The Real Estate General Authority (REGA) affirmed that technology plays a crucial role in enhancing the transparency and efficiency of real estate transactions. With the advancement of technical solutions, preserving rights within these transactions has become an essential necessity. Modern real estate technologies are vital in documenting and safeguarding rights, ensuring fairness and justice for all parties involved in real estate operations.
REGA explained that the real estate sector is undergoing a significant transformation through digitalization and the growing reliance on technologically enabled real estate transactions. These transactions now primarily depend on digitally documented contracts, which provide legal guarantees to all parties in the event of disputes—God forbid—and protect them from forgery or tampering. REGA has taken substantial steps by adopting the unified lease contract issued by the Ministry of Justice and treating it as an executive instrument. This allows for the electronic documentation of real estate brokerage contracts and the registration of lease-related incidents through the Ejar platform, even if one party refuses to document the contract. Integration with national platforms has further empowered stakeholders to automatically and accurately verify the identities of all parties, ensuring that transactions are carried out with trusted and verified entities. This integration supports the authentication of electronic title deeds, commercial registers, lease property data, and real estate broker credentials.
REGA emphasized that real estate technologies also provide secure and documented electronic payment channels, ensuring the registration and traceability of all financial transactions between parties. This reduces reliance on cash payments, safeguards financial rights, and protects against fraud or manipulation in financial dealings. Features include preserving security deposits in the Ejar wallet, preventing payment of utility bills outside the lease period, automatic calculation of value-added tax, and the documentation of the real estate broker’s entitlement to commission. Technology has also enabled the electronic documentation of property conditions through photos and videos, which helps preserve the rights of all parties in the event of damages or disputes upon handover or reception of a property.
Thanks to these technological advancements, stakeholders now have access to a wide real estate supply through digital platforms that offer a safe environment for interaction between buyers, sellers, and brokers. These platforms require brokers to disclose complete property details, licensing information, and ownership data, thereby minimizing fraud and securing all parties’ rights. Moreover, through fully digital documentation of transactions and contracts, disputes can now be resolved electronically via the Saudi Real Estate Arbitration Center platform, significantly saving time and effort and improving transparency and efficiency.
It is worth noting that REGA concluded the Global PropTech Summit yesterday, Monday, 28 October 2024. The summit focused on the future of real estate technologies and their applications. These technologies are among the key enablers driving the sector toward enhanced efficiency and effectiveness, contributing to income diversification, capitalizing on the Kingdom's digital transformation, supporting quality of life goals, and opening new horizons for real estate investments while fostering the development of vibrant and sustainable residential communities.