MULKIYA · GUIDES
The 2% Exit Fee: What Foreign Sellers Pay in Four Saudi Cities
Reviewed against the official register · Updated 2026-07-30
When a foreign owner sells, Saudi Arabia charges a 2% disposal fee in Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah, and 0% elsewhere. Who it binds, and when.
A fee on the seller, not the buyer
The disposal fee is a 2% charge on a non-Saudi who transfers a property: a sale, or another disposal that moves ownership. It is set by Article 9 of the Implementing Regulations, the ruleset approved by Council of Ministers Decision 43 under Royal Decree M/14. The fee is calculated on the value of the disposal, and it is paid by the foreign transferor. A buyer never pays it. It exists only because the seller is not Saudi.
Four cities, 0% everywhere else
The fee applies only where the property sits in Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah or Madinah. Everywhere else in Saudi Arabia it is 0%. Location decides the line, not the deal: the same apartment at the same price carries the fee in Jeddah and no fee outside the four cities. If a selling agent quotes you a disposal charge on a property outside the four cities, ask for its basis.
The 5% ceiling in the law
The rate in force is 2%. The law sets a statutory ceiling of 5%: the regulator may set the fee at or below that ceiling, and the rate the ruleset states is 2%. Plan your exit at the 2% the ruleset states, and read any figure above it as wrong unless the ruleset itself has changed.
Which disposals are exempt
Not every transfer of a foreign-owned property carries the fee. Inheritance is exempt. Transfers ordered by a court are exempt. The ruleset lists further cases that are 0%-rated at category level. The exemption follows the type of disposal, not the size of it: a transfer within the family by inheritance pays nothing, while an ordinary sale of the same property pays 2%.
How it settles, and what stacks with it
The fee is collected inside the official transfer flow when the disposal is registered, so there is nothing separate to arrange. It does not replace the 5% Real Estate Transaction Tax; it stacks with it. At a sale the 5% tax returns, because the seller is now the transferor. So a foreign seller in Riyadh pays 5% plus 2%. A foreign seller outside the four cities pays the 5% only. On a SAR 2 million sale in Jeddah the tax is SAR 100,000 and the fee is SAR 40,000.
The honest next step
The exit fee is simple; eligibility is not. Whether you may buy at all, and in which zones, decides where this fee will ever apply to you. Mulkiya is not the seller and not the broker, and it takes no commission. The eligibility check asks seven questions about your status and your target property, and a deterministic rules engine answers against the law. Run it before you price a purchase or a sale.
Who pays the 2% exit fee?
The non-Saudi transferor: the foreign seller. It is a charge on disposal, not on purchase, so a buyer never pays it. It is set by Article 9 of the Implementing Regulations.
Does the fee apply outside Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah?
No. Outside those four cities the disposal fee is 0%. The location of the property decides it, not the nationality of the buyer or the size of the deal.
Can the 2% rate rise?
The law caps the fee at 5%. The rate in force under the ruleset is 2%. Plan at 2% and treat any higher quote as wrong unless the ruleset has changed.
Is the fee due on inheritance or a court-ordered transfer?
No. Inheritance and court-ordered transfers are exempt, and the ruleset lists further 0%-rated cases at category level. An ordinary sale is what carries the 2%.
Does the 2% replace the 5% transaction tax at sale?
No. The two stack. At a sale the 5% tax returns because the seller is the transferor, and the 2% fee applies on top in the four named cities.