Ownership & Rights
37 terms in this category
Adverse Possession
Adverse possession (acquisitive prescription) is a doctrine in some legal systems, especially common-law ones, under which a person who occupies land owned by another openly, continuously and without the owner's permission for a statutory period can acquire ownership of it.
Awqaf Authority
The General Authority for Awqaf (GAA) is a Saudi public authority with independent legal personality and financial and administrative autonomy, established by a law issued by Royal Decree No. (M/11) dated 26/2/1437H to regulate, protect and develop endowments (waqfs) in line with their founders' conditions.
Bare Ownership
Bare ownership is ownership of real estate stripped of the right to use it: the owner keeps the property's substance and the power to sell, mortgage or gift it, while a usufructuary uses and exploits it until the usufruct ends and full ownership reunites.
Boundary Dispute
A boundary dispute is a disagreement between two or more neighbouring owners over the location of the dividing line between their properties or over their dimensions and areas, resolved by reference to deeds, approved plans and land surveys and, judicially, before the General Court.
Clear Title
A clear title is a valid title deed proving the seller's ownership of a property with no mortgage, attachment, suspension, pending dispute or third-party right restricting its disposal, so ownership can pass to the buyer in full and immediately.
Co-Ownership
Co-ownership is the ownership of a single property by two or more persons, either in undivided shares (shuyu') or as separately owned units sharing common parts, as in apartment buildings and compounds, with each partner holding a defined proportional share.
Easement
An easement is a real right over one property (the servient property) for the benefit of another property owned by someone else (the dominant property), such as a right of way, water channel or drainage, and it stays attached to both properties when transferred or subdivided.
Electronic Title Deed
Digital ownership document issued by the Ministry of Justice with a unified 12-digit number, currently the only format accepted for title transfer, mortgage and utility linkage.
Eminent Domain
Expropriation for public interest (eminent domain) is the legal procedure by which the state takes ownership of private property, or temporarily takes possession of it, for a public-interest project in return for fair compensation based on market value, only in cases the law allows.
Encroachment
Encroachment is the taking of possession of real estate or part of it without a lawful basis, or the erection of a building, fence or plantings on land owned by someone else or by the state, infringing the owner's rights of use and possession and giving rise to removal or compensation under the law.
Encumbrance
An encumbrance is any right or restriction held by someone other than the owner that burdens a property, limiting the freedom to dispose of or use it or affecting its value, such as a mortgage, attachment, easement, long lease, usufruct or claim annotation.
Foreign Ownership
Foreign ownership is the right of non-Saudi individuals, companies and entities to own real estate or acquire other rights in rem over it in the Kingdom.
Freehold
Freehold, in Saudi terms full ownership, is permanent ownership with no time limit over both the bare title and the use of a property, giving the owner alone the right to use and exploit it and to dispose of it by sale, gift, mortgage, endowment or bequest, and passing to his heirs on death.
Gift Deed
A gift deed is the official document proving that ownership of a property has passed from a donor to a donee during the donor's lifetime and without consideration.
Inheritance
Inheritance is the transfer of the money and financial rights left by a deceased person, including real estate, to his living heirs by force of Sharia and law, after funeral costs, payment of his debts and execution of his will within one-third.
Inheritance Share
An inheritance share is the portion of an estate, including real estate, due to each heir, either as a fixed Sharia share (a half, quarter, eighth, two-thirds, third or sixth) or as a residuary share of what remains, depending on kinship and which other heirs survive.
Joint Tenancy
Joint tenancy is a common-law form of co-ownership in which two or more persons hold property in equal shares under a single title, and on the death of one the share passes automatically to the surviving owners by right of survivorship rather than forming part of the deceased's estate.
Land Survey
Land surveying is the measurement of land to fix its location, boundaries, dimensions, area and coordinates with specialised equipment, issued as a survey report or 'survey decision' relied on for deeds, cadastral registration, building permits, subdivision and merger.
Leasehold
Leasehold, in common-law systems, is the right to possess and use a property for a long fixed term, which can reach 99 years or more, in return for rent, after which the land and buildings revert to the original owner.
