I bought with a sale contract but nothing is registered. Am I the owner?

Key facts#

Who owns it now

The seller, until the sale is inscribed^[1]

What your contract gives you

A personal right against the seller^[1,2]

Against everyone else

Rights count only from their inscription on the property's folio^[6]

Two buyers, one property

The first entry in the registry's daily journal ranks first^[6]

Time limit to register

ten years^[2,3], according to UN-Habitat and the Norwegian Refugee Council; no article of law named

Living there for years

Does not make you owner of registered property^[6]

Registration fee

3% of the value for Lebanese buyers, 5% for non-Lebanese^[7]

Unpaid fees on contracts in the daily register before 2020

LBP 1,500 per USD until 31/12/2026^[4,5]

How to get an unregistered purchase registered#

1. 1
   Get a fresh official extract (ifadeh aqariyeh). Request it in person at the Land Registry office for the area where the property lies^[15,16]. Give the property's governorate, district, real estate zone, property number, section and block^[16,17]; section and block apply only to some properties. Legalmondo (June 2025) put the fee at USD 5^[16]. It also says anyone may request an extract without showing a legal interest, but none is issued while a lien or a registration on the plot is still in process. Kallas reports about 2 business days for a physical certificate, and times vary by office^[18]. Copies from OMT or online are unofficial and do not count for a transaction or in court^{[16,17,18,19]}. Check that the owner, the shares, mortgages, seizures and pending court actions match what you expect^[16,18]. In April 2025 several Mount Lebanon registry offices, including Baabda, worked only on set days^[20], so call the office for your property before going. More on getting a registry extract.
2. 2
   Make sure the plot is the one you think it is. The register is kept by property number, not by owner name^[6]. Where the cadastral plan and the ground disagree, the plan prevails^[6,21]. If you have any doubt, ask a sworn surveyor (the Cadastre supervises them^[22]) to match the plan to the land and walk the boundaries with you. We found no published cost for this, so ask for a written quote.
3. 3
   Ask the registry office whether your contract was ever filed. Ask whether it has an entry in the daily register and on what date. That entry decides your rank against other claims^[6] and whether the old 1,500 rate can apply^[4,5].
4. 4
   Gather your proof. Bring the contract, every receipt and transfer record for the money you paid, and anything showing you received the property and have held it openly. According to Kallas, that kind of possession is what interrupts prescription^[6,8].
5. 5
   If the seller cooperates, sign and register at once. The sale can be drawn up before a notary or before the assistant head of the Land Registry office^[11,13]. For built property the seller needs the rental value statement. If there is no Treasury lien on the folio, it is issued once the built-property tax and the capital-gains tax on the property are paid^[5,12]; for liens, see the factors below. For land, the seller needs a statement of contents from the municipality and a location map instead^[15,23]. File at the registry the same day. If you live abroad, someone you name in a power of attorney can sign and register for you. The POA should name the property by number and location^[24,25,26].
6. 6
   If the seller refuses, has died or cannot be found, go to a lawyer. Kallas says you can sue the seller or the heirs to force registration^[6,8]. A notice of the case can be entered on the folio only by decision of the president of the competent civil court^[6]. Once entered, the notice counts against third parties from the date of its inscription. Under MoF decision 825, if a court orders the seller to register the sale without charging you the fees and taxes, the rental value statement is issued to you once the built-property tax and the capital-gains tax are paid^[27]. No source publishes the cost or duration of such a case, so ask the lawyer for a written estimate.

It depends on#

• Whether your contract is in the daily register. A filed contract has a rank and may qualify for the old 1,500 rate. A contract that was only signed has neither. Ask the registry office.
• What you hold. An ordinary POA and an irrevocable POA are treated differently: an ordinary one more than five years old cannot support registration^[8,11], while a truly irrevocable one is exempt. Have a lawyer read the document itself.
• Taxes owed by the seller. A Treasury lien registered after your contract's date does not block the rental value statement once the two property taxes are paid^[27]. One registered before it generally does. Look for liens on the extract.
• Unsurveyed land. A Land Registry opens in a region only after delimitation and registration there are complete and certified^[2,21]. Otherwise a special provisional delimitation and publication procedure applies before any new inscription, with two months for objections^[6]. Ask the registry office and a lawyer which situation your village is in.
• The seller's situation. With a cooperative seller you register through a notary or the registry office. No source publishes how long that takes, and office days have varied^[20], so ask the registry office or the notary. If the seller refuses or has died, Kallas says the route is a court case against the seller or the heirs^[6,8].

Common questions#