Speaking to reporters after opening a notary public office north of the capital city Saturday, he said the ministry was also thinking of canceling the existing land ownership system to speed up the vacating process.

“We want to open similar notary public offices specialized in vacating properties,” the minister said, adding that the notaries’ records would be linked electronically.

He said the new notary office in Riyadh would bring about dramatic improvement in land deed services. “The first notary public office in Riyadh was facing difficulties due to huge amounts of work and quick action had to be taken to solve it,” he said while explaining the significance of the new office.

“Today the vacating of properties is done on the same day, within minutes, if no investigation on property ownership is required,” he said. The ministry's new move will give a big boost to the Kingdom's real-estate market.

Asked about the delay in vacating some properties in Jeddah, Al-Eissa said the committee in charge of inspecting land deeds in the city would be supported by additional notaries.

“We don’t want people to sell and buy properties if there is suspicion regarding their ownership,” he explained. The committee will not be abolished until it completes its mission, he added.

“Protecting property rights is our duty,” he said. He pointed out that the committee has approved most of the deeds. “They are holding only a few deeds due to some observations,” he added.

The minister criticized some real-estate owners for putting pressure on notaries as they wanted to sell their properties quickly to make money and are not bothered about property ownership matters.