Evicting a Tenant in Saudi Arabia: Steps and Timelines at the Execution Court

Your tenant hasn’t paid for months, or the lease has ended and they won’t leave. What can you do?

The short answer: don’t remove them yourself. A lease registered on the Ejar platform is an enforceable instrument, so you take it straight to the Execution Court through Najiz, without bringing a lawsuit from scratch. The court orders the eviction and carries it out.

One thing to know first: on 29 October 2026 the new Enforcement Law and its implementing regulation came into force (Ministry of Justice, in Arabic). The law replaces the Enforcement Law of 1433H (Article 65, in Arabic). So anything you read before that date about eviction timelines may no longer be accurate.

This is a general guide, not legal advice. Every case is different, so check the source linked at each rule and ask a specialist before you file anything.

The rules in this guide are as published by the Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers, the Umm Al-Qura official gazette, the Ministry of Justice, Najiz and REGA, and we checked them on 30 October 2026.

When Does a Lease Count as an Enforceable Instrument?

The new law says forced enforcement needs an enforceable instrument (in Arabic), and one of the instruments it lists is “contracts and documents that have the status of enforceable instruments under a law or a Council of Ministers decision” (Article 7). The unified lease registered on Ejar is one of them: the Ministry of Justice announced that Execution Courts accept the unified lease registered on the Ejar network as an enforceable instrument (SPA, quoting the Ministry of Justice, in Arabic) when the tenant doesn’t pay rent on the due date.

What that means in practice:

• The lease has to be registered on Ejar. This direct route is for the unified lease registered on the platform. An unregistered paper lease isn’t covered by that announcement, and forced enforcement without an enforceable instrument isn’t allowed (Article 7, in Arabic), so you’d need a ruling from the competent body first (see “When you need a claim instead”, below).
• The Execution Court doesn’t decide the underlying dispute. It checks that the instrument meets its legal conditions, without looking at the underlying right (Article 4, in Arabic). If the disagreement is about what the lease says, or whether it was ever cancelled, that belongs somewhere else.
• If your right depends on something the lease itself doesn’t show, the law lets you file with a report from an expert body approved by the Ministry of Justice proving it (Article 8, in Arabic).
• There’s a time limit. A request isn’t accepted on an instrument more than 10 years past its due date (Article 11, in Arabic), and for rent paid in instalments the period runs from each instalment’s own due date (implementing regulation, Article 12, in Arabic).

Before You File: What You Need to Know

You can’t evict the tenant yourself. Article 423 of the Civil Transactions Law (in Arabic) says the landlord must not interfere with the tenant’s use of the property for the whole term of the lease, and is liable if they do; interference by people acting for the landlord counts as the landlord’s own. Changing the locks, cutting the utilities or keeping the tenant out can turn the case against you. A forced eviction is carried out by the court, which orders the competent force to act (Enforcement Law, Article 36, in Arabic).

If the lease is still running and the tenant isn’t paying. Under the Civil Transactions Law, when one party doesn’t perform, the other may, after giving formal notice (إعذار), ask for the contract to be performed or cancelled, with compensation where due (Article 107, in Arabic), and a court can refuse cancellation if the unpaid part is minor. A contract may say it can be cancelled without a court ruling, but that clause doesn’t remove the need for formal notice unless the parties expressly agreed to waive it (Article 108). So check your lease’s terms before asking for eviction.

If the lease has ended and the tenant won’t leave. The tenant must return the property when the lease ends, and if they keep it without right you’re owed the market rent for it, without losing your right to compensation (Article 435, in Arabic). Two things to watch:

• Make sure the lease really has ended. Leases on Ejar can renew automatically; see renewing a lease in Saudi Arabia.
• If the tenant stays on with your express or implied consent, the lease counts as renewed on its terms (Article 440, in Arabic). Don’t act in a way that suggests you’ve agreed to them staying when you haven’t.

