Ejar and Property Operations: Where Tenancy Data Meets Facility Management
What registering a tenancy in Ejar actually does, the contract lifecycle end to end, and why the lease events that generate Saudi FM work never reach FM.
Ejar and Property Operations: Where Tenancy Data Meets Facility Management
Ejar is Saudi Arabia's electronic network for registering and documenting tenancy contracts, under the Real Estate General Authority. A documented contract works as an enforceable instrument; an unregistered one, under Council of Ministers Resolution No. 292, is not deemed valid for administrative and judicial effects. Every lease event on it creates facility work that rarely reaches the FM system.
This is for FM directors and property managers running occupied stock in Saudi Arabia. It covers what a registered contract buys you legally, and the part almost nobody writes down: which lease events create facility work, and which system holds the record.
What registration actually does
Ejar describes itself as "an integrated electronic network that aims to regulate the real estate rental sector". The operative effect sits in two places.
First, its statement of objectives lists "documenting contracts and registering property unit data on Ejar, enabling their use as enforceable legal instruments". A documented contract is not just evidence of a tenancy, it is what the Execution Court works from.
Second, Council of Ministers Resolution No. (292) provides that "a lease contract that is not registered in the electronic network shall not be deemed a valid contract producing administrative and judicial effects." Read that as an FM director rather than a lawyer. If a unit's contract is not on Ejar, the tenancy exists commercially, the tenant is in the building consuming utilities and generating work orders, but the document you would rely on to recover costs, enforce a make-good obligation or remove an occupant has no administrative standing.
Resolution 292 adds two consequences. Government agencies requiring a lease contract to provide a service must verify it through Ejar, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development must require a registered Ejar contract for issuance or renewal of work permits for non-Saudis. In staff housing, an unregistered contract is a visa problem before it is a property problem.
The network was established by Council of Ministers Decision No. (131), which set its functions: registering contracts electronically, verifying identities through the National Information Center, enabling electronic payments, and generating rental behaviour reports.
Who must register
Resolution No. (405) binds licensed real estate brokers to register all residential and commercial leases electronically, with non-compliance penalised under the Real Estate Offices Regulations. The obligation is framed on the broker, but Resolution 292 removes the administrative and judicial effect of any unregistered contract, which reaches the parties regardless of who was meant to file it.
[NEEDS SOURCE: any penalty applying directly to a lessor or a property manager, as distinct from a licensed brokerage office, for failing to register a lease on Ejar.]
The contract lifecycle, service by service
Ejar's e-services directory is the accurate map of what the platform can and cannot do.
Registering a commercial contract requires, from the lessor, a valid National ID, ownership documents and a mobile number; from the tenant, a National ID or Iqama and a mobile number; and from the broker, a Saudi National ID, a commercial registration including brokerage activity, a registered National Address and completion of the Real Estate Brokerage Qualification Program. Fees are SAR 200 for the first year and SAR 400 for each additional year. The contract "is authenticated immediately after all parties approve it".
[NEEDS SOURCE: the registration fee for a residential contract. The residential service page was not retrievable at the time of writing; only the commercial schedule is confirmed.]
Three further services matter operationally and are routinely missed:
- Lease Contract Transfer moves the remaining term to a new tenant without terminating and re-registering. Landlord approval is mandatory, the rent cannot be modified, the output is an addendum rather than a new contract, and it costs SAR 250 residential or SAR 400 commercial. For FM this is the dangerous one: the occupant changes, but no new tenancy starts.
- Rental incident registration covers the case where a paper contract exists and one party refuses to authenticate it. It takes 5 business days, costs SAR 250 for residential or yearly contracts and SAR 400 for other types, and once authenticated can be queried through the Najiz portal but not cancelled.
- Renewal and automatic renewal, activated by default under the Riyadh provisions for contracts issued after they launched.
Roles, licences and the authority to act
Two separate things let a manager act: a licence to do the work at all, and an authorisation on the specific contract.
On the licence, the Implementing Regulations of the Real Estate Brokerage Law (issued under Royal Decree No. M/130 dated 30/11/1443H) restrict "facility management, property management, and real estate auctions" to licensed establishments, and require employees to complete the qualification programme for each activity before starting work and to be registered on the electronic platform. Facility management is named in the same restriction as property management. An unlicensed operator is not a compliance risk in the abstract, it is outside its permitted scope.
[NEEDS SOURCE: the scope boundary between the FAL property management licence and the facility management activity, and whether a hard-services maintenance contractor working under a landlord's instruction requires its own FAL licence. REGA's published FAL property management service page did not return substantive content.]
On the authorisation, Ejar publishes user manuals for registration via Nafath, switching between broker, lessee and lessor roles, and changing the lessor or the lessor's representative. Representation is a state on the contract, not a note in your CRM. The check-in and check-out service states that only the landlord and tenant may complete the forms, and that registered representatives may act for either party per the contract terms. If your site team is not the registered representative, it cannot close the inspection that protects the deposit.
Money, deposits and rent controls
Rent moves through an Ejar wallet, paid by SADAD and mada, with payment tracking for lessors. The security deposit is optional, agreed between the parties, held in a special Ejar account and retrievable in full or in part "upon handing over the real estate unit at the end or termination of the contract". That puts the handover record, not the invoice, at the centre of any deduction.
