Property
Designated freehold zones for foreign buyers
Foreign nationals may own freehold in designated areas including the Pearl and Lusail, and leasehold of up to ninety-nine years elsewhere.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Real Estate Registration Department, Ministry of Justice.
- Deadline — Registration with the Real Estate Registration Department completes transfer
Governing law
- Law 16 of 2018 on Non-Qatari Ownership and Use of Real Estate
- Civil Code, Law 22 of 2004 — property provisions
In practice
Law 16 of 2018 widened foreign ownership considerably, taking the designated freehold areas from three to around ten and creating usufruct rights for up to ninety-nine years in a further set of areas. Ownership above a value threshold carries residence entitlement, which is the main practical driver of foreign purchase. Registration is constitutive rather than evidential, so an unregistered sale does not transfer title however complete the contract. Qatari nationals and GCC citizens are treated differently from other foreign nationals, and GCC treatment is not identical to national treatment.