By virtue of Oman Sultani Decree No. 2/1998 Promulgating the Land Register Law, the sale contracts must be registered with the Ministry of Housing in order to obtain the title deeds in the name of the new owner of the land and property.
Though the registration of the title deed in the name of the new owner can happen only after the sale deed is registered with the Ministry of Housing, any rights arising to the parties from the signing or non-signing of the sale deed before the registration can be reinstituted in practice through a court process.
Practical Guidance
The sale contracts can be registered at the Ministry of Housing only by the appointment of the registered real estate agents.
The sale deed must satisfy all the elements of contract. There must be consideration, however it need not be adequate. On registration, the Ministry of Housing will apply the guideline value for the calculation of the registration fee.
The sale deed must be in Arabic and can have an additional language if the parties want it. In this case, the twolanguages will be side by side in the document. The Ministry of Housing will only rely on the Arabic side.
The attestation of the sale deed is usually done in two originals, and the buyer gets one original and the Ministry retains the other.
If during the first sale deed registration, it was a vacant land and subsequently the land was improved by building on it, any sale that happens thereafter will include the value of the building for the purpose of calculating the registration fee.
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Oman Sultani Decree No. 21/2004 on Regulating the Ownership by GCC Nationals of a Property in the Member State
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