JEDDAH, 10 December 2006 — Looking to make a quick buck, many people in Jeddah are falling victims to the machinations of supposed real estate agents who offer people a chance to buy land at exceptionally cheap prices. Once the deal is sealed and the money is handed over, many people come to realize that they have been swindled and that the deeds for the land they have bought are invalid.

One such victim is Ali Al-Malki. He saw an advertisement in a local Saudi newspaper about a land investment project in a southern district of the Red Sea port city called Al-Nasria. Land was being offered at SR6,000 for a 2,900 square meter plot, reported Al-Jazirah newspaper.

“When I went to the location that I had read about in the newspaper, I found many people buying and selling land. I asked about the legal documents and was told that they had not been issued by the courts yet. They advised me that if I waited until the legal documents were issued then the value of the land would increase to SR100,000,” said Al-Malki.

Al-Malki sold his stocks and purchased six plots of land. While handing the money over, he was given a sealed document from the real estate agent. A month later, a municipality official came and informed him that the land he had bought did not belong to anyone.

“We were advised to get our money back form the real estate agents,” he said, adding: “I do not know who to blame? Is it the broker? Or was it the newspaper that allowed such an advertisement to appear on its pages.”

“The newspaper,” he said, “was probably just looking to make money rather than ensuring whether the project was following the rules and regulations of the Ministry of Commerce... Why did the responsible authorities not interfere in time to protect citizens who only wanted to buy land and secure a good future for their family.”

Al-Malki was the victim of a real estate scam that are regularly advertised in local newspapers. Many middle-income people feel attracted to such investment projects in which 9,000 square meters of land are sold for meager amounts of money. Many middle income people find the offer totally irresistible and without verifying the deeds they part with their money. The documents are usually invalid and signed by the real estate agent and have no standing in the eyes of municipality officials and government departments.

Another such victim is Bakheet Al-Juhani. “I bought a piece of land and was given a document signed by a well-known person. I thought my investment was safe and secure,” he said. Al-Juhani thought the offer was so good that he even promoted it among his friends and extended family members.

Saleh Al-Bataihi bought some land on installments and spent five years paying them. “I was glad to have a piece of land on which I could build a house for my family. However, when I started to build the foundation for my dream house, I was shocked when the engineer told me that there is a deep and wide well underneath,” he said.

The engineer told him that it would cost a lot of money to build a building and so he decided to sell the land for half the price. “I was honest with prospective buyers that came to buy my land. I told them about the defect. One of the buyers agreed to buy it with the defect for a far less price than I had bought it for,” he said.

Al-Bataihi managed to buy another piece of land and is now almost done building a home. He says he was nearly swindled when purchasing another eight pieces of land.

“I brought an engineer to inspect these lands and he said it was a graveyard once. I asked people living in the area and they confirmed that these lands were once graveyards and that they belonged to a tribe called Al-Jahadila,” he said, adding that he contacted the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, which solved the problem by forcing the real estate agents to return the money. “They protected the graveyard by building a wall around it,” he said.

Ten years ago Adel Bakraa bought a piece of land and spent SR2 million building a house on it. It was then that a man came and knocked on his door telling him to demolish the house because the land belonged to him.

“We went to court because he filed a case against me and we found out that both of us owned this land. His document was issued from one court and it was older than mine. Mine was issued from a different court,” said Bakraa.

Since the man’s document was older than Bakraa’s, the judge asked Bakraa to give the man his land back or to pay him compensation money. “It was impossible to give him money because I had none left. Before I built my house I got a permit from the municipality to build my house. Now whose fault is this? How could they allow the land agent to sell the land twice?” he asked.

At a real estate site, Al-Jazirah newspaper met women who had been conned. The women had heard that journalists had arrived at the site and so came to voice their complaints.

“Some of us are divorced, some are widows and others are orphans. We all bought land 25 years ago on installments. When we finished paying our installments the owner did not give us documents for our lands,” said one woman who preferred to remain anonymous.

“We prayed to God that he gives the man who sold us the land cancer. He got sick and was in bed for many months before he died. His children were as harsh and heartless as him,” said the woman, adding that the court ruled that the women should receive deeds for the land.

“Until this moment we have received nothing. The Civil Department is telling us to calm down and wait until they arrest the eldest son who is in charge of giving us our land deeds,” added the woman.

Halima Al-Zubaidi is a widow and mother of nine children. “I only have this land. I have been waiting for 27 years to get this land and I am afraid I am going to die without getting it. I have never thought that anyone would deceive in this way,” she said, calling on the authorities to interfere.

Al-Jazirah spoke to the eldest son. “It needs time... We have problems with land agents. We need to receive original documents from these people and not just copies,” he said.

Some people believe that real estate agents would not swindle people in such a way if there was a stricter penal code. Ali Al-Adwani, a real state expert, believes the authorities should be very strict. “People need to be careful with brokers and ensure that they get legally verified documents so they don’t fall victims to such scams,” he added.

Khaled Al-Jabiri an authorized real estate agent said that the authorities have to interfere to protect citizens and solve their problems. He added that the Justice Ministry, the courts and the Civil Department must all play a role in helping victims.

“A widow came to my office. She had bought a plot of land that I supervise. She has been unable to get land documents although she carries a legal document. The owner keeps delaying her request, one day she gave up and she began screaming in a hysterical way. She even took off her abaya and began rolling in the street. I could not calm her down. She ran down the street ripping her clothes off. She had lost her mind because of the injustice she faced,” he said.

“I felt pity for her, she is a mother of five girls; one of them is handicapped. Her husband died before getting this land and she now fails to take possession. It is so sad,” Al-Jabiri explained.