Reforming Jointly Owned Property in Line with Saudi Vision 2030: Socio- legal Lessons Learned from English Commonhold and South African Sectional Title

Abstract

This thesis critically examines how Saudi Arabia’s Jointly owned property law and practises can be reformed to support Saudi’s 2030 housing development plan, which aims to increase home ownership in the country. Due to space restrictions and overcrowding in densely populated areas, jointly owned property is key to realising this objective. However, this thesis outlines several challenges, including inadequate legal awareness about JOP, disputes and enforcement issues, currently impede this aim, leading to an increasing demand for reforms.

To address these challenges and propose appropriate reforms, this thesis adopts a comparative socio-legal methodology that brings insights from comparative doctrinal analysis into conversation with those insights gained from interviews with owners/lawyers conducted in Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and England. Employing grounded theory for data analysis, themes emerged from the data, highlighting commonalities of best practices across the jurisdictions and also the need for a locally tailored governance framework due to different cultural norms. The analysis highlights gaps in the regulatory framework itself as well as enforcement and awareness for Saudi owners and tenants. To further examine the challenges for local unit owners and tenants, the thesis adopts Saudi-specific case studies. The case studies also highlight the impact of all reform proposals put forward throughout the thesis.