The Wafi program emphasizes the principle of transparency in the real estate market and the provision of high-quality, low-cost products
Asharqia Chamber held a workshop represented by the Real Estate and Urban Development Committee yesterday entitled “Stimulating the real estate development sector for off-plan sales and leasing projects,” moderated by the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Eng. Rashid Al-Qadi. Regulating the activity of selling or renting real estate units, whatever their purpose or method of development, before or during the development or construction phase, noting the existence of several incentives involved in the selling and leasing activity for the benefit of real estate developers, as well as buyers.
The Assistant Secretary-General for Technical Affairs at "Wafi" Saleh bin Abdulaziz Al-Khamis said during the workshop that was held on Sunday, September 25, 2022, that off-plan sale is the activity of marketing and selling real estate units before or during the development and construction phase by presenting a detailed description of the real estate unit in its final form upon completion of its development. The developer obtains direct financing from the buyers to carry out the construction and building works. This activity entails several returns, perhaps the most prominent of which is raising the level of transparency in the real estate market, Adequate real estate market benefits from developing and stimulating developer competition, enhancing developers' ability to shift from individual to institutional work, reducing real estate developer risk, as well as early marketing of the real estate unit, and saving both project parties.
Al-Khamis stressed that the private sector is a key partner for the work of the off-plan sale or lease committee, as the committee seeks to provide the most flexible services and procedures in coordination with the relevant authorities to meet the aspirations of the real estate sector and its development vision for all businesses, pointing out that the Wafi program works to increase consumer reliability and raise The efficiency of developers and their performance in all their work.
For this part, the Director of Licensing Department of the Sale or Leasing Committee on Map (Wafi) Turki Al-Hassani explained that the Committee is the official regulator of this activity, and it obliges real estate developers to implement according to the time plan of each project according to the approved forms and specifications. Wafi's vision is to be a close guarantor of the safeguarding of the rights of the parties involved in the sale projects on the map, and the distinguished incubator of real estate investments in the Kingdom, based on his message stressing the protection of the rights of the beneficiaries and achieving their satisfaction by organizing the sale or leasing activity on the map in the real estate market.
He pointed out that the number of licenses issued through the program amounted to from 2018 to 2020, 332 licenses, and the total of qualified developers reached 324 by the end of 2020, noting that whoever needs to obtain a license is anyone who wants to sell or rent real estate units off-plan, no matter what. Its purpose is advertising in the media, marketing, or display in exhibitions.
Al-Hassani stressed that the program provides advantages for the buyer and the tenant, represented in reducing the costs of owning the real estate unit, obtaining real estate units of high quality, increasing the options offered, and paying easy installments equivalent to the completion percentage. The program also works to protect the rights of customers by ensuring the integrity and marginalization of the instrument. And allocating a dedicated escrow account for each project, and is also subject to engineering supervision and legal accounting, in addition to field visits to projects.
For this part, Director of Training and Rehabilitation Department Wafi, Falih al-Qahtani said that the sale activity is on the map before the issuance of controls and the formation of the sale or leasing committee on the map Wafi was suffering from a lack of regulation of the developer-beneficiary relationship in cases of early sale and cases of fictitious sales, declining confidence in the real estate market and real estate developers and fear of losing rights weak quality of real estate projects and overlapping financial accounts of multiple developers' projects But all these phenomena declined after the decision of the Council of Ministers to form a sale or lease committee on the map consisting of representatives of the following ministries "Municipal and Village Affairs, Trade, Justice," in addition to representatives of the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia, the Industrial Cities Authority and the Technical Zones (Modon), and representatives of the private sector, thereby protecting all parties to the contractual relationship, especially since all work is directly supervised by the Commission, whose functions include licensing, establishing conditions and requirements for it, regulating exceptions to the instrument and establishing conditions for the technical and financial qualification of developers, marketers, real estate brokers, practitioners and practitioners.
