Jurisdiction of Joint Property Removal Committees

Abstract

Real estate ownership may be joint, meaning multiple owners own a single property. It may also be individual ownership, limited to a single owner. Typically, using a property owned by a single person is easier and more convenient than using a property owned jointly.

Dividing a joint property is done by agreement between the owners. If an agreement is not possible, the joint property is divided by the conciliation courts, regardless of its value. The courts previously applied Law No. (48) of 1953. The Real Estate Law repealed this law No. (13) of 2019. Pursuant to this law, the jurisdiction to divide a jointly owned property in the event of a disagreement between the partners was transferred from the conciliation courts to the Joint Property Removal Committees. The Real Estate Ownership Law and the Real Estate Joint Ownership Removal Regulation stipulated the jurisdiction of the Real Estate Joint Ownership Removal Committees. This study addresses the rules governing the formation of joint ownership removal committees, their nature, the justifications for their establishment, the procedures governing their work, and their jurisdiction to dispose of jointly owned property and divide it among the partners.

The study reaches several conclusions, including a conflict between the provisions governing the committees for the removal of joint ownership in real estate and their jurisdiction in the Real Estate Ownership Law, and the provisions regulating the same subject in the regulations for these committees. Furthermore, there is a legislative deficiency in some provisions. For example, the Real Estate Ownership Law and the regulations on the removal of joint ownership in real estate stipulate that the parties who have seized or mortgaged the property subject to the partition request must be notified, without specifying the legal consequences of such notification. Additionally, the determination of jurisdiction for implementing the provisions for the removal of joint ownership in real estate is inconsistent and unstable, whether the jurisdiction lies with the Director General of the Land and Survey Department, the Director of the relevant Registration Directorate, the committee for the removal of joint ownership in real estate, or the head of the committee, as detailed in the study.