article is a cautious summary, and we have not verified the conditions for linking or which platforms qualify.
Rental rules that depend on place and date
The Authority's page on the Ejar platform sets out rules tied to place and date: a five-year rent freeze within Riyadh's urban boundary, automatic renewal rules, and a tenant's right to ask for registration. These rules should not be generalised to every city.
Photographing and copying official identity documents
Article 28 of the Personal Data Protection Law says official documents that identify the data subject may not be photographed or copied, except to carry out a law or at the request of a competent public body in line with the regulations.
Notifying the competent authority of a data breach within 72 hours
The implementing regulation of the Personal Data Protection Law requires a controller to notify the competent authority within 72 hours of learning of a breach likely to harm the data subject. The data subject must also be told without unjustified delay.
The electronic record and the trusted signature
The implementing regulation of the Electronic Transactions Law sets controls for keeping an electronic record and for an electronic signature. A signature's validity rests on a current digital certificate that matches the signer's identity.