In Riyadh, the regulatory provisions published by Ejar impose a five-year halt on annual rent increases for residential and commercial contracts exceeding three months within Riyadh's urban boundaries. Vacant units are fixed "according to the last rent registered for them in Ejar". Tenants must be notified 60 days before expiry, and a lessor may request non-renewal only for non-payment, structural safety issues, or personal occupancy need. With income fixed for five years, every unplanned reactive callout in a Riyadh asset comes out of a margin that cannot be repriced.
[NEEDS SOURCE: the exact commencement date and instrument number for the Riyadh rental provisions, and whether they extend beyond the Riyadh urban boundary.]
Termination, eviction and the Execution Court
Mutual termination is a platform transaction. Unilateral termination is not. Ejar's unilateral cancellation service requires a judicial order from the Execution Court to evict the tenant. The mandatory document is the execution decision terminating the contract, carrying the contract number; court decisions and eviction notices are optional supporting documents. The service is free, covers residential and commercial contracts, excludes sub-leases, and requests are studied within 5 business days.
That sequence is the argument for keeping tenancy data clean. The execution route runs on the contract number. If the occupant in unit 1204 sits under a transferred contract, an unregistered paper contract or a sub-lease, the fastest lawful removal route is slower or unavailable, and the FM team keeps servicing a unit it cannot recover.
Lease event, FM consequence, system of record
| Lease event | FM consequence | System of record |
|---|---|---|
| Contract documented in Ejar | Unit becomes occupied: access credentials issued, unit enters the PPM route, utility and waste load rises | Ejar for tenancy, CAFM for asset and access |
| Check-in form completed (within 7 days) | The condition record becomes the make-good baseline for the end of the term | Ejar check-in form |
| Snags raised at check-in | Landlord-side rectification work orders, on a clock the tenant can evidence | CAFM, referencing the Ejar form |
| Renewal or automatic renewal | Occupancy continues; fit-out approvals, insurance and access authorisations may lapse silently | Ejar for the term, permit register for the rest |
| Lease contract transfer | Occupant changes with no new tenancy; access lists and emergency call trees stale from that day | Ejar addendum |
| Rent arrears | Predictor of unauthorised sub-letting, disconnection requests and abandonment | Ejar wallet and payment tracking |
| Rental incident registered | Unit occupied under a paper contract; no platform record for FM to key from | Ejar incident, then Najiz |
| Mutual termination | Check-out window opens; void works, key recovery, utility transfer | Ejar check-out form, CAFM |
| Execution Court eviction order | Forced vacancy: lock change, disconnection, handling of possessions, immediate re-inspection | Najiz order, then Ejar unilateral termination |
| Vacancy | Void regime: water flushing, HVAC setback, periodic inspection, insurance notification | CAFM only, no Ejar record exists |
The last row is the point. Ejar knows the tenancy, not the building. Every consequence in the middle column is FM work the tenancy platform triggers and does not track.
Move-in and move-out, step by step
Ejar's receiving and handing over service "enables all parties involved in the rental process to document the condition of a residential unit during check-in and check-out". It is free, requires a registered and documented contract, and covers residential contracts only. Check-in falls within 7 days from contract documentation, check-out within 7 days after the contract ends.
[NEEDS SOURCE: any equivalent platform-based handover record for commercial tenancies. The Ejar service page states the service excludes commercial contracts.]
Those two seven-day windows are the operational spine. Build the procedure around them.
- On contract documentation, day 0. Pull the contract number, unit reference, term dates and party details. Open the FM unit record against the same unit reference the contract uses, not an internal name.
- Day 0 to 1. Confirm the landlord's registered representative on that contract. If it is not the person attending the inspection, change it before the inspection, not after.
- Day 1 to 3. Inspect: meter readings, asset serial numbers, finishes, keys and access cards issued, fire and safety devices present and dated, photographs of every defect.
- Day 3 to 6. Complete the Ejar check-in form with the tenant. Both parties have to act, so leave slack for the tenant's availability.
- By day 7. Form submitted. Anything not recorded by now is arguable at the end of the term.
- Day 7 onward. Raise landlord-side rectification work orders for the snags, referencing the contract number so the work traces to the tenancy rather than a building cost centre.
- Mid-term. Log every tenant-caused damage event against the contract number as it happens. A make-good claim built from memory at the end of a three-year term does not survive contact with a documented check-in form.
- Sixty days before expiry. In Riyadh the tenant must be notified of the renewal position at this point. Freeze scope for renewal or vacancy from here.
- On the last day of the term. Recover keys and access cards, take final meter readings, and photograph the unit in the same order as the check-in record so the two sets compare line by line.
- Within 7 days after the contract ends. Complete the Ejar check-out form. The deposit position rests on it.
- After check-out. Split landlord fair wear and tear from tenant make-good, price the second against the check-in evidence, and route the deduction through the Ejar deposit account.
- On vacancy. Move the unit onto the void regime: flushing, HVAC setback, inspection frequency, insurance notification, and removal from the occupied access list.
