Saudi white land fees: applicability and holding costs

Use the current city implementation

The Ministry of Municipalities and Housing announced implementing regulations in August 2025 with annual fees up to 10% of land value. Its Riyadh implementation notice describes priority tiers of 10%, 7.5%, 5% and 2.5%, plus an area outside priority tiers that still matters for ownership aggregation.

The Riyadh notice refers to owners whose land area or aggregate area exceeds 5,000 square metres in the announced geographic areas. These facts establish why a location and ownership review matters; they do not prove that a particular plot is liable or establish its assessed value.

Sources: Ministry of Municipalities and Housing: Implementing Regulations of the White Land Fees Law; Ministry of Municipalities and Housing: First phase of white land fee invoices in Riyadh

Create an applicability register

Record the cadastral plot, owner, other relevant holdings, geographic zone, development status, assessment value, invoice period and notification date. Attach the current official map and assessment rather than drawing a zone from a general neighbourhood description.

Keep an exemption, objection or grace-period request distinct from an approved outcome. The ministry notice says that fees remain due for the full period if development is not completed within an additional granted period. The model should retain a downside liability until the conditions are demonstrably met.

Sources: Ministry of Municipalities and Housing: First phase of white land fee invoices in Riyadh

Calculate a holding cost scenario

Assume, purely for illustration, a liable Riyadh holding assessed at SAR 30 million with a confirmed 7.5% annual rate. One assessed year costs SAR 2.25 million. Two unchanged annual assessments would total SAR 4.5 million before financing or other holding expenses.

This is not a forecast of an actual invoice. The valuation, annual period and applicability are assumed constant. Do not prorate a six-month programme delay into half an annual fee unless the applicable rules and invoice support that treatment.

Test which assessment period the programme crosses

A month-by-month programme should show development milestones beside fee assessment and payment dates. A small delay that crosses a new assessment period may have a different cash effect from an equal delay wholly inside one period.

Compare three cases: development completed as planned; one additional assessed year; and a revised assessment value. If the hypothetical value rises to SAR 33 million at the same 7.5%, that year costs SAR 2.475 million, SAR 225,000 above the original annual amount.

Distinguish liability from liquidity

Include fees in both the total development budget and the dated cashflow. If the landowner pays them outside the project vehicle, explain whether the agreement reimburses those costs or treats them as part of the contribution.

The investment decision should identify the confirmed zone and rate, the evidence still missing and the cost of crossing the next assessment period. Current official assessment and project advice take precedence over the illustrative sensitivity.