The Saudi General Authority for Endowments has launched a new regulatory framework aimed at identifying, addressing, and reviving unknown and dormant endowments across the Kingdom. To incentivize public cooperation, the authority has established a reward system for reporting unknown endowments, set at up to 5 percent of the property’s total value, with a maximum cap of SR10 million.
According to the new guidelines, an “unknown endowment” is classified as a property or bequest that lacks a trustee, has been concealed by its possessor, or whose location and documentation are missing. To qualify for the financial reward, the individual submitting the report must provide valid documentation, must not be the administrator or an encroacher on the property, and the endowment must not be the subject of an ongoing legal dispute.
The regulations also define “dormant endowments” as properties where revenues or direct benefits have ceased entirely for two consecutive years. Economic experts noted that reports concerning dormant endowments will not be accepted during the first year of the law’s enactment, granting current administrators a grace period to rectify and address the status of the endowments under their supervision.
