MULKIYA · GUIDES
Transfer and Settlement: How a Foreign Purchase Completes
The contract is signed in Arabic, payment moves on official rails, and registration in the official registry is what makes a foreign purchase valid. Here is the order.
The frame the purchase sits in
Every foreign acquisition in Saudi Arabia runs under the Law of Real Estate Ownership by Non-Saudis, Royal Decree M/14, in force since 22-01-2026, and the Implementing Regulations approved by Council of Ministers Decision 43 on 23-06-2026. One line in those regulations shapes everything below: registration in the official real-estate registry is a validity condition of every foreign acquisition. A signed contract alone does not make a foreign buyer the owner. The registry does.
The contract, in Arabic
The sale contract is executed in Arabic, and the Arabic text governs. Any English or other translation is a reading aid, not the operative document. Have the Arabic text read and explained before you sign, and settle every number, boundary and handover term in that text, because that is the text a dispute would be judged on. The contract records the parties' verified identities: for a foreign buyer, the digital identity approved by the Ministry of Interior, obtained through a Saudi embassy and activated with Absher or Nafath.
Settlement on official rails
Payment does not move hand to hand. All payments in a foreign purchase move through official electronic channels, from a Saudi bank account in the buyer's name, and the buyer's Saudi mobile number ties the identity to the flow. The 5% real-estate transaction tax is collected through the official settlement flow at registration: legally the seller's liability, commonly priced into the deal. No separate cash leg, no informal transfer. If a counterparty proposes settling any part outside the official flow, treat it as a red flag and stop.
Registration is the finish line
The official real-estate registry holds 4,000,000+ title deeds, and a foreign acquisition joins it as a validity condition, not as a later formality. Once the prerequisites are in place, the transfer itself can complete quickly; what usually stretches the calendar is assembling the file, the identity, the account, the number, not the registration act. The practical order is therefore fixed: prerequisites first, contract second, settlement third, registration last. When the deed is registered, the purchase is valid. Before that, it is not.
Who executes what
The regulated steps are executed by licensed Saudi partners: notarization, conveyancing and registration work sit with licensed professionals, not with platforms. Mulkiya is not the seller and not the broker, and it takes no commission or success fee. The honest first step, before any contract is drafted, is the eligibility check: seven questions about your status and your target property, answered by a deterministic rules engine against the law. Eligibility decides whether you can buy at all; the order above is how the purchase then completes.
How fast can the transfer complete?
Once the three prerequisites are in place, the digital identity, the Saudi bank account and the Saudi mobile number, the transfer itself can complete quickly on the official rails. What takes time is assembling the file. Plan for the prerequisites, not for the registration act.
Which version of the contract governs if there is a translation?
The Arabic text governs. A translation helps you read the deal, but the Arabic wording is what a dispute would be judged on. Have the Arabic contract read and explained before you sign.
Is a foreign purchase valid before registration?
No. Under the Implementing Regulations, registration in the official real-estate registry is a validity condition of a foreign acquisition. A signed contract without registration does not make you the owner.
Who executes the regulated steps?
Licensed Saudi partners execute the regulated steps, from notarization through registration. Mulkiya is not the broker and not the seller, takes no commission, and routes you to the eligibility check before any contract is drafted.