The "Ejar" program, one of the Ministry of Housing’s initiatives, held its second meeting on Tuesday, 22 July 2019, corresponding to 13 Dhul-Qi'dah 1440 Hijri, to introduce the unified rental contract for the commercial real estate sector in Jeddah, in cooperation with the Jeddah Chamber.

This meeting was part of a series of introductory meetings on the Electronic Rental Services Network implemented by the Ejar program in various cities across the Kingdom. The initiative seeks to qualify workers in real estate brokerage establishments, emphasize the importance of implementing real estate laws and regulations, and ensure compliance with the mandatory use of the unified rental contract for both residential and commercial sectors. The program previously organized its first meeting introducing the commercial contract in Riyadh and plans to hold similar events 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 real estate brokers in Jeddah and several stakeholders and interested parties in real estate affairs, including investors, brokers, property owners, writers, and media personnel—was attended by more than 200 participants. The meeting, which was managed by the Jeddah Chamber Business Sector Assistant Secretary-General, Professor Mazen bin Khaled Kutbi, received positive feedback, reflecting strong interest in the commercial contract and its significance for the real estate rental sector.  The meeting was attended by real estate brokers, both local and foreign investors, and real estate enthusiasts of both genders, representing legal, real estate, and commercial committees, as well as various media and press institutions in Jeddah. The organizers received numerous contributions, ranging from suggestions and praise for the program’s efforts in organizing the real estate market to inquiries about the program’s operational mechanisms and new features of the commercial contract, along with various requests to hold similar meetings at different times and in different 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).