The Ejar program, one of the Ministry of Housing’s initiatives, held its third introductory meeting on Thursday, 05 September 2019, corresponding to 06 Muharram 1441 AH, to introduce the unified rental contract for the commercial real estate sector in Dammam, in cooperation with the Eastern Province Chamber.
This meeting was part of a series of introductory meetings on the Electronic Rental Services Network organized by the Ejar program in various cities across the Kingdom. The meetings aim to train workers in real estate brokerage establishments, emphasize the importance of applying real estate laws and regulations, and ensure commitment to using the unified rental contract mandated for both residential and commercial sectors. The program had previously held the first introductory meeting for the commercial contract in Riyadh, followed by the second in Jeddah, and plans to hold more in other cities.
Strategic Performance Manager in the Ejar program, Mr. Abdulrahman bin Mohammed Al-Sammari, presented a detailed explanation of the program and the unified commercial rental contract, which was launched in December 2018.
Al-Sammari explained that the commercial rental contract is part of a series of unified rental contracts. Ejar had earlier launched its unified residential contract and is now working to include unified contracts for other property types, such as industrial, agricultural, and investment. He confirmed that the commercial contract has several additional advantages tailored to the sector’s needs, including  enabling individuals, commercial establishments, and associations with commercial registrations to authenticate unified electronic rental contracts approved by the Ministry of Justice throughout Saudi Arabia via accredited real estate brokerage establishments. Additional features include the conditional contract option, which allows registering a contract and adding an agreed-upon period prior to activation and enforcement; a wide range of property types, such as commercial showrooms, offices, warehouses, shops inside and outside malls, kiosks inside and outside malls, and more, which will be added gradually. Tenants also have expanded rights, such as subleasing and changing commercial registrations or activities after updating data in the system. The network’s unified contracts also provide general advantages, such as ensuring all parties’ rights, clearly defining obligations, and treating the contracts as executive bonds recognized by the Ministry of Justice, which helps reduce disputes in the real estate rental sector, decrease the number of court cases and litigation times, and regulate the work of brokerage establishments to improve services.
The introductory meeting on the unified rental contract for the commercial sector—where Ejar invited Eastern Province real estate brokers and several interested parties in real estate affairs including investors, brokers, property owners, writers, and media personnel—was attended by over 300 participants and managed by Eastern Province Chamber Real Estate Committee Chairman Professor Hamed bin Hamri. The meeting received positive responses, reflecting interest in the commercial contract and what it represents in the real estate rental sector. The meeting was attended by real estate brokers, local and foreign investors, and real estate affairs enthusiasts of both genders representing real estate, legal, and commercial committees and various media and press institutions from Eastern Province cities and governorates. Organizers received numerous participations varying between suggestions and praise for the program and its role in organizing the real estate market, inquiries about program operation mechanisms and new commercial contract additions, and various demands to repeat the meeting in different times and cities.
It should be noted that Ejar provides electronic tools and solutions contributing to facilitating work procedures in the real estate rental sector, including electronic bonds enabling their use through the electronic system to dispense with paper contracts and documents, facilitating electronic rental payment follow-up through registered data monitoring, alerts and notifications service, in addition to support and assistance services through multiple communication channels (telephone and electronic).