Notice before filing, in some cases. The new implementing regulation requires the creditor to notify the debtor of the demand at least 5 working days before the enforcement request is registered (Article 13, in Arabic) in listed cases, including: when the two sides agreed on notice; when the tenant is a company or other private legal entity; and when the right was deferred when the instrument was created, in which case notice is given after it falls due. Notice goes through the Ministry of Justice’s electronic systems unless the two sides agreed otherwise in writing (Article 52).

Applying for Eviction on Najiz: Step by Step

1. Get your documents ready: the number of the registered Ejar lease, a statement of the unpaid instalments and their due dates, and any notice you sent the tenant.
2. Log in to Najiz and choose “Submit an enforcement request” (تقديم طلب تنفيذ). Najiz describes it as letting you submit an enforceable instrument for any type of enforcement request: financial, direct enforcement or personal status (Najiz, enforcement section, in Arabic).
3. Pick the request type. Unpaid rent is a financial request. Eviction is direct enforcement, because it’s the performance of an act (Enforcement Law, Article 1, in Arabic). When the Ministry of Justice started accepting leases, it described the steps: choose “financial rights” to recover money from the tenant, or “other rights” to have the property vacated, then choose the “unified lease” instrument, fill in the details and send the request (SPA, quoting the Ministry of Justice, 2018, in Arabic). The option names on screen may have changed since then.
4. Watch for the request to be registered. The court registers it once it meets the requirements. If something is missing, you have 10 working days from being told to complete it, or the request counts as rejected, and you can challenge a refusal to register within 10 working days (Article 13, in Arabic).
5. Follow the request on Najiz. The “Enquire about an enforcement request” and “Verify an enforcement request” services (in Arabic) show the decisions, steps and payments on it.

How Long Does an Eviction Take?

There’s no single official figure for an eviction from start to finish, because it depends on how fast the tenant is served and how they respond. But the law and its regulation set a time for each step:

If the property is a home, the regulation requires the rules needed to protect the family’s privacy to be followed, and the departure of women, children, older people and people with disabilities to be made easier (Article 38, in Arabic).

And the Unpaid Rent: How Long?

The financial request has its own track and timelines:

• 5 working days after the tenant is served without paying, forced enforcement starts straight away (in Arabic): licensed credit bureaus are told of the non-payment and the tenant’s assets are seized (Article 18). If the tenant provides a bank guarantee that covers the debt, they get 10 more working days.
• Disclosing assets: the tenant must disclose them within 5 working days of being served (regulation, Article 15, in Arabic).
• Fines: the court may impose a fine of up to SAR 5,000 a day (Article 18), and the total can’t exceed the debt (regulation, Article 18). The fines go to the state treasury, not to you.
• Salary: for debts other than maintenance, a wage or salary can be seized up to a third of its gross amount (Article 26, in Arabic).
• Travel ban: at your request, for up to 3 years, extendable to 6 (Article 19). But it is only issued if assets enough to cover the debt can’t be seized, and it’s lifted if the total debt is small, meaning no more than SAR 50,000 (regulation, Article 19, in Arabic).

When you’re paid outside the enforcement process, you must close the request within one working day of being paid (regulation, Article 46, in Arabic). Delaying that to harm the tenant, or filing a request in order to harm them, carries up to 3 years in prison and a fine of up to SAR 100,000 (Article 53, in Arabic).

A Tenant Who Won’t Leave: What Can They Do?

The law gives the tenant ways to respond, and it’s worth knowing them before you file:

• Pay, or prove they’ve paid. Najiz has a “Proof of payment” service (in Arabic) that lets the person being enforced against ask to record a payment made to the requester outside the court. So keep an exact record of every payment you receive.
• Ask for more time. The “Grace period – postponing the enforceable instrument” service is open to both the requester and the person being enforced against; if it’s approved, the orders named in the request are lifted for the grace period.
• Make you accept payment. If you refuse to accept rent the instrument says is owed, the tenant can ask the court to order you to accept it (Article 10, in Arabic).
• Bring an enforcement dispute. Anyone with an interest may dispute the validity of the instrument, the conditions for enforcing it, or the court’s jurisdiction (Article 45, in Arabic). The court decides it under the rules for urgent cases, within 15 working days of referral unless it’s necessary to take longer (regulation, Article 48).
• Challenge a decision. Certain decisions, including travel bans, detention, fines, choosing which assets to enforce against, and seizures (regulation, Article 49, in Arabic), can be challenged within 10 working days, and the decision on the challenge is final (Article 46).

