Renting in Riyadh: Your Rights and Duties on the Freeze, Renewal and Eviction

Two months before your lease ends, your landlord writes to say the rent will go up on renewal.

Or he tells you he wants the flat for himself and you should start looking elsewhere.

Or you are the owner, and someone at a gathering told you that a tenant can now stay in your property for five years whatever he does.

All of these situations are governed by the Statutory Provisions Regulating the Relationship between Landlord and Tenant, and by the decisions the Real Estate General Authority (REGA) has issued to implement them. Here they are, in the order they tend to matter once a dispute starts.

What applies only in Riyadh, and what applies everywhere

This is the first question I ask anyone who brings me a lease today, because much of what people repeat comes from mixing the two up.

The freeze, the landlord’s objection over a vacant unit’s rent, the closed list of grounds for refusing renewal and the five-year term are all confined by the text to property in the city of Riyadh.

“Property” here means any building or land within the urban boundary, whether residential, commercial or both.

The duty to register the lease on Ejar and automatic renewal, by contrast, cover every city in the Kingdom.

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According to the official announcement, the provisions took effect on 25 September 2025 (3 Rabi’ al-Akhir 1447 AH) for five years.

In the text, the five years cover the freeze, the landlord’s objection and the limits on refusing renewal. Registration and automatic renewal are given no end date.

The Riyadh rules may be extended to other cities, or parts of them, by a decision of REGA’s board of directors after approval by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs. If you are outside Riyadh, check whether such a decision now covers your city.

The freeze makes no distinction between existing and new leases

A landlord in Riyadh may not increase the total rent in leases that were in force when the provisions took effect, or in leases concluded afterwards.

The word that settles many disputes is “total”.

The text defines total rent as the rent for the property plus any other sums the tenant pays the landlord under the lease.

So if the rent stays the same but the lease adds service or maintenance charges payable by the tenant to the landlord, that is the same forbidden increase in different clothes.

A shop is covered just like a flat, because the text covers residential and commercial property alike.

Vacant units and the landlord’s objection

If a unit falls vacant and has been let before, its total rent may not exceed the value of its last lease.

If it has never been let, the rent is whatever landlord and tenant agree.

The owner may object to the last-lease cap before REGA in two situations set out in the text:

• the unit has undergone substantial structural or constructional renovation that affected its rental value;
• its last lease was concluded before 2024.

REGA’s board may add further situations.

The objection is filed through the Ejar network while the unit is vacant, supported by reports from an accredited valuer, and REGA decides it within 10 working days.

In Riyadh, renewal can be refused in four cases only

If a tenant in Riyadh wants to renew, the landlord may not refuse and require him to vacate except in one of these cases:

• the tenant has failed to pay;
• structural defects affecting the safety of the property and its occupants, established by a technical report approved by the competent government authority;
• the owner of a residential property wants it vacated for his own use or for the use of a first-degree relative;
• other cases that REGA’s board decides under its own rules.

That answers the man at the gathering who said a tenant stays five years whatever he does: failure to pay is enough on its own to refuse renewal.

Note that the personal-use ground is limited to residential property. The landlord of a shop cannot rely on it.

The 365-day notice

Where the reason for not renewing is personal use, or use by a first-degree relative, a decision of REGA’s chief executive set the landlord’s notice in model residential leases at no less than 365 days before the lease ends.

A second decision then applied that period to every residential lease that was running when the provisions took effect.

If the notice comes with less than 365 days to go, the lease renews for as long as needed to complete them, counted from the date the notice was sent.

The decision does not name any particular city. If you are a landlord outside Riyadh and want your home back for yourself, do not rely on 60 days’ notice until you have checked how the decision affects your lease.

Automatic renewal and registration, in every city

This part concerns you wherever you live.

Across the Kingdom, a lease renews automatically unless one party notifies the other, at least 60 days before it ends, that it does not wish to renew.

There are two exceptions: a fixed-term lease that had 90 days or less left when the provisions took effect, and a lease the parties agree to end by mutual consent after the notice window has passed.

REGA may lengthen the notice period in model leases to suit the lease’s length and type.

Outside Riyadh there is no freeze and no closed list of grounds for refusing renewal, so notice from either party, given in time, prevents automatic renewal.

Registering the lease on Ejar

If a lease is not registered on Ejar, the electronic network for rental services, the landlord must apply to register it, and the tenant may also apply.

The other party may then object to the lease data before REGA within 60 days of being notified of the registration. If that period passes without objection, the data is deemed correct.

The 60 days is a window to object to the data, not a deadline to register, whatever you may hear.

Fines, correction and reporting

Breaching the freeze, the limits on refusing renewal or the duty to register is punishable by a fine of up to 12 months’ total rent, together with correction of the violation and without prejudice to the injured party’s right to compensation.

The violations table issued by REGA’s board grades the fine:

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The violation must be corrected within no more than 10 working days of notification of the violation decision. If the violator does not correct it, REGA may adjust the total rent or renew the lease itself.

If the unit has already gone to a new tenant acting in good faith, the parties are directed to the competent court.

The fine is not compensation for the tenant. A tenant who has suffered loss claims compensation before the competent court.

Violations are heard by committees formed under the Real Estate Brokerage Law, and anyone against whom a violation decision is issued may challenge it before the competent judicial authority within 30 days of being notified.

Reporting, and the reporter’s reward

Reports are made through REGA’s approved electronic channels, including the reporting service on its website.

Anyone who reports one of these violations, where the information leads to a final decision establishing the violation, receives a reward of up to 20% of the fine collected.

It is paid at 5%, 10% or 20% depending on how the report is assessed. REGA staff and anyone who took part in the violation are not eligible.

Mistakes I hear often

• “The freeze covers the whole Kingdom.” It is for Riyadh only, until a decision extends it.
• “Automatic renewal is only for Riyadh.” The reverse is true: it applies in every city.
• “Outside Riyadh the owner cannot refuse renewal.” The closed list of grounds is a Riyadh rule; elsewhere, notice given in time is enough to prevent automatic renewal.
• “The fine is a full year’s rent and goes to the tenant.” The fine is graduated up to 12 months’ rent, and the tenant’s compensation is claimed from the competent court.

If an eviction notice or a violation decision reaches you, take your papers to a lawyer while the deadline is still open.