The Building File on a Resale Unit: Documents to Collect Before You Offer

Beyond the deed, a completed unit has a paper history: permits, completion, civil defence, service charge accounts and warranties. How to assemble it before you commit.

A unit is only as good as the records behind it, and those records sit with several different parties: the owner, the developer, the owners association, the municipality and the utility providers. Collecting them before you offer tells you whether what is built matches what was approved, whether the building is being maintained and whether anything outstanding will land on you. The request itself is also a test of how organised the seller is.

Before stage one

Ask for the whole file in one written request rather than item by item, because a seller who receives six separate messages over three weeks stops answering. Expect gaps: on an older unit some documents will simply not exist, and the question then becomes whether the gap is normal or whether it conceals something. Give your adviser the file as it arrives so that the review runs alongside the collection.

• A single written list of the documents you are requesting, sent through the broker.
• The deed reference and the unit identification as the seller uses them.
• The name of the developer or builder, if the building is recent enough for records to exist.
• The contact for the owners association or building manager.
• An adviser engaged to review the documents as they come in, not at the end.

Stage 1: Start with the deed and the ownership position

Obtain the deed in full rather than as an extract, and establish the registered owner, the description of the unit and anything recorded against it. Compare the description with the unit you viewed, including floor, area and any parking or storage said to be included. Mismatches between the recorded description and what is being sold are common and need explaining before anything else proceeds.

• Deliverable: A complete deed copy with a note of every discrepancy against the unit as marketed.
• Owner: Seller, verified by your adviser.
• Approval gate: The unit you are buying is the unit the deed describes.

Stage 2: Collect the permit and completion records

Ask for the building permit and the completion documentation for the building, and for any approval relating to alterations in the unit itself. These records show what was authorised; what you saw on the viewing shows what exists. An enclosed balcony, a converted maid's room or an added bathroom may be perfectly livable and still be unapproved, which becomes your problem on resale or refinancing.

• Deliverable: Permit and completion documents, with a list of any works that appear unapproved.
• Owner: Seller with the building manager.
• Approval gate: Any difference between the approved drawings and the unit is identified in writing.

Stage 3: Check the safety approvals for the building

Ask what civil defence approvals the building holds and whether the fire systems are maintained, particularly in a building with a lift, a basement car park or a generator. In a multi-owner building this is a collective responsibility, so the answer tells you as much about the owners association as about the equipment. A building with lapsed maintenance on safety systems has a cost coming that nobody has budgeted.

• Deliverable: A written statement on safety approvals and the current maintenance arrangements.
• Owner: Owners association or building manager.
• Approval gate: You know who maintains the safety systems and when they were last serviced.

Stage 4: Obtain the service charge history and the association position

Request the last two or three years of service charge accounts, the current budget, the arrears position on your unit and any reserve fund balance. Ask whether any major works are planned or have been discussed, because an approved programme is a liability that attaches to the unit. A building with no accounts at all is a warning in itself.

• Deliverable: Service charge accounts, the current budget, the arrears position and any planned works.
• Owner: Owners association, requested through the seller.
• Approval gate: No arrears on the unit, or a written agreement on who clears them.

Stage 5: Gather warranties, manuals and as-built information

On a newer unit, collect whatever defect liability or warranty documentation exists from the developer, together with equipment manuals and any as-built drawings. These decide whether a fault in the first years is somebody else's cost or yours. Confirm whether any remaining warranty transfers to a new owner and what has to be done to preserve it.

• Deliverable: A warranty and equipment pack, with a note of what transfers and when it expires.
• Owner: Seller and developer.
• Approval gate: You know which remaining protections you will actually hold.

Stage 6: Settle the utility and account position

Establish which utility accounts serve the unit, whether they are in the owner's name, whether any balance is outstanding and how transfer is handled. Where a building has a shared cooling or water arrangement, find out how consumption is measured and billed, since a shared system with no sub-metering can produce charges you cannot influence.

• Deliverable: A list of accounts, balances and the transfer route for each.
• Owner: Seller with the buyer.
• Approval gate: No unpaid balance will pass to you unaccounted for.

Stage 7: Review the file as a whole and decide

Put the documents in front of your adviser together, because the important findings are usually inconsistencies between them rather than defects in any one. A deed that describes a smaller area than the sales particulars, a permit that does not show the room you were shown, a service charge budget that does not fund the equipment in the basement: each of those is a question with a price. Convert the answers into contract terms or into a reason to withdraw.

• Deliverable: A document review note listing findings, their consequence and the action taken.
• Owner: Adviser with the buyer.
• Approval gate: Every gap in the file is either explained, priced or accepted deliberately.

Handovers between stages

The documents come from parties with no obligation to help you: the owners association answers to owners, the developer has moved on, and the municipality deals with the owner rather than a prospective buyer. That makes the seller your route to all of it, so make the request once, in writing, with a deadline, and treat slow or partial responses as information. If you are buying from abroad, have your representative collect originals or clear copies rather than photographs taken at an angle in poor light.

How you know it is finished

The file is complete when you can state who owns the unit, what was approved, what is built, what the building costs to run, what is owed, what is planned and which protections you will hold after completion. Gaps are acceptable on an older property provided you have decided consciously to accept each one. Record what you relied on and when, because requirements and record systems in this area are revised from time to time, and a licensed Saudi adviser should confirm the current position for anything you intend to act on.

Domira handles the property side of a Saudi transaction end to end: inspecting the unit, reading the documents, valuing what is in front of you and managing the asset after handover. Tell Domira what you are buying, selling or letting and you will get a plain answer on what it is worth doing.