Riads held in melkia: ten pitfalls that cost dear

Here are ten risky situations. For each, we distinguish what the law says (established) from what practice shows (practice). The examples are fictitious.

1. The seller owns only a share

Established. The sale of an undivided share gives the other co-owners a right of pre-emption: they can buy back the share sold (Law 39-08, Art. 292). Fictitious example: in Fez, a brother sells ‘the riad’ when he holds only two-sevenths of it. Safeguard: have every co-owner sign.

2. The estate has not been settled

Established. On the owner’s death, the property passes to all the heirs. The sale must come from all of them. Fictitious example: the widow signs alone. Safeguard: a recent certificate of inheritance and the signature of every heir.

3. Some heirs live far away

Established. Anyone signing for someone else must prove their authority to do so. And possession does not run against an owner who has long been absent or prevented from acting (Art. 256). Safeguard: powers of attorney executed as authentic instruments and duly legalised.

4. The riad has already been sold

Practice. Without a land register, no public record reveals an earlier sale: a buyer may discover after the event that another deed covers the same property. Fictitious example: in Marrakech, a buyer discovers a deed of sale drawn up by adouls, the traditional notaries, that predates his own. Safeguard: analyse the entire chain of deeds, question those who drafted them, and have the property registered soon after the purchase.

5. The advertised surface area does not exist

Established. On registration, it is the boundary survey and the resulting plan that determine the surface area entered on the title, not the area stated in the deeds. Fictitious example: the deed says 180 m², the surveyor measures 140. Safeguard: a survey before signing, and a clause covering discrepancies.

6. A room extends into the neighbour’s house

Practice. Rooms above the neighbour’s, covered passages, adjoining terraces: in the medinas, volumes often interlock from one house to the next (see party walls and easements in a derb, or alley). Fictitious example: in Essaouira, the douiria, the small upper-floor guest annexe, rests on the house next door. Safeguard: a visit with a surveyor, and the question put to the seller in writing.

7. A neighbour objects to registration

Established. The time limit for objecting runs until two months after the notice of closure of the boundary survey; the file then goes to court (dahir, or royal decree, of 1913, Arts 24 and 32). Safeguard: prefer a property for which the time limit has expired, or provide for this situation in the deed.

8. The seller is in occupation, but has no proof

Established. Possession must meet the legal conditions (Art. 240) and last ten years; between relatives who are not co-owners and bear no hostility towards one another, forty years (Arts 250 and 251). Occupation alone is not enough: the origin of the ownership is required (Art. 3). Fictitious example: six years of occupation and a mere witness statement.

9. Part of the property is public or habous

Established. Property that is habous (a religious endowment), state-owned or collective cannot be held by way of possession (Art. 261). Safeguard: check the origin of every part of the property.

10. The neighbours are already in dispute

Practice. Rainwater, views over the patio, rights of way, party walls: these questions fall under easements, which run with the property; a long-standing neighbourhood dispute therefore also concerns the new owner. Safeguard: read the deeds, talk to the neighbours, have the premises formally recorded.

The checklist before signing

The deeds

The people

The Conservation foncière (land registry)

On the ground

The deed and the payment

Ten pitfalls, but a single rule: with melkia, you do not buy a house on someone’s word. You buy it on the strength of the documents.