KUWAIT CITY, April 3: The Fifth Administrative Court of Appeals, presided over by Judge Abdullah Al-Qasimi, issued a final ruling to obligate the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) to issue a government property ownership document in the names of all the heirs of a deceased citizen, without excluding any of them, including married couples who submitted housing applications.

The ruling contradicts PAHW’s practice, according to its regulations and amendments from 2016 to the most recent amendment in 2024. The government house was allocated equally to both the citizen and his wife, but the man passed away before the ownership document could be issued.

After his death, his heirs submitted a request to have the document issued in their names, including the married couples, based on the legal right of heirs to transfer the allocation to them following the passing of their father, under the latest amendments to the housing welfare regulations. The legal counsel representing the heirs Lawyer Mubarak Al-Nuwaibit based his argument on the new amendments, which allow the transfer of the allocation to the legal heirs even if the document was not issued before their father’s death. The court upheld these amendments in its final ruling, requiring PAHW to issue a title deed for half of the house in the mother’s name, with the other half registered in the names of all heirs without exception.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff & Agencies