Payment plans and handover day: what to check before signing the record

A payment plan is not a single number; it is a schedule of obligations stretching over months or years. What you compare between two plans is not the size of the first instalment, but the total you pay by the end of the plan, what is paid before handover and what after, and what happens if handover is late or if you are late with an instalment. As for handover day, it is the last moment at which you hold a clear negotiating position, because proving a defect after signing the handover record is harder. This article explains how to read any offer put in front of you, and what to check before you sign.

This content is for general awareness and does not constitute legal, financial or investment advice. Regulations, fees and rates are subject to change, and every transaction differs. Verify with the official sources (the Real Estate General Authority, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, the Saudi Central Bank, Sakani, Najiz) before taking any decision.

What questions should be put to any payment plan?

Put the same questions to every plan, in the same order, and ask for the answers in writing. A plan whose questions are not answered in writing is not a complete plan, however comfortable it looked in the presentation.

1. The total amount: what is the final sum at the end of the plan, not the monthly instalment alone? Ask for the total to be written as an explicit figure, not left to be inferred from a table.
2. Before handover and after: which portion of the amount is paid before you receive the unit, and which after? This is the difference between two plans that may be identical in total and completely different in risk.
3. Construction milestones or dates: does the instalment fall due on reaching a specified construction milestone, or on a fixed date regardless of the state of the building?
4. Late handover: what does the contract provide if the developer misses the date? And does their delay have any effect on your payment schedule?
5. Your own delay: what follows if an instalment from your side is late? Read the breach and termination clause in full, and what is refunded to you and what is not.
6. What sits outside the schedule: the schedule usually shows the price of the unit, while other obligations accompany the transaction. Review the costs of buying a first home and the rates attached to them before you treat the total as final.

Where are my instalments deposited in licensed off-plan projects?

This is the question that separates a serious offer from the rest, and in licensed off-plan projects the answer is not a promise but a mechanism. The regulator is the Real Estate General Authority, and a licensed project is required to have an escrow account at a licensed bank — a bank account specific to the project into which buyers' and financiers' funds are deposited, and out of which nothing may be spent except on the licensed project itself.

The account has two effects that concern you directly. The first is that the funds deposited in it may not be attached for the benefit of the developer's creditors. The second is that payments are released to the developer according to the engineering completion percentage and in line with the payment schedule in the contract, not according to their cash needs. Added to this is the annotation on the land deed barring any disposal of it.

So ask two specific questions: which account is my instalment transferred to? And is that account the project's escrow account or another account? Ask for the account to appear in the contract. Then verify the project's licence yourself through the "enquiry about projects licensed for off-plan sale and lease" service on the Authority's portal, rega.gov.sa. For the full detail of this track, read the guide to buying off-plan and its regulatory safeguards.

What is the difference between what is written in the contract and what is promised in the sales meeting?

The rule is short: what is not in the contract does not exist. Anything said in the sales meeting about a specification, an annexe, a parking space, a service or a date, which does not appear in the contract and the specifications schedule, cannot be relied on later. It is not necessarily bad faith either — the employee who made you the promise may not be the one handing you the unit two years from now.

So if you hear a promise that matters to you, ask for it to be written into the contract itself, or into an annexe signed by both parties. And if you are told this is "understood implicitly", that is an additional reason to write it down. Review the brokerage contract too, if there is one: a real estate brokerage contract must be in writing, and the broker must file a copy of it with the Authority; it cannot be relied upon otherwise. The regulated brokerage commission is 2.5% of the transaction value in a sale, unless the parties to the brokerage contract agree otherwise in writing. So read what was agreed in writing rather than assuming the rate.

How do I use the property advertisement itself to verify?

The advertisement through which the offer reached you is the first document you can examine, before you sit down with anyone. Under the regulatory rules for real estate marketing and advertising, in force since 1 May 2026, every property advertisement must include eight items of information:

• The real or personal rights being advertised
• A description of the property, its condition, particulars and location, insofar as these affect its value or the decision of the intended audience
• The services and rights attached to the property, including any existing disputes concerning it
• A contact method matching the details provided when the licence was applied for
• The name of the advertiser
• Prominent display of the advertisement licence number
• The expiry date of the advertisement licence
• The activity practice licence number (FAL number)

As an alternative, it is accepted to show only the advertisement licence number together with a QR code giving access to the eight items. Note here a point many people confuse: the advertisement licence is separate and independent from the FAL licence, and is issued for each property, and the advertisement may not be published before obtaining it. The advertisement must also be removed as soon as its purpose ends or its licence expires, whichever comes first. An advertisement whose licence has expired and is still published is a signal worth asking about.

