MULKIYA · GUIDES
When a Saudi Property Purchase Needs a Power of Attorney
Reviewed against the official register · Updated 2026-08-02
A power of attorney is only needed when you cannot attend the signing, settlement or registration yourself. What it must say, and what it never changes.
What a power of attorney is
A power of attorney is a document that lets a named person act for you in a defined set of steps. In a Saudi property purchase it can authorize someone to sign the contract, complete the settlement steps and attend the registration on your behalf. It changes who signs. It changes nothing else. The buyer is still you, the acquisition is still a foreign acquisition under the Law of Real Estate Ownership by Non-Saudis, Royal Decree M/14, in force since 22-01-2026, and every rule that applies to you applies unchanged when a representative acts.
When a purchase needs one
You need a power of attorney when you cannot attend a step yourself and the step must still be executed. The classic case is the buyer abroad: the contract is executed in Arabic inside Saudi Arabia, settlement moves through official electronic channels, and registration happens in the official real-estate registry, and you cannot be present for all of it. A representative you name can then execute those steps for you. If you can attend every step yourself, no power of attorney is needed at all, and many buyers complete without one.
What a sound one says
Keep the document narrow. It should name the representative, name the property, and name the acts: signing this contract, settling this purchase, registering this transfer. It is written in Arabic, because the Arabic text is what governs any dispute. It is issued and notarized through the official notarization channel, and for a buyer outside Saudi Arabia that step starts at a Saudi embassy. A broad document that lets someone deal in all your property for an open time is not a purchase tool; it is a risk. Write the narrow one.
What it never changes
Four things stay exactly as they are, whoever signs. Eligibility is personal: your right to buy comes from your own status under the law and the Implementing Regulations approved by Council of Ministers Decision 43 on 23-06-2026, and no document transfers it to a representative. Money moves the same way: through official electronic channels, from a Saudi bank account in the buyer's name. The 5% real-estate transaction tax still settles inside the official flow at registration, legally the seller's liability and commonly priced into the deal. And registration in the official registry remains the validity condition: the deed records you as owner, not your representative.
The risks to control
The risk sits in the scope of the document, so control the scope. Verify the person you name, prefer a licensed professional over a private acquaintance for regulated acts, and end the document when the purchase completes. Read any power of attorney you are asked to sign with the same care as the sale contract, in Arabic, before you sign. And treat any arrangement that uses a representative to hide who the real buyer is as a false promise: the law looks at the buyer, and the buyer is you.
The honest order
The sequence does not bend around the document. First the eligibility check: seven questions about your status and your target property, answered by a deterministic rules engine against the law. Then the prerequisites in your own name: the digital identity, the Saudi bank account, the Saudi mobile number. Then, if you will not attend, the power of attorney, written narrow. The regulated steps themselves, notarization, conveyancing and registration, are executed by licensed Saudi partners. Mulkiya is not the seller and not the broker, and it takes no commission; it routes you to the eligibility check before anything is drafted.
Do I need a power of attorney if I attend every step myself?
No. A power of attorney exists for the steps you cannot attend. If you sign the contract, complete the settlement and attend the registration yourself, no representative is involved and no document is needed.
Can a power of attorney make an ineligible person able to buy?
No. It moves the acts, not the status. Eligibility is personal and comes from the buyer's own standing under Royal Decree M/14 and the Implementing Regulations. The representative executes; what the law checks is the buyer's own eligibility.
Whose name goes on the deed, mine or my representative's?
Yours. Registration in the official real-estate registry is the validity condition of a foreign acquisition, and the deed records the buyer. The representative signs on your behalf; the ownership registers to you.
How broad should the power of attorney be?
As narrow as the purchase allows: one named representative, one named property, and the specific acts of signing, settling and registering. Open documents that cover all your property are a risk, not a convenience. End it when the purchase completes.
Where is the power of attorney issued if I am abroad?
Through the official notarization channel, and for a buyer outside Saudi Arabia that starts at a Saudi embassy. The document is written in Arabic, and the Arabic text is what governs.