Bahrain Mirror: The Public Utilities and Environment Committee upheld its previous decision to reject a draft law aimed at exempting citizens from paying the property registration fee for the first time, which amounts to 2% of the property value.

The project aims at exempting citizens from paying registration fees and transfer of ownership property for housing for the first time, in order to achieve the principle of social justice among the groups of society. The purpose behind the draft is to alleviate the burden on low-income people who buy their homes by borrowing from banks.

The Public Utilities and Environment Committee justified its rejection to the project saying that the purpose behind the draft is to alleviate burden on the low-income people who borrow in order to buy a home, as article (59) of the Real Estate Registration Act stipulates that “Persons who obtain loans from Eskan Bank for the purchase of housing units or housing plots of land the extent of the loan amount shall be exempted from fees”. The real estate registration law has reduced the percentage of the fee to 2% after it was 3% of the value of the property in the repealed law no. 15/ 1979. The law has been applied for a few years only, and no negative effects have resulted from its application, thus, there is no justification to amend it.

Arabic Version