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

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.

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

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.

Source:

Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

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