Where Mullak intersects
If the asset is a jointly owned property, a second layer applies. Mullak is REGA's programme "that enables owners and occupants of joint real estate units to establish the Real Estate Owners Association", under the Ownership, Management, and Sorting Real Estate Units Act issued by Royal Decree No. (440) dated 1/7/1441 AH. The association's property manager "manages common areas, collects fees, and contracts service providers" and requires a valid FAL property management licence.
A leased apartment in a Saudi jointly owned building therefore sits under two regimes: the tenancy on Ejar, and common-area service charges under Mullak. Neither platform tells the other anything. A tenant blocking a fire escape is a Mullak matter, a lease breach and an FM work order at once, and the three records live in three places.
Note that this is not Dubai. Mollak, the Dubai Land Department system for jointly owned property service charges, operates under Dubai Law No. (6) of 2019 and has no application in Saudi Arabia.
Where teams get this wrong
Treating the check-in form as paperwork. It is the baseline for every deduction and make-good argument at the end of the term, and the window is seven days. A form completed loosely on day six is worth more than a thorough inspection on day nine that never reaches the platform.
Unit references that do not match. Ejar holds the contract against the registered unit. FM systems hold work orders against an internal asset or space code. Reconcile those two once at handover and never again, and occupancy reports drift within a year while reactive spend cannot be attributed to a tenancy.
Missing the contract transfer. The tenancy continues, the occupant changes, and no move-out or move-in is generated. Access cards stay live for someone who has gone, emergency contact lists are wrong, and nobody inspects the unit between the two occupants.
Assuming the lease says who fixes what, without reading which lease. The Ejar standard contract, the Mullak association bylaws and a negotiated fit-out agreement can all bear on the same defect. The FM team needs the allocation per unit, held as data, not a general rule in someone's head.
Servicing units under paper contracts. Rental incident registration exists precisely because paper contracts happen. Until authenticated, the unit is occupied, generating cost, and outside the enforceable route.
Ignoring arrears as an operational signal. Ejar tracks payments and produces rental behaviour reports. A unit in arrears is disproportionately likely to be the one with the unauthorised occupant count and the overloaded circuit.
What to automate, and what not to
Automate the joins: contract number to unit reference to asset record, contract dates to the check-in and check-out windows, term expiry to the 60-day notification, vacancy to the void regime. These are date-driven and unambiguous, and they are what gets missed once a portfolio outgrows the person holding the tenancy calendar in their head.
Do not automate the condition assessment or the make-good allocation. Whether a mark is fair wear and tear, whether a failed compressor is age or misuse, whether an alteration was consented to: these need a person on site with the check-in record in hand. Nor should you assume a system can read Ejar directly.
[NEEDS SOURCE: whether Ejar exposes an API or a bulk export to third-party property and facility management systems, and on what terms. Ejar publishes a premium office management tool but no integration terms were retrievable.]
Where a system helps
The gap worth closing is between the tenancy record and the work record. If the FM system holds the contract number, unit reference, term dates and handover evidence against the same asset the work orders sit on, then the seven-day check-in window, the 60-day notification, the void regime on vacancy and the make-good pack at the end of a term become scheduled outputs rather than things somebody remembers. See FaciOS for facility management.
FAQ
Is a lease valid in Saudi Arabia if it is not registered on Ejar? Council of Ministers Resolution No. (292) states that an unregistered lease "shall not be deemed a valid contract producing administrative and judicial effects". Resolution No. (405) separately binds licensed brokers to register all residential and commercial leases.
How long do we have to complete the move-in inspection? Within 7 days from contract documentation for check-in, and within 7 days after the contract ends for check-out. The service is free and requires a registered, documented contract.
Can a property manager complete these steps on the owner's behalf? Only the landlord and tenant complete the forms, and registered representatives may act for either party per the contract terms. Representation has to be set on the contract before the step is due.
Do we need a licence to provide facility management in Saudi Arabia? The Implementing Regulations of the Real Estate Brokerage Law restrict facility management, property management and real estate auctions to licensed establishments, and require employees to complete the qualification programme for each activity and be registered on the electronic platform.
How does an eviction work? Through the Execution Court. Ejar's unilateral termination service requires a judicial execution order to evict the tenant, citing the contract number, and studies the request within 5 business days.
Related reading: "Mollak Service Charge Submissions: The Full Cycle, Document by Document" (KB-071).
Sources
- Ejar (official platform)
- Ejar, About
- REGA, Ejar platform
- Council of Ministers Resolution No. (292), Rules for Enhancing Confidence in the Residential Rental Market
- Council of Ministers Resolution No. (405), broker registration of lease contracts
- Council of Ministers Decision No. (131), Electronic Rental Services Network
- Ejar e-services directory
- Ejar: Receiving and handing over real estate units
- Ejar: Registering and documenting the commercial contract
- Ejar: Lease Contract Transfer
- Ejar: Request to register a rental incident
- Ejar: Cancellation of contracts, termination by one party
- Ejar: Riyadh rental regulatory provisions
- REGA, Implementing Regulations of the Real Estate Brokerage Law
- REGA, Mullak platform
- Ejar user manuals