How to establish an owners’ association, step by step

What you need before you start

Before you open Mullak, make sure the property is ready on paper: most registration delays come from missing deeds or data, not from the platform.

Subdivided units and their deeds

An owners’ association exists only in a property subdivided into separate units, each with a title deed or an entry in the real-estate register. If the property is not subdivided yet, the first step is to subdivide it on the electronic subdivision platform; according to REGA’s services guide, the association is then registered electronically once the units’ deeds or register entries are issued.

What the regulation requires for registration

Article 10 of the executive regulation, as amended in 1445H, lists what registration requires:

• Details of the owners of the subdivided units, and of their representatives if any.
• Details of the shared property, including its National Address, title-deed number and real-estate register number.
• The association’s by-laws, a condition of registration; REGA has issued model by-laws that owners can adopt.
• The names of the general assembly’s members at registration, and anything else REGA requires.

How to register an owners’ association on Mullak

An owners’ association is registered online on Mullak, REGA’s owners’ associations platform. The steps below summarise REGA’s owners’ associations services guide (January 2025 edition); screens and labels may change, so check the platform before you start.

1. Create an account on Mullak’s owners’ associations page; sign-up is instant.
2. Choose “Create a new association” if the property is subdivided and its deeds are issued, and enter the title deed.
3. Pick the property’s location once the deed is verified, then enter the required details of the property and its owners.
4. Invite the other owners to join: each owner enters their unit’s deed or register entry, which is verified electronically, then approves joining.
5. File within thirty days of founding; otherwise any owner may apply for registration on their own.
6. Follow the association’s approval, then request the unified number (700) from the chairman’s or property manager’s account once it is approved.

The first general assembly: electing the chairman and appointing the manager

The general assembly is all the owners, and it decides everything that concerns the association. The regulation requires whoever applied for registration to invite every member of the general assembly within five days of the association’s registration, with at least five days between the invitation and the meeting.

The first meeting’s agenda

At its first meeting, the general assembly considers and decides four matters:

• The association’s by-laws.
• Electing the association’s chairman.
• Appointing the property manager, unless it is agreed to postpone this to the second meeting.
• The work and expenses the founding required.

The chairman and the property manager

The general assembly elects a chairman from among its members to chair its meetings and follow up its decisions, for a renewable three-year term. On Mullak, an owner stands for chairman from their account dashboard and owners vote online.

The property manager runs day-to-day work: maintenance, contracts with companies, collecting contributions and spending from the approved budget. The manager may be an owner or someone else. According to the services guide, the chairman nominates managers, a manager accepts once notified, then owners vote and the manager is appointed by majority. The guide asks an individual manager for a Real Estate Institute certificate, and a company for a commercial registration plus a Real Estate Institute certificate for its manager.

General assembly decisions are valid when approved by owners holding at least three quarters of the subdivided units’ total area, unless the by-laws set a higher share.

The budget, contributions and the bank account

The property manager prepares a draft annual budget covering management and the upkeep of the common parts, and the general assembly approves it. The financial year is twelve months, though the first one may run from six to eighteen months from registration.

Each owner shares the costs in proportion to their unit’s area against the total area of the subdivided units, and contributions may differ by use in a mixed-use property. No owner may give up their share of the common parts to escape paying. For more on working out contributions, see the owners’ association fees guide.

• Bank account: the association opens an account in its own name at a bank licensed in the Kingdom and deposits all its funds there; REGA lists bank-account opening among Mullak’s services.
• Auditor: a licensed auditor is required when the property has 100 or more subdivided units, or the association’s assets exceed SAR 1 million.
• Reserve: the general assembly may decide to build a reserve for costs beyond the approved budget.

After registration: a checklist for the first 30 days

Registration gives the union its legal existence, but owners’ trust is built in the first weeks. Here is a practical list for the chairman and the manager to start with:

1. Unit and owner registry: one up-to-date register of every unit, its owner, share and resident, matching Mullak.
2. An official channel: one channel for requests and notifications instead of scattered messages.
3. Maintenance contracts: list the contracts for lifts, cleaning, security and fire safety, and renew what is needed by a recorded decision.
4. Shared-facility rules: clear hours and terms for the hall, pool and courts, approved by the general assembly.
5. Collecting contributions: tell every owner their contribution and how to pay it into the association’s bank account.
6. Minutes and books: the association keeps the minutes of its meetings and detailed accounts, and every owner may inspect them.

Common mistakes when setting up an owners’ association

Most new unions repeat the same mistakes, and avoiding them from the start is far easier than fixing them once disputes pile up:

• Delaying registration while waiting for everyone to agree, although the regulation sets a thirty-day window and lets any owner apply.
• Copying by-laws without reading them; they set the quorum, the manager’s powers and the contribution rules.
• Mixing up the chairman and the manager, so the chairman ends up running daily work without a clear mandate.
• Spending before the budget is approved, or from a personal account instead of the association’s.
• Running requests in a chat group with no record, so promises and decisions are lost when the board changes.