Real Estate Lawsuit in Oman: Forums, Rentals, and Ownership Claims

A real estate lawsuit in Oman is filed in one of two places depending on what the dispute is about: rental and lease conflicts go to the Rental Disputes Settlement Committee in the governorate where the property sits, while ownership disputes, fraud claims, mortgage enforcement, construction defects, and developer-investor conflicts go to the Court of First Instance. Under the Real Estate Registry Law that took effect in May 2026, anyone suing over rights in a specific property must also submit a copy of the claim for annotation on that property’s registry folio, or risk losing priority to later transactions.

Which Forum Handles Which Dispute

The forum turns on the nature of the claim. Royal Decree 12/2025 moved all lease-related disputes, including evictions, out of the ordinary courts and into dedicated Rental Disputes Settlement Committees in each governorate, effective July 13, 2025.¹ Rental cases filed in the regular courts before that date stay there, but anything new goes to the committee.

Everything else real estate-related — title disputes, fraudulent transfers, mortgage enforcement, construction defects, off-plan project disputes, broker claims — follows the general court path through the Court of First Instance, with appellate review and the Supreme Court above it. The Commercial Court handles commercial matters, labor disputes, and arbitration applications; the Administrative Court handles challenges to government decisions.²

Rental Disputes Through the Committee

The committee process is faster and more rigid than ordinary court litigation. Each committee is chaired by a judge from the Court of First Instance and includes representatives from the governorate and municipality. Once a case is submitted, it must be referred to the committee within seven days, and the committee has 90 days to issue a decision. Cases may be postponed only once for the same reason. The decision is final, binding, and non-appealable.¹ That last point is the sharpest change from the old system, where rental cases could be appealed up the court hierarchy.

Royal Decree 12/2025 also changed what a lease contract itself can do. Under Article 16, a lease now carries the force of a writ of execution, meaning a landlord can go directly to the Court of First Instance’s enforcement judge against a non-paying tenant or unauthorized occupant. The enforcement judge has 30 days to execute and can impose penalties up to and including imprisonment for willful non-compliance. Applications and notifications run electronically, with email and SMS treated as valid service.¹

For civil rental lawsuits still proceeding in the traditional courts (pre-July 2025 cases), filing fees run OMR 10 to OMR 30. Commercial rental lawsuits carry fees of OMR 30 to OMR 3,000. Required documentation includes an identification card, residence card, power of attorney, and a statement of claim filed under Article 64 of the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law.³

Ownership, Fraud, and Developer Disputes in Court

Non-rental real estate claims are filed in the Court of First Instance, typically in the precinct of the defendant’s domicile. In the Primary Commercial Court, claims valued below OMR 70,000 (roughly $182,000) go to a single judge and the judgment is final. Claims above that threshold are heard by a three-judge panel, with a 30-day appeal window available when the decreed amount exceeds OMR 20,000.²

Filing fees are 2% of the claim value, with a minimum of OMR 30 and a maximum of OMR 3,000. All filings must be in Arabic. Legal representation is mandatory for claims exceeding OMR 5,000, and foreign claimants must provide a notarized and attested power of attorney.²

Oman also launched the Court of Investment and Commerce in October 2025 under Royal Decree 35/2025, specializing in disputes involving merchants, commercial assets, investment contracts, banking operations, and intellectual property.⁴ Real estate is not expressly listed in the court’s published jurisdiction, but commercial property investment disputes involving merchants or investment contracts could fall within scope. Cases filed before October 1, 2025, stay with the courts that originally had jurisdiction.⁵

Annotating the Claim on the Property Folio

This step is new and easy to miss. Under the Real Estate Registry Law (Royal Decree 56/2026), which took effect May 18, 2026, anyone filing a lawsuit involving rights over a specific property must submit a copy of the claim for annotation on the relevant property folio in the registry.⁶ If the claimant later wins and registers the final judgment within the prescribed period, the right is treated as registered from the date of the original annotation, not the date of judgment.⁷

That backdating matters because the same law makes registration constitutive of rights, not just evidence of them. Article 10 requires registration for all dispositions affecting rights in rem, including transfers, mortgages, and final court judgments. An unregistered transaction creates only a personal obligation between the parties and has no effect against third parties. Article 5 makes a registered right binding evidence against all persons, and Article 35 confirms that title deeds issued by the registry are the sole proof of ownership.⁸ A plaintiff who wins a judgment but neither annotates the pending claim nor registers the result cannot assert the right against anyone other than the defendant.