What matters to you: a dispute, a challenge, or a disagreement about the underlying right doesn’t stop enforcement unless whoever hears it decides otherwise (Article 47, in Arabic).

And some people can never be detained: someone not over 18, someone with an illness that makes detention unbearable according to an approved medical report, a pregnant woman or one with a child under two, or a parent or descendant of the person requesting enforcement (Article 37, in Arabic).

When You Need a Claim Instead of the Execution Court

The Execution Court enforces the instrument; it doesn’t rule on the dispute itself. So you need another body first if:

• The lease isn’t registered on Ejar. You have no enforceable instrument, and forced enforcement can’t happen without one (in Arabic), so you need a ruling or decision that becomes the instrument.
• The disagreement is about the underlying right, such as whether the lease was cancelled or how much is really owed. REGA’s Saudi Real Estate Arbitration Center handles cases arising from Ejar through arbitration, conciliation and settlement online, and the courts are reached through Najiz. Arbitral awards and final judgments of Saudi courts are enforceable instruments too (Article 7, in Arabic).

After the Eviction: Close the Lease on Ejar

The court clears the property, but the lease stays active on Ejar until you cancel it. Ejar offers a one-sided cancellation service for a landlord who has a court order from the Execution Court evicting the tenant. It requires “the enforcement decision ending the contract, including the contract number”, and has no fee (REGA’s Ejar services guide, in Arabic).

Before You File: A Checklist

• Make sure the lease is registered on Ejar and its details are right.
• Decide what you want: the unpaid rent, the eviction, or both. Each is its own type of request.
• Check your lease’s terms on cancellation and formal notice, and that it hasn’t renewed automatically.
• Check whether yours is one of the cases that needs notice 5 working days before filing.
• Keep an exact statement of every payment received and every one that’s late.
• Don’t change the locks, cut the utilities or enter the property, however long it takes.
• If the property was sold and the new owner wants the tenant out, read what the law says when a rented property is sold before doing anything.

Most late payments never need a court: a clear due date, digital payment and an early reminder settle many of them, as our guide to collecting rent without the headache explains. If it’s the tenant who wants to leave before the lease ends, the route is usually a mutual cancellation. And the tenant rights you have to respect throughout, each with its source, are in Tenant rights in Saudi Arabia.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does an eviction order take to carry out? Once the tenant is served with the eviction order, the property must be handed over within 5 working days, extendable where necessary to 60 days (in Arabic). If the tenant doesn’t comply, the court orders the competent force straight away. The full time depends on serving the tenant and how they respond.

Do I need to file a lawsuit to evict a tenant? If the lease is registered on Ejar, no: it’s an enforceable instrument, and you file an enforcement request on Najiz directly. If it isn’t registered, or the dispute is about the underlying right, you need a ruling or an arbitral award first.

Can I claim the unpaid rent and the eviction together? They’re two requests of different types: financial for the rent, direct enforcement for the eviction, each with its own steps and timelines.

What happens to belongings the tenant leaves behind? They’re listed and stored at the owner’s cost; the owner is told to collect them within 15 days, or they’re sold and the proceeds held for them (in Arabic).

Can the tenant stop the eviction by disputing it? A dispute or a challenge doesn’t stop enforcement (in Arabic) unless whoever hears it decides otherwise.

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Ejari is a REGA-licensed company. With Ejari, the landlord gets the year’s rent upfront and the tenant pays monthly, if they’re approved, and the lease is registered on Ejar. See how it works.