Homes built on state land to be owned by residents at ‘affordable’ prices

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Wednesday approved procedures to deliver services to residential buildings established on Treasury lands through transferring their ownership to their accupants at reasonable prices.

Director General of the Department of Lands and Survey Mueen Sayegh said that the decision concerns homes built before September 16 of this year and that the prices set will take into consideration residents’ financial conditions and allow them to pay via instalments within reasonable timeframes.

The director noted that the decision is aimed at rectifying the legal status of the buildings, while finding an efficient mechanism to stop violations on state-owned lands. 

The decision stipulated removing all squatters who moved into state lands after September 16, and putting in place strict procedures to stop such illegal acts, instructing administrative governors across the Kingdom to enforce the law strictly.

Sayegh said that the Cabinet authorised the department to survey the lands and identify beneficiaries of the decision, noting that the number of beneficiaries exceeded 60,000 citizens.

He noted that the department would use aerial photography to spot and document cases of squatting before and after the set date, so as to identify eligible applicants and remove trespassers.

Many if these cases date back to decades, when, mostly refugee families, bought lands from people who had unlawfully lived on and used state lands. There have been no formal legislation of such purchases and the new “owners” mostly presented a document called hujja — which literally means evidence — as the only deed to prove they paid money for the plot in question.