Court-issued seizure orders and prohibitions on disposal must also be recorded in the registry, and the same annotation rule applies to pre-emption (shuf’a) claims where a party asserts a right to purchase ahead of other buyers under Islamic law principles. As of early June 2026, the executive regulations fleshing out procedures for data requests, authorized private registration services, and electronic service protocols had not yet been issued; existing regulations remain in force where they do not conflict with the new law.⁷

Foreign Claimants and Ownership-Based Claims

A large share of real estate litigation involving non-Omanis traces back to the restrictions on foreign ownership. The baseline rule, under the Land Law (Royal Decree 5/80), is that all land in Oman is state property, and non-Omani individuals and companies are generally barred from freehold title outside designated areas.⁹ The main openings for foreign ownership, each with its own litigation flashpoints, are:

Integrated Tourism Complexes under Royal Decree 12/2006 (Al Mouj, Muscat Bay, Muscat Hills, Jebel Sifah and similar developments), where foreigners may hold 100% ownership via usufruct, but must complete construction within four years or face Ministry auction of the property.¹⁰
Usufruct rights under Royal Decree 5/81, renewable up to 99 years, which may be mortgaged, sold, or inherited.¹⁰
Residential flats outside ITCs under MOHUP Resolution 357/2020, in buildings of at least four floors, with a minimum unit value of OMR 45,000 and a 3% registration fee.¹⁰
GCC nationals and wholly GCC-owned companies under Royal Decree 21/2004, with rights comparable to Omani citizens, though vacant plots must be developed within four years.⁹

Royal Decree 29/2018 added a blanket prohibition on non-Omani ownership in sensitive and strategic areas, including parts of Dhofar outside Salalah, Musandam, Buraimi, islands, strategically important mountain areas, and zones near royal palaces or military installations. Existing foreign owners were given two years to transfer such property to an Omani citizen.¹⁰ A foreign claimant whose underlying ownership falls outside these authorized routes has a weaker position before any Omani court or committee, regardless of the merits of the dispute itself.

Off-Plan and Developer-Buyer Disputes

Buyers in off-plan projects have more legal footing than they used to. The Real Estate Regulation Law (Royal Decree 79/2025), promulgated September 10, 2025, and effective March 10, 2026, consolidates and replaces the older brokerage, apartment ownership, and escrow statutes.¹¹ Developers must now hold a Ministry license before starting any project, maintain an independent escrow account per project with withdrawals tied to approved construction phases, and provide financial guarantees for project completion. Brokers and marketers must themselves be Ministry-licensed and listed on the national register of real estate workers. Multi-unit developments must have owners’ associations with legal personality and financial independence under Ministry supervision.¹²

Developers of off-plan projects had to register all subdivided units, including dispositions predating the law, within six months of its entry into force.¹² The 2026 Registry Law adds a Preliminary Real Estate Register (Article 1(8)) for provisional recording of ownership and rights in off-plan projects before construction completes, with developers required to register each unit and any subsequent disposals.⁸ For a buyer suing over a stalled or non-conforming off-plan unit, these registrations and the escrow trail are the evidentiary spine of the case.

Criminal Exposure for Property Fraud

Civil litigation is not the only risk for someone who manipulates records to transfer property. Article 37 of the Real Estate Registry Law imposes imprisonment of six months to three years, a fine of OMR 1,000 to OMR 30,000, or both, on anyone who submits false statements or forged documents to unlawfully transfer ownership or create property rights. Article 39 separately penalizes evasion of registration fees.⁷ A party uncovering forged documents during a civil case has a parallel criminal track available.

Arbitration as an Alternative

Arbitration is widely used in Oman’s real estate and construction work. Omani courts generally uphold valid arbitration clauses and decline jurisdiction when one exists, unless both parties agree to waive it.² Construction contracts frequently use FIDIC standard forms, and disputes over extension of time, prolongation costs, and variations are regular subject matter for both domestic and international arbitration. If your contract contains an arbitration clause, that is likely where the case belongs, not the Court of First Instance.

1
CMS. Overview of the Amendments to the Landlord-Tenant Law and Tenancy Registration
2
IFLR1000. Dispute Resolution: A Primer in Omani Litigation
3
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Trowers & Hamlins. Oman’s Court of Investment and Commerce: Delivering Vision 2040 Through Judicial Reform
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Decree.om. Royal Decree No. 35/2025
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Decree.om. Royal Decree No. 56/2026
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Dentons. New Law of the Real Estate Registry in Oman
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Pinsent Masons. Oman Introduces New Real Estate Register Law to Modernise Property Regime
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Economy Middle East. Oman Legal Framework for Real Estate
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Tamimi. Foreign Ownership of Real Estate in Oman
11
Decree.om. Royal Decree No. 79/2025
12
BSA Law. Real Estate Regulation Law in the Sultanate 79/2025