Guides · 2026-08-23
What residents commonly call an "owners union" is named an owners association (jam'iyyat al-mullak) in Saudi regulation. Forming one is not optional: once a shared property has three or more owners of partitioned units, they must establish an association.
The reference is the Real Estate Unit Ownership, Partitioning and Management Law and its executive regulation, and the regulator is the General Real Estate Authority (REGA). This guide translates those provisions into what they mean for whoever actually runs a residential building.
"Owners union" is the term people use, so we use it too. But the operative legal text does not: it calls the entity an owners association in a shared property, and a complex association in a real-estate complex.
The difference is practical, not linguistic. For registration, official correspondence, and contracting with vendors, the legal name is the one that counts.
Article 12 of the law states that if the number of owners of partitioned units in a shared property reaches three or more, they must establish an association. A three-apartment building is in scope — not just large towers.
After formation, the executive regulation requires the registration application within thirty days of the formation date. That is a stated legal deadline, not a matter of judgement.
An owners association has a general assembly made up of all owners. It decides the fundamentals, including adopting the bylaws, electing the chair, and appointing the manager.
The regulation sets binding timing: the first meeting is held within five days of the association's registration date, and no fewer than five days may separate the notice from the meeting date.
The general assembly also sets the subscription amount and how it is paid, along with the rules for spending from the budget.
Once the general assembly decides, the manager acts. The regulation sets out the manager's powers, four of which are operational:
Note that the first and broadest power is maintenance and contractor supervision. That is the daily work that consumes most of a manager's time — and the most common source of disputes when no record proves what was done and when.
Not equally between units. The text is explicit: an owner contributes in proportion to the area of the partitioned unit they own relative to the total area. A larger unit carries a larger share.
The regulation requires transactions to be entered in dedicated records, and every owner — or their representative — has the right to inspect them. The record is not an administrative luxury; it is an owner's right.
Source for all of the above: Real Estate Unit Ownership, Partitioning and Management Law — General Real Estate Authority and the executive regulation text published there.
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Yes — two names for the same entity. "Owners union" is the colloquial term; the name used in the Saudi law and its executive regulation is owners association in a shared property, and complex association in a real-estate complex.
Three or more. The law states that if the number of owners of partitioned units in a shared property reaches three or more, they must establish an association.
Thirty days from the formation date, under the executive regulation of the Real Estate Unit Ownership, Partitioning and Management Law.
No. An owner contributes to shared-area costs in proportion to the area of the partitioned unit they own relative to the total area, so a larger unit carries a larger share.