And do not settle for the number being present — check it yourself. The Authority's portal offers an "enquiry about a real estate advertisement licence" service, searchable by advertisement licence number, brokerage contract number, or title document number.

How do I read a payment plan against my existing obligations?

A payment plan is not read in isolation from your income and existing loans. The Saudi Central Bank's rules set the deduction ratio (debt burden ratio) so that the monthly credit obligations arising from the financing do not exceed 65% of the client's total monthly income. Some banks may apply stricter ratios under their own policies, which are individual policies rather than a regulatory ceiling.

For a first home, the maximum loan-to-value ratio is 90% for citizens at banks, that is a 10% down payment. If the payment plan offered to you comes directly from the developer, the practical question is how its instalments intersect with the financing instalments if you are financing part of it, and whether the due dates coincide or pile up into a single month.

What do I check before signing the handover record?

Start with the date itself. Among the licensing requirements for an off-plan project is submitting a sale contract template with delivery dates specified to the day, which means delay is measured against a document rather than an impression. Open the contract, read the date, and compare it with reality before discussing anything else.

Then go to the site in daylight, taking with you the contract, the specifications schedule and the drawings, and take your time. This is a list to print and take with you:

• Conformity with the contracted specifications: compare item by item: flooring, sanitary fittings, kitchen, air conditioning, external works.
• Electrical works: try every switch and socket, and check the distribution board, the breakers, the lighting points and the telecom outlets.
• Plumbing: run every mixer tap, test water pressure and drainage speed, and look for leaks under basins and around water heaters.
• Waterproofing and signs of damp: look for patches or bulging in ceilings and walls, especially beneath bathrooms, around windows and at the roof.
• Doors and windows: closing and sealing, hinges and locks, the integrity of the glass, and air and sound leakage.
• Finishes: evenness of the paintwork, tile joints, gypsum ceilings, corners and edges.
• Area: measure the actual areas and compare them with the drawing and with what the contract states.
• Shared services and meters: entrances, lifts, parking and external lighting, and the electricity and water connections and the account names on the meters.

Then the step most buyers get wrong: record your observations in writing in the handover record before signing, not after. Attach dated photographs, set a remedy date for each observation, and keep a copy signed by both parties. An observation voiced verbally on handover day leaves nothing behind afterwards. And if the inspection cannot be completed in one visit, you are entitled to ask for another visit before signing.

After handover, the ownership procedure itself remains. Review the steps of transfer of title, ownership transfer and the authority before which it takes place, because ownership does not pass in law except by registration or official notarisation.

What does the ten-year warranty cover, and what does it not?

The Civil Transactions Law, in the chapter on the construction contract, provides for a warranty of ten years under which the contractor and the architect are jointly liable for total or partial collapse, and for defects that threaten the strength and safety of the building. This warranty is a matter of public order, meaning it exists by operation of law rather than because it appears as a clause in your contract.

The common confusion here is a buyer assuming that the ten-year warranty covers everything that appears in the unit over ten years. Its scope is the safety and structural strength of the building, not ordinary finishing observations: a scratch in the paint, an uneven tile, or a door that does not close properly. Those belong in the handover record and in the contractual warranty clauses on the works and appliances — which is exactly why the record is written with care.

RYLIST Global's role

Reading an offer correctly is slow, unglamorous work: comparing the total rather than the instalment, asking about the escrow account, insisting that verbal promises be turned into text, checking the advertisement licence, and then a full day on site with an inspection list. None of it is impressive, but it is what separates a documented transaction from one built on a good feeling.

At RYLIST Global we work with the buyer on precisely this side: ordering the questions, reviewing what must appear in the documents, and pointing you to the official authority where you verify it yourself. Browse the available projects, or start a conversation with Fahem, the real estate advisor so that you arrive at your questions before the meeting rather than after it.