If you're renting in Saudi Arabia, these new rules will make your life so much easier
There are now new fines for landlords
Saudi Arabia has just announced a new set of rules for landlords attached to the labour law, categorising the violations of regulations on the landlord-tenant relationship. These are the new Saudi rental law penalties.
Major violations
- Increasing the total rent for residential, commercial, or vacant properties against of the previously released regulations. According to Saudi Gazette, the penalty begins with a fine equivalent to two months’ rent for the first offence, rising to six months’ rent, and then to 12 months’ rent for repeated violations. The landlord is also required to fix the violation.
- There are also penalties if your landlord fails to register rental contracts on the electronic rental services network Ejar. Penalties for the action begin with a fine and a requirement that the violation be fixed, followed by fines of up to three months’ rent for a second offence, increasing to six months’ rent for a third offence.
- These fines will also be imposed on landlords in Riyadh if they refuse to renew rent contracts or force tenants to vacate without legal justification.
How it’s going to work
The decision clarifies that these penalties do not prevent the right of the affected party to claim compensation. These new regulations come as an extension of the Cabinet’s earlier decision to regulate the landlord–tenant relationship.
One of the key new rules imposed this year was the rent freeze for five years. The move aimed to stabilise housing costs and ensure fairness between landlords and tenants. The new rules state that the current rental value of properties, whether in existing or new contracts, cannot be increased for five years within Riyadh’s urban boundary.
The same rules can also be expanded to include other cities and governorates if deemed necessary by the Real Estate General Authority, pending approval of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs.
