Omnia MarketsPolicy · Saudi Arabia
Saudi white land fees curb ownership transfers until dues are paid.
The Ministry of Municipalities and Housing has approved controls that block notarisation of most sales and transfers on fee-liable vacant plots until payment is verified.
On 4 November 2026 the Saudi Press Agency reported in Arabic new controls and procedures for real estate dispositions on land subject to white land fees, adopted by the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing. The ministry said the step implements Cabinet Decision No. 263 of 12/3/1448H, which bars documentation of ownership-transferring acts on such land until due fees are confirmed as paid.
SPA listed limited paths that may still be notarised after the required checks: contributing the whole plot as an in-kind share in a real estate investment fund, dividing an estate among heirs, selling to a buyer who will develop or build within an extra period granted to the liable party, subdividing or merging plots among the same owners for development, transfers based on court rulings, acts inside approved off-plan sale and lease projects, deals in which the state is a party, and expropriation or temporary seizure for public benefit. Sabq carried a matching headline the same day.
The ministry stressed these routes are not fee exemptions. Fees remain due under the stated rules, and the ordinary notarisation path stays closed until payment is verified. Further operational detail on how registries will apply the checks was not set out in the SPA item.
From the JournalRiyadh vs Jeddah: where to live, and what changes by neighbourhood.Our take
Omnia Desk
Fee clearance is now a hard gate on vacant-plot deals.
Anyone holding or buying empty land under the white-land fee regime faces a notary stop on most sales, gifts and other ownership transfers until arrears are verified as paid. The ministry’s listed paths help heirs, court orders, fund contributions, same-owner merges and splits for development, state deals, expropriation and approved off-plan schemes, yet none of them cancel the fee or skip the statutory checks.
Finished homes and Wafi stage-pay stock we already list sit outside that vacant-land net. The live work is on bare plots: confirm in writing whether the parcel is fee-liable, whether dues are settled, and whether the intended act matches one of the permitted routes before any transfer is signed. That file is now part of ordinary title hygiene on white land.
Our guide to foreign ownership still sets who may hold designated freehold stock; this control only tightens how fee-liable vacant plots move between parties.
Sources
About Omnia Markets- 1Saudi Press Agency (Arabic) · 4 November 2026اقتصادي / وزارة البلديات والإسكان تعلن عن اعتماد ضوابط لتنظيم التصرفات العقارية على الأراضي الخاضعة لرسوم الأراضي البيضاء(opens in a new tab)
- 2Sabq (Arabic) · 4 November 2026البلديات تعتمد ضوابط تنظيم التصرفات العقارية على أراضي رسوم الأراضي البيضاء(opens in a new tab)
From across Omnia
More on Saudi Arabia, from Omnia.
Mohammed Al Habib residential portfolio atlas, 2026.
A source review of ten Mohammed Al Habib projects, with original capacity analysis, home-format comparisons and alternatives from the wider Riyadh and Jeddah market.
Can foreigners buy property in Saudi Arabia?
Foreign individuals can own freehold in designated areas, with 2026 rules widening access in Riyadh and Jeddah.
Moving to Riyadh with a family: schools, neighbourhoods and the first home.
A school’s campus and curriculum can narrow the housing search more effectively than a list of the city’s most popular districts. Here is how the choices connect.
Buying property in Madinah as a non-Saudi.
Muslim individuals living abroad can now own a home in Madinah. A first phase of 304 homes has already sold to non-Saudi investors. Here is who may buy, and what to check.
The Omnia Markets briefing
The markets, with our take, by email.
The stories that move these markets, and what they mean for a buyer, as they break.
