Is a lease that is not registered on Ejar valid?
Short answer
Not in the eyes of government bodies or the courts. Council of Ministers Decision 292 (16/5/1438H) states that a lease not registered on Ejar, the electronic network for lease services, is not treated as a valid contract producing administrative or judicial effects, and in a 2022 circular the Ministry of Justice told courts not to hear claims arising from such leases. The fix is to register it: the provisions issued by Royal Decree M/73 (2/4/1447H) require the lessor to apply for registration.
What “no effect” means in practice
The Ministry of Justice applied Decision 292 to leases signed after 4/5/1440H (January 2019), and a circular issued in July 2022 restated that courts do not hear claims arising from leases not registered on the network. When announcing the circular, the Ministry said that past, current and future leases must be registered on Ejar to produce their legal effects, and that older leases signed outside the network can be registered through set procedures. Registration covers both residential and commercial leases; commercial leases have been mandatory on Ejar since February 2020.
In practice this means:
- The lease is not an executive instrument that can go straight to the Execution Court, unlike a unified lease documented on Ejar.
- Government bodies whose services require a lease must verify it through Ejar, under Clause Two of Decision 292.
- The lessor faces a penalty, starting with a warning and then fines, for not applying to register it.
The lessor’s duty to register an existing lease
Clause Seven of the Statutory Provisions Regulating the Relationship between the Lessor and the Lessee requires the lessor under an unregistered lease to apply to register it on Ejar, and gives the tenant the right to request registration too. The other party may object to the contract data before the Real Estate General Authority (REGA) within 60 days of being notified of the registration; if no objection is made, the data is deemed correct. This clause applies across the Kingdom: the provisions limit only Clauses Two to Five to the city of Riyadh.
A breach carries a fine of up to 12 months’ total rent, plus correction of the violation. The schedule of violations approved by REGA’s board in December 2025 sets a warning for a first offence, three months’ rent for a second, and six months’ rent for a third or later offence.
How to register a paper lease you already signed
The route depends on whether the other party cooperates:
- If both parties agree: a licensed real estate broker creates the lease on Ejar from the broker’s account, the documentation fee is paid from the Ejar wallet (SAR 125 per contract year for residential; SAR 200 for the first year then SAR 400 per extra year for commercial), and both parties approve it. According to the Ministry of Justice circular, a lease concluded on the unified template becomes an executive instrument.
- If one party refuses: Ejar’s Request to Register a Rental Incident service lets the lessor, the tenant or their representatives record the paper lease, for SAR 250 per year for residential leases and SAR 400 per year for other types. Ejar says the service lets the holder of a paper lease take a financial claim to the judicial authorities, but it is not a documented electronic contract, and the circular says it is not an executive instrument.
Follow-up questions
Can the tenant register the lease if the landlord refuses?
Yes. The provisions give the tenant the right to request registration, Ejar offers the Rental Incident service when one party refuses, and, according to Ejar, the tenant can also report the landlord to REGA.
Is a registered rental incident enough to apply for enforcement directly?
No. A rental incident is not an executive instrument, so the dispute goes to the General Court as a lawsuit through Najiz. A unified lease documented on Ejar, by contrast, is an executive instrument and can be enforced through the Execution Court via Najiz.
What happens to the rental incident if the lease is documented later?
According to Ejar, the rental incident is cancelled once the lease is documented, and the broker handles the cancellation. Fees for an incident are not refunded if it is cancelled after being documented.
Official sources
- Council of Ministers Decision 292 of 16/5/1438H (Ejar)
- Statutory Provisions Regulating the Relationship between the Lessor and the Lessee (REGA)
- Schedule of violations of the lessor–lessee provisions (REGA)
- Request to register a rental incident (Ejar)
- SPA: Ministry of Justice explains when a lease concluded outside Ejar counts as registered (21 July 2022)
- Okaz: Ministry of Justice circular on claims from unregistered leases
General information for guidance, not legal advice; the governing regulations and official bodies are the final reference.
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