Apartment

An apartment is a self-contained residential unit within a multi-unit or multi-storey building, with its own entrance and one or more rooms, a kitchen and bathrooms, sharing common parts such as the land, entrances, stairs, lifts, parking and tanks with the other units. It is the most widespread form of housing in Saudi Arabia's major cities, both for ownership and for rent. Legally, an apartment can be owned separately under its own title deed once the building has been 'subdivided' into units. The Law of Ownership, Subdivision and Management of Real Estate Units allows the owner of land to build on it, subdivide the building into independent units and issue a deed for each unit, with the subdivision approved by the Real Estate General Authority (REGA). Apartment owners co-own the common parts, and where there are three or more of them they must form an owners' association registered with REGA (for off-plan sales, from the start of handover of the second unit). The seller must give a disclosure statement on the unit's specifications, rights and obligations, and the buyer may rescind within 30 days if material information was missing. A purchase bears the 5% Real Estate Transaction Tax, with the state bearing the tax on up to SAR 1,000,000 of the value of an eligible citizen's first home, and off-plan purchases fall under the Off-Plan Sale Law and the Wafi platform. A lease is documented on Ejar for SAR 125 a year, with no VAT. In practice, an apartment's value depends not only on its size and location but on its legal status: does it have a subdivided deed, what share of parking and roof does it carry, and what are the owners' association contributions? The law bars any owner from works that harm the structure or affect the façades, so alterations such as enclosing balconies or moving load-bearing walls are not an individual decision.