Court voids salon sale after licence bid fails in residential area

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A deal to buy a women’s salon in East Riffa has been cancelled after the buyer was blocked from operating the business in premises classified as residential, prompting a court to order the seller to refund a BD700 advance.

The dispute arose when the buyer, represented by lawyer Zainab Madan, signed a February 2, 2025 agreement to purchase the salon and its contents for BD4,000. She paid BD700 upfront, with the remaining BD3,300 due within a month.

Her application for a new commercial registration was later rejected by the municipality, which ruled that the property did not qualify for the activity because it did not face a commercial street. The court linked the refusal to planning changes introduced under Ministerial Decision No. 36 of 2024, which removed an earlier schedule allowing certain activities in non-commercial zones.

The seller argued the refusal was temporary and that the buyer chose to withdraw, maintaining that the BD700 was a non-refundable earnest deposit. The court disagreed, finding the amount was treated in the contract as part of the purchase price.

WhatsApp messages submitted in evidence showed the seller had indicated she would return the money. Witnesses, including a clearance agent and the landlord, confirmed the licence was refused in mid-February 2025 due to the property’s residential classification. Although the landlord later secured reclassification approval in February 2026, the court found the obstacle existed at the time of the agreement.

Concluding that the licensing barrier was beyond the buyer’s control, the court annulled the contract and ordered the seller to repay BD700, along with BD100 in moral damages and BD50 in legal fees, bringing the total award to BD800 plus costs.