Demolition Licence and Site Preparation Licence in Saudi Arabia: What You Need Before the Contractor Starts

Yes, in principle. A demolition licence (رخصة هدم), also called a demolition permit (تصريح هدم), is a separate construction licence issued by the Amana or municipality through the Balady platform; starting demolition without one is a municipal violation. Get it before you agree a start date with any crew.

The Executive Regulation of the Municipal Licensing Procedures System (1445H) lists demolition among construction licence types, including building, renovation, modifying building components, site preparation and fencing. Balady offers it online as “Issuing a Building Demolition Permit” (إصدار رخصة هدم بناء), via portal or app, with no visit to the authority.

For a partial demolition, such as a wall or annex, the regulation lists renovation and modifying building components as separate types, so ask an engineering office which licence applies before any breaking-out work starts. If the building is cracked or might collapse, do not start any demolition or breaking-out work until a structural engineer has inspected it and you have consulted the Amana or municipality. This is practical guidance, not an official text.

The owner contracts an engineering office and either starts the application or authorises the office to submit it on the owner's behalf, which the executive regulation (Art. 3) allows; the office completes the data and drawings. Once the payment invoice is issued and paid, the licence is issued and can be printed. In Riyadh you apply through the Riyadh Amana e-portal or its Madinati (مدينتي) offices.

The demolition pages of Balady and the Ministry do not list a contractor among the applicants or requirements; what is required is an engineering office.

At Riyadh Amana, you contract an accredited design engineering office through the portal and enter the building permit number, or the title deed (صك) number for an old paper permit not in the Amana's system. The office submits the application and issues the fee invoice.

Balady's steps, per its service page:

1. Sign in, choose your user role, start “New application” (تقديم جديد) and set the owner and applicant types.
2. Select the building permit or survey decision under which the building is demolished.
3. Choose the engineering office, declare that the building will be free of people and animals during demolition, and send it the request.
4. The office completes the data and drawings, the invoice is issued, and the licence follows payment.

Balady's page sets three main requirements: a contract with an engineering office, payment of the service fee, and a building permit or survey decision. A demolition licence can be issued for a building with no building permit, but only after a survey decision for demolition, as Balady's FAQ states.

On Balady, the applicant also declares that the building will be free of people and animals during demolition, and the English version of the page adds, where applicable, compliance with the municipal licensing regulations.

For an old house with no building permit, the licence is still possible after a first step, the survey decision (قرار مساحي): a separate service with its own application, for which Riyadh Amana states 10 working days. Balady's corresponding service, titled “Issuance of a Cadastral Report” (إصدار تقرير مساحي), requires contracting a surveying-certified engineering office.

The executive regulation lists Civil Defense approval among construction licence conditions, depending on the nature and type of licence, but does not say whether it applies to demolition; ask your office.

Balady's and the Ministry's demolition pages publish no document list. What the portals ask for is data you select or enter, not documents: the building permit or survey decision on Balady, and the building permit number or title deed (صك) number at Riyadh Amana, as above. The engineering office completes the rest of the data and drawings, so ask it for the document list for your case.

Do not rely on commercial websites' lists: they differ from one another and add items we could not confirm on any official page. Ask the office before you sign:

• Which documents do you need from me, and where do I get them?
• Does my building have a usable building permit, or do I first need a survey decision for demolition?
• What service fee should I expect, what are your fees, and how long will the file take?

The stated time differs by portal: 10 days on Balady, 1 to 10 days on the Ministry's page, and 7 working days at Riyadh Amana. As for cost, Balady's pages give no fixed amount; fees for your case are calculated in the official fee calculator (حاسبة الرسوم).

These are the service's own stated times, and the engineering office's preparation of the file, or the survey decision, may add to them, so ask your office for a full timetable.

The executive regulation also provides for automatic cancellation of a construction licence application in two cases: its requirements are not completed within 15 working days of the application date, before the payment invoice is issued; or the invoice is not paid within 10 working days of issue.

Riyadh Amana's demolition and site preparation pages say the service requires no fees, yet their steps include a payment invoice, so do not assume the licence is free.

Starting demolition without a licence is a municipal violation. The official penalty schedule (item 4/2/2, “starting renovation or demolition without a licence”) classes it as a grave violation, holds the owner responsible, and sets the fine by the category of the Amana or municipality.

In the schedule issued in March 2026 the fine is SAR 10,000 in Riyadh city (Riyadh Region Amana, first category), falling to SAR 8,000, 6,000, 4,000 and 2,000 in the following categories, with a 7-day correction period, counted per building. The category for other cities and towns is in the schedule’s annex.

These are the schedule’s figures as of our review. It is updated, so check the version in force on the Ministry’s website before relying on them, and ignore older figures circulating in articles or files.

A site preparation licence (رخصة تجهيز موقع) is a separate Balady service that permits a site to be prepared and levelled before construction, issued by the competent Amana or municipality. It requires a survey decision for the site, Amana or municipality approval, a contract with an engineering office and fee payment. The official pages we reviewed do not say when a plot needs one or which works it covers, so ask the Amana or your engineering office.

It is not a sub-service of the building permit: the executive regulation lists it among construction licence types. Balady's building permit page does not list it as a requirement; they are separate applications. Some commercial websites call it a necessary step before the building permit, but we did not find that on an official page.

Its steps are similar to the demolition licence's, and the stated time again differs: 10 days on Balady, 1 to 10 days on the Ministry's page, and 1 working day at Riyadh Amana.

The demolition licence, the site preparation licence and the building permit are three separate construction licences, each with its own Balady application: the first allows an existing building to be demolished, the second allows land to be prepared and levelled before construction, and the third allows construction to start.

