Since mid-1437 AH, real estate contribution cases have seen significant activity within the Kingdom’s judicial system, following the approval of the department’s establishment by His Excellency the Minister of Justice and President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Sheikh Dr. Walid bin Muhammad Al-Samaani, on 3 Rajab 1437 AH. Recent data released yesterday by the Ministry of Justice—represented by the Real Estate Contributions Department at the General Court in Riyadh—revealed that 52 rulings were issued within a period of no more than 9 months, including the termination of old, defaulted contributions
169 defaulted real estate contribution cases
The Ministry clarified that the number of cases received by the Department, from its establishment on 3 Rajab 1437 AH until the end of Rabi" al-Awwal 1438 AH, totaled 169 distressed real estate contribution cases, for which 408 sessions were held, while approximately 52 cases involving distressed real estate contributions were resolved, restoring rights to the affected shareholders, whose total number exceeds 30,000.
The Ministry confirmed that the market value of the real estate investment cases that were in default and were closed by restoring rights to their rightful owners exceeds 12 billion riyals, noting that the total land area of the completed real estate projects amounted to approximately 15 million square meters across various regions of the Kingdom.
Addressing the Causes of Default
On the same topic, the head of the Real Estate Joint Ventures Department, Sheikh Saleh bin Abdulrahman Al-Nafisa, explained that the department reviewed old joint ventures—some of which date back more than 35 years—as well as joint ventures that have been stalled for periods ranging from 10 to 20 years, noting that the Court of Appeals has upheld some of the department’s rulings regarding certain of these contributions, and emphasizing that the department is currently working to address the causes of default in the remaining contributions.
Al-Nafisa noted that the reasons for the arrears stem from several factors, including conflicts of jurisdiction among government agencies, as well as overlaps and suspensions in the title deeds for some of the contributions, There are also older contributions where the death of the contributor has caused the default, and some contributors are in prison due to debts and claims by other contributors.
