The owners of property on valley routes, where the recent floods caused much damage, will not have their ownership revoked because their titles have been notarized. By law, the titles of these properties cannot be nullified even if their existence on valley routes poses a threat to the owner or the building, according to judicial sources. The sources excluded any move right now to review the titles of such properties. If the court did find it necessary to examine the titles, then it would have to investigate the basis and manner in which the titles were first issued, the sources said. “But if the court finds that the grant or the title met the necessary requirements and now the need arises to review it, then this falls under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.” In practice, courts find great difficulty in looking into such cases on the grounds that the ownership of the property might have been passed over to several people. Omar Al-Kholi, a legal adviser, said this is a difficult process. “Notaries Public have no authority to revoke title deeds. Their role is confined to notifying them on the grounds that the property might have been given in the form of a grant by the King, or [in cases] where landlords have the titles. Therefore, in both cases the judiciary faces great difficulty in revoking the ownership [deeds] it had issued earlier.” The only possible solution for owners, is for the property to be expropriated in the public interest. There is legislation allowing ministries and government agencies to confiscate properties in the public interest and for owners to be compensated fairly, he said. “But the legislation makes it conditional that a public project would have to be carried out on the expropriated properties. This condition could be overlooked in order to handle the current situation, especially since there are proposals for constructing dams on [this land].” Informed sources at the Jeddah Mayoralty hinted that the authorities are considering a proposal to expropriate the buildings located on valley routes. But this will only happen if the go-ahead is given for the construction of dams in place of these buildings.