The table is based on Balady's demolition, site preparation and building permit service pages and omits durations, because the portals state different ones. The pages we reviewed do not say whether one licence makes another unnecessary, so do not assume it.

The official pages we reviewed do not fix the order of licences or works, so this is general practice, not an official rule: hoard the site, demolish once the demolition licence is in hand, clear the debris and hand the site over, then build once the building permit is issued. Those pages also do not say where the site preparation licence falls relative to the demolition licence, so confirm the order with your engineering office or the Amana before you schedule the project.

“Site preparation” is used in two senses. On Balady it is a separate licence, described only as preparing and levelling a site before construction. On site, what our guides call enabling works includes demolition itself along with hoarding, clearance and handover, so do not assume the licence covers all of that. This is the usual order of execution (general practice):

1. Hoard the site and control access first, so the work takes place inside a protected perimeter.
2. Then demolish inside the perimeter, once you hold the demolition licence.
3. Then remove the debris, level the ground and hand over a cleared site with known levels.
4. Then building starts, once the building permit has been issued.

Before the contractor starts, have the issued licence in hand and a written demolition scope; arrange a hazardous-materials survey, utility disconnection, neighbour notice and photos of shared walls, and site hoarding; and contract a licensed waste transporter. Of these items only the licence and the transporter come from official requirements; the rest is general practice, so show the list to your engineering office first.

Ask the contractor for a method statement and risk assessment before work starts. Two of our guides cover them: “Demolition on Project Sites: What a Good Method Statement Covers” and “Site Preparation Before Construction: A Checklist for Contractors and Developers”.

• Copy of the issued licence: ask your engineering office if it has not reached you and hand it to the contractor, and let no crew start without it or on a verbal promise that it is “being issued”.
• Written demolition scope: full or partial, whether it covers boundary walls, basements and foundations, with drawings if available.
• Hazardous-materials survey: especially asbestos in older buildings, and what to do if it turns up.
• Utility disconnection: cutting electricity, water and telecoms before demolition is usual practice, not mentioned on Balady's page. The Ministry's Construction Licences Procedures Manual (2022), however, lists in the demolition flow a step of “clearing electricity, water and telecom services (if present)” by the engineering office. Ask your office and the utilities what applies today.
• Neighbours: tell them, photograph the condition of shared walls, and agree the machinery access route.
• Site hoarding: usually installed before demolition. The regulation lists fencing (تسوير) as a separate licence, so ask your office what is required.
• Waste transporter: contracting a licensed one is an official obligation of the licence holder (next section); agree the transporter and disposal sites before starting.

The Ministry's requirements for construction, demolition and renovation waste oblige the demolition licence holder to pledge to contract a licensed transporter to take all waste to the disposal sites set by the Amana or the landfill. The rubble is the licence holder's obligation, not something to leave to the contractor alone.

The transporter uses the “construction and demolition waste receipt form” (نموذج استلام نفايات البناء والهدم) to record the quantities received; the licence holder checks it is used. The engineering office checks that the owner has contracted a transporter licensed by the National Center for Waste Management.

The municipal penalty schedule has a separate item for not contracting a waste transporter qualified by the Amana during building, demolition or renovation works; the owner is responsible. The Ministry's requirements say licensed by the National Center, the schedule says qualified by the Amana, and we found nothing in the two documents saying whether this is one condition or two, so ask the transporter for proof of both.

Ask the contractor for the transporter's name and licence number before you sign, and keep the receipt form for every load.

Ask for a written quote that sets out scope and exclusions: what is demolished and to what level, and which items from the lists above are in or out. This is a practical list, not an official rule, and we give no prices here.

Our guide “What Affects the Cost of Demolition on a Project Site, and What to Send for a Quote” covers price factors and what to send the contractor; “Site Hoarding Quote Checklist: What to Send Before You Ask for a Price” covers hoarding quotes. These items complement them:

• The licence: per the official service pages, the engineering office completes the application, so if a contractor says it will “get the licence”, ask how, through which office, and whether the service fee and the office's fee are in the quote.
• Rubble, hazardous materials, utilities and hoarding: whether each is inside or outside the quote, who coordinates with the authorities concerned, and who contracts the licensed transporter.
• Below-ground removal, handover and programme: whether foundations are removed and to what level, whether the site is handed over levelled, and how long demolition takes after the licence.

• How do I track my application, and who do I call? You should find it in your Balady account (an inference). Otherwise ask the engineering office, call Balady on 199040 (daily, 8:00 am to 10:00 pm) or email infocs@momah.gov.sa; the stated response time is 24 hours.
• Is a demolition licence (رخصة هدم) the same as a demolition permit (تصريح هدم)? Yes, the same procedure. Balady's official name is إصدار رخصة هدم بناء; “تصريح هدم” is common usage.
• Is there one licence for demolition and building? No. Balady has two separate services, and “بناء” in إصدار رخصة هدم بناء means the building. A building permit after demolition is a separate application.
• Is “site preparation” here the same as preparing a site for an electricity meter? No. This is a municipal construction licence for preparing and levelling the site before construction; a meter site is a different procedure this guide does not cover, so ask the electricity company.
• Is this information current? We reviewed the official pages on 8 October 2026. Durations, fees and procedures change, so check Balady or the Amana portal before applying.

Bariq Arabia carries out demolition and site preparation (enabling) works on project sites in Riyadh. To have a project priced, send the site location, photos, structure type, number of storeys, drawings if available and the programme to Info@bariqsa.com or through the contact page, and we respond within 24 hours.

See our demolition and enabling works pages.