Hurghada sets conditions for approving transfers of allocated land

Hurghada's local city unit has set out the conditions under which it will accept an application to transfer allocated land to another person, for plots granted either for housing or for a project.

The unit says the conditions regulate transfer procedures following the Red Sea governor's decision to cancel powers of attorney on this land and make a formal transfer the route in their place.

What the unit requires

• The preliminary contract on the land must have been in place for a year as of 5 October 2026.
• The full price of the land must be paid before the transfer is completed.
• A transfer fee of 1% of the land's current market price applies to plots allocated for building, whether the plot was given for a home or for a project.
• Where more than one plot passes to the same person, the 1% is paid on each plot separately.
• Transfers to a first-degree relative — a parent, a spouse or a child — are exempt from the fee, under the conditions in the announcement.

Earlier transfers that were approved and paid for but never completed are settled at 1% of the current market price. For registered contracts whose obligations were passed to someone else, the fee is also calculated at 1% of the land price at the current market rate; where such a contract contains a clause barring disposal of the land, that clause governs. For companies, changes to the commercial register — partners joining or leaving, mergers and amendments — are taken into account.

What delays a decision

Applications for plots with building violations are held until reconciliation is complete and the full reconciliation fees are paid. Where the land is the subject of a court dispute, the decision waits until that dispute ends, whether the transfer is to one person or to several.

A request to transfer only part of a plot goes to the urban planning department. If it approves, a separate sketch and a separate report are issued on whether the part can be split off and whether it fits the approved subdivision, the area's detailed plan and the approved development maps. All copies of the contract are then annotated to record the partial transfer, rather than a new transfer contract being drawn up, and the person receiving the land is given a certified copy.

The unit also said dealings remain suspended on plots allocated under earlier payments, citing a Ministry of Local Development letter dated 14 May 2025.