Lien
A lien, in Saudi terms a privilege (haq al-imtiyaz), is an accessory right in rem granted by law to a particular creditor because of the nature of his debt, giving him priority over other creditors in being paid from the debtor's assets or from a specific property.
Life Estate
A life estate, in Saudi terms a lifetime usufruct, is a right in rem allowing its holder (the usufructuary) to use and exploit a property owned by someone else for the rest of his life.
Neighboring Rights
Neighbouring rights are the reciprocal rights and restrictions between owners of adjoining properties, based on the rule that no owner may use his property so excessively as to cause his neighbour abnormal harm, plus specific rules on party walls, drainage, setbacks and overlooking.
Ownership Transfer
Ownership transfer is the passing of title to real estate from one owner to another by a lawful cause such as sale, gift, inheritance, bequest, partition or court judgment, completed only once documented by the Ministry of Justice or registered in the Real Estate Registry.
Property Ownership
Property ownership is the broadest original real right, entitling the owner alone, within the limits of the law, to use, exploit and dispose of real estate by sale, gift, endowment (waqf), mortgage or lease, together with the right to its fruits, products and accessories.
Property Sale
A property sale is a contract by which the seller transfers ownership of real estate to the buyer for a cash price, effective against third parties once conveyed at the Ministry of Justice or registered in the Real Estate Registry, and normally subject to the 5% Real Estate Transaction Tax.
Real Estate Endowment
A real estate endowment is an owner's unilateral dedication of a specific property (land, a building or a unit) as a waqf, so that it leaves his ownership and its rent or use goes to a charitable cause or to beneficiaries named in his conditions.
Real Estate Pledge
A real estate pledge (mortgage) is a contract by which a debtor, or a third party, offers a property as security for a debt, giving the creditor a right in rem to be paid from its price ahead of other creditors and to follow it into any new owner's hands.
Real Estate Registry
An official register recording properties, their rights and transactions, supervised by the Real Estate General Authority under the Real Property Registration Law issued by Royal Decree M/91 dated 19/9/1443H.
Real Estate Succession
Real estate succession is the set of legal steps that transfer a deceased person's properties to his heirs: proving death and inventorying heirs, paying debts and executing the will, then registering, partitioning or selling the property.
Real Property Registration
A system making the property itself the anchor of registration rather than the owner, issued by Royal Decree M/91 dated 19/9/1443H and rolled out by the Real Estate General Authority over announced areas in phases.
Right of Way
A right of way is an easement entitling the owner of a property to pass across a neighbouring property owned by someone else to reach his own land or the public road; it arises by agreement or inheritance, or by operation of law for landlocked property that has no access, against fair compensation.
Strata Title
Strata title is a form of ownership in which each owner holds a separate unit in a jointly owned building, such as a flat, floor, shop or parking space, under its own title deed, plus an undivided share in the common parts such as the land, entrances, lifts and roof.
Tenancy in Common
Tenancy in common (undivided ownership, shuyu') exists when two or more persons own one property without separating their portions, each holding a defined fraction, such as a half or a third, spread over every part; shares may be unequal and pass to heirs on death.
Title Insurance
Title insurance is an insurance policy that compensates a buyer or lender for loss caused by hidden defects in title that existed before the purchase, such as an earlier forgery in the chain of ownership, an omitted heir, or a mortgage or third-party right missed by the search.
Title Search
A title search is the check of a property's official record before any transaction to confirm the true owner, that the deed is valid and matches the property on the ground, and that it is free of mortgages, attachments, suspensions, disputes and third-party rights.
Usufruct
Usufruct is a real right entitling its holder (the usufructuary) to use real estate owned by someone else, exploit it and collect its fruits for a set term or for life, while the owner retains bare ownership and the usufructuary must preserve the property and return it when the right ends.
Waqf (Endowment)
A waqf (Islamic endowment) is the permanent dedication of an asset, such as a property, so that it can no longer be sold, gifted or inherited, while its use or income goes to a charitable purpose or to named beneficiaries such as the founder's descendants.
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