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Raising the price of a piece of land in return for transferring a government loan to the purchaser

11-02-1999

Question 7835

Is it permissible to raise the price of a piece of land when selling it, in return for transferring the vendor’s right to a loan from the real-estate fund to the purchaser? (The real-estate fund is a fund for interest-free loans set up by the government to help anyone who wants to build a private residence). To explain further: if the land is worth, for example, 500,000 when it is not registered with the real-estate fund, then the owner goes and applies for a loan from the fund, and takes a number to wait his turn. When his turn comes, say three years later, he says to the purchaser: I will sell the land to you for 600,000 and I will give you my turn with the real-estate fund.

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

We put this question to Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-Uthaymeen, may Allaah preserve him, who said:

This (i.e., adding something to the price of the land) is a payment for handing over his turn with the fund.

Question:

Doesn’t this reward for handing over his turn involve paying for something sight unseen (majhool = unknown)?

Answer:

No, it is for something that is his. He may or may not get the loan, but both of them are taking the same risk, the one who is handing over his turn and the one who is taking it from him.

Question:

So what is the answer?

Answer:

The answer as it appears to me is: there is nothing wrong with it if the state (who owns the real-estate fund) allows it.

And Allaah knows best.

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