The buyer's ownership of the sold item even if the registration is not completed
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Fatwa number ( 2636 )
Q: My father (may Allah have mercy on him) was poor. He sold a piece of land for a very low price twenty years ago. However, the buyer said to my father: "Your sons may come after me in the future and take the land from me; therefore, write me a document regarding the house we are living in. If your sons come after the land, I will have something to claim against them, which is the house we are living in." So my father wrote the document and witnesses signed it. After twenty years, we actually came after the land and registered it in our names because it had not been registered in the buyer's name. The land price had risen, and we did this at the instigation of some people, claiming that we are poor and this buyer is very rich. He—the buyer—did not present the document for the house he took as a pledge from my father, claiming that it was lost. Now that I have felt that I and my brothers took the land in an un-Islamic way, but after this operation, we consulted some experts who said: "He has a right against you; because you know that his sons will come after you in the future, where you took a document on the house which you have now lost. If it were with you, you would have justified your position." My question regarding this matter from a Sharia perspective, and we fear Allah the Exalted: Does he have a right to the land so that we return it to him, or does he have no right to it and we keep it? And peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings.
A: If the situation is as you described, that your father sold a piece of land to a person, but for a very low price, and then prices rose
and he wrote a document for the buyer regarding the house you are living in, but it was lost; then the piece of land is the right of the buyer, whether prices rose or remained as they were on the day of purchase or the price fell, and whether the document your father wrote for the buyer remained or was lost, as long as you and your brothers felt that you took the piece of land in an un-Islamic way, knowing that your father sold it to him. Your registering it in your names has no effect in establishing your ownership of it; because it is an encroachment by you on the right of another. It is obligatory for you to seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to Him, and to return the piece of land to its buyer, unless you reach an agreement with him on something else, in which case that is up to you.
Q: My father (may Allah have mercy on him) was poor. He sold a piece of land for a very low price twenty years ago. However, the buyer said to my father: "Your sons may come after me in the future and take the land from me; therefore, write me a document regarding the house we are living in. If your sons come after the land, I will have something to claim against them, which is the house we are living in." So my father wrote the document and witnesses signed it. After twenty years, we actually came after the land and registered it in our names because it had not been registered in the buyer's name. The land price had risen, and we did this at the instigation of some people, claiming that we are poor and this buyer is very rich. He—the buyer—did not present the document for the house he took as a pledge from my father, claiming that it was lost. Now that I have felt that I and my brothers took the land in an un-Islamic way, but after this operation, we consulted some experts who said: "He has a right against you; because you know that his sons will come after you in the future, where you took a document on the house which you have now lost. If it were with you, you would have justified your position." My question regarding this matter from a Sharia perspective, and we fear Allah the Exalted: Does he have a right to the land so that we return it to him, or does he have no right to it and we keep it? And peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings.
A: If the situation is as you described, that your father sold a piece of land to a person, but for a very low price, and then prices rose
and he wrote a document for the buyer regarding the house you are living in, but it was lost; then the piece of land is the right of the buyer, whether prices rose or remained as they were on the day of purchase or the price fell, and whether the document your father wrote for the buyer remained or was lost, as long as you and your brothers felt that you took the piece of land in an un-Islamic way, knowing that your father sold it to him. Your registering it in your names has no effect in establishing your ownership of it; because it is an encroachment by you on the right of another. It is obligatory for you to seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to Him, and to return the piece of land to its buyer, unless you reach an agreement with him on something else, in which case that is up to you.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.