Published Official Gazette «Umm Al-Qura» In the issue published yesterday, Friday, December 26, 2025, the rules for considering and deciding on Challenges to the gross rent set for vacant propertiesalong with the controls for correcting violations of Statutory provisions governing the relationship between landlord and tenantafter approval by the Board of Directors of the General Real Estate Authority, to be effective as of the date of its approval.
The regulations for objecting to the total rent value of vacant properties consist of five items, and aim to establish clear and fair criteria for addressing objections submitted by lessors. The statutory provisions in this context refer to the provisions issued by Royal Decree No. (M/73) dated 14/4/1447 AH, which regulates the relationship between the lessor and the lessee. A vacant property is defined as a property that is not rented at the time of submitting the objection request, while the total fixed rent is defined as the rental value plus any other sums of money paid by the tenant to the lessor according to the last lease contract concluded for the property.
According to the regulations, the General Authority for Real Estate is competent to consider objections to the value of the specified total rent, based on the statutory provisions, based on a request submitted by the lessor through the «Ejar» network regarding the vacant property that is the subject of the objection. The Authority is obliged to decide on the request within a period not exceeding ten working days from the date of its completion.
The applicant must complete any additional documents requested by the Authority within ten working days from the date of notification, and if not completed within the specified period, the application will be closed. The objector will be notified of a reasoned decision of acceptance or rejection as soon as it is issued through the Ejar network.
The objections will be considered according to their reasons, and the necessary supporting documents must be attached to each case. If the reason for the objection is that the vacant property is undergoing substantial structural or structural restoration work, a structural restoration license, a report from an accredited engineering office explaining the nature of the work carried out, and a report issued by an accredited real estate appraiser specifying the total market rent value after completion of the restoration must be submitted. If the objection is related to the last lease contract concluded before January 1, 2024, a report from an accredited real estate appraiser showing the value of the market gross rent on the date of issuance of these regulations is required.
With regard to the rules for correcting violations of the statutory provisions regulating the relationship between the lessor and the lessee, they are contained in eight articles, and shall come into effect from the date of their adoption. A violation is defined as any act or omission that is considered a violation of clauses (2), (4), or (7) of the statutory provisions, when this is proven by a decision issued by the competent committee of the Authority in accordance with Article 20 of the Real Estate Brokerage Law.
Correcting the violation means taking the necessary action to remove the violation and address its effects within the specified period, ensuring that the situation is restored to what is in accordance with the statutory provisions. The regulations stipulate that the violator must correct the violation within the period specified in the committee's decision, not exceeding ten working days from the date of notification of the decision.
The mechanisms for correcting violations include several cases, including the lessor increasing the value of the total rent of the property in Riyadh city, or raising the total rent of the vacant property from the value of the last rental contract, where in these cases the value of the rent must be corrected to comply with the statutory provisions within the specified period. It also obliges the lessor who has not registered the lease contract in the electronic network for rental services «Ejar» to quickly register the contract. If the lessor in Riyadh refuses to renew the lease contract and forces the tenant to evacuate outside the legal cases, he must renew the contract when the tenant expresses his desire to continue.
The regulations emphasize that if the deadline for correcting the violation expires without taking the necessary action, the Public Authority for Real Estate has the right to intervene and adjust the total rent value or renew the lease contract, as the case may be, in order to achieve compliance with the statutory provisions. It also stressed that the application of these controls does not prejudice the right of the victim to claim compensation before the competent court.
