Checking a property offer before you pay

Zullfa Weekly · Due Diligence

How to check a broker's licence, an off-plan project's registration and an advertisement's licence before you send money for a home in the holy cities.

Updated 18 September 2026 · 5 min

The script it was made from

Host: If an agent sends me an off-plan apartment in Makkah over WhatsApp, how do I know it is real before sending a deposit?

Guest: You look up the project on the public Wafi register before sending any money. REGA, the Real Estate General Authority, lists every licensed off-plan project with its developer, escrow bank, completion rate, and licence dates with no login required.

Host: What if the agent claims the property is an existing flat rather than off-plan?

Guest: Then they must have an official advertisement licence for that specific listing. REGA provides a public enquiry service that checks an advertisement number and reports whether a valid licence exists.

Host: What details appear when that advertisement licence is verified?

Guest: A valid search displays the advertiser’s name, their FAL licence number, the deed type and number, property type, price, and licence expiry date.

Host: What exactly is a FAL licence?

Guest: REGA defines the FAL licence as an official permit that allows individuals and establishments to conduct real estate activities within the capacity of the licence, covering brokerage and marketing, property management, facility management, auctions, consultations, and advertising.

Host: How can I check if the broker speaking to me actually holds one?

Guest: REGA offers a broker inquiry service where anyone can verify a broker licence using the licence number, a contract number, or an ownership document number.

Host: Is there another search tool on REGA’s site for FAL permits?

Guest: Yes, REGA’s public FAL enquiry allows searches by the licence holder’s ID number or establishment number rather than by name alone.

Host: Where does a non-Saudi buyer check whether a developer is officially registered?

Guest: The Saudi Properties portal maintains a public developer register showing each company’s commercial registration number, establishment type, and contact details. REGA identifies this portal as the official platform for the law on non-Saudi ownership.

Host: Does that portal also check the property itself?

Guest: It features a public requirements checker that asks if the property is off-plan and requires the project’s licence number, linking directly to the Wafi system.

Host: People often assume towers right by the Haram are freehold. Is that always true?

Guest: No. Apartments in the Abraj Al Bait Clock Tower were sold on a twenty-three-year leasehold, not as freehold ownership. The land is part of the King Abdulaziz Endowment, developed on a build-operate-transfer basis for thirty-five Hijri years.

Host: What happens if someone enters an improper arrangement or violates the ownership rules?

Guest: Executive Regulations Art. 12 sets fines of 0.1% to 5% of the value of the real right, capped at SAR 10 million, a forced sale for intentional misrepresentation, and a correction period between 10 and 180 days.

Host: What is the single rule a buyer abroad should follow?

Guest: Verify every licence number on official government registers before paying any deposit.

Host: Every source mentioned is documented on zullfa dot com. This podcast provides general information, not legal or financial advice.

An AI conversation generated from this script and its sources. Information, not legal or financial advice.

Sources

  1. REGA — enquiries about projects licensed in off-plan sales and leases
    REGA's public off-plan enquiry lists each Wafi-licensed project's licence number and type, licence start and end dates, the escrow bank and account number, the developer, unit types and the construction completion rate — with no login.

  2. REGA — inquiry about a real estate advertisement licence (result and details pages)
    A found advertisement licence on REGA's enquiry shows its status and issue and expiry dates, and its details page names the advertiser with their FAL licence number, the advertisement type, the deed type and number, the property type and the price on the licence.

  3. Umm Al-Qura — Executive Regulations, Art. 12 · 3 Jul 2026
    Executive Regulations Art. 12: breaches of the ownership rules carry a fine of 0.1% to 5% of the value of the real right, capped at SAR 10 million, a forced sale where the breach was intentional misrepresentation, and a correction period set by REGA's committee of between 10 and 180 days.

  4. REGA — inquiry about a real estate advertisement licence
    REGA's public advertisement-licence enquiry takes the advertisement number and reports whether a licence exists and its status, with no login.

  5. REGA — FAL Real Estate Brokerage platform
    REGA defines the FAL licence as an official permit that allows individuals and establishments to conduct real estate activities within the capacity of the licence, covering brokerage and marketing, property management, facility management, auctions, consultations and real estate advertising.

  6. REGA — Inquiring about real estate broker / broker licence
    Anyone can check a real estate broker's FAL licence through REGA's public broker inquiry service, searching by broker licence number, brokerage contract number or ownership document number, via the Inquiries service at eservicesredp.rega.gov.sa/auth/queries.

  7. REGA — enquiring about the FAL licence
    REGA's public FAL-licence enquiry has two search fields, the licence holder's ID number and the establishment number, so checking a broker needs one of those and cannot be done by name or by licence number.

  8. Saudi Properties portal — developers
    The Saudi Properties portal publishes a public developer register giving each developer's name, unified commercial registration number, establishment type and contact details, with no login.

  9. REGA — Non-Saudi Real Estate Ownership in Saudi Arabia (platform page)
    REGA describes the Saudi Properties portal as 'the official platform for the Law' on real estate ownership by non-Saudis, and publishes a contact address (Saudiproperties@rega.gov.sa) and phone number (920017183) for it.

  10. Saudi Properties portal — property requirements inquiry
    The Saudi Properties portal's public property-requirements checker asks whether the property is an off-plan project and, if so, for the project's licence number — tying a purchase to the Wafi register.

  11. Emirates 24|7 — Emaar hands over Makkah flats · 9 Jul 2013
    Residences in the Abraj Al Bait Makkah Clock Royal Tower were sold on a 23-year leasehold, with an optional rental pool run by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts — not as freehold.

  12. General Authority for Awqaf — King Abdulaziz Endowment
    The Abraj Al Bait complex stands on land King Fahd endowed as the King Abdulaziz Endowment for the Two Holy Mosques, developed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis with a use term of 35 Hijri years.

Where each fact above comes from, with the source’s own date where it gives one.

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