How do I get my off-plan apartment registered in my name once the building is finished?

Also asked as: “How do I register my off-plan apartment in my name once the building is finished?” · “When do I get a title deed for an off-plan flat in Lebanon?” · “How does my apartment in a new building get its own folio?” · “Who registers a new-build apartment in Lebanon, the developer or the buyer?”

Why your flat has no title of its own yet#

While the building goes up, the Land Registry knows only the plot. No real right can be registered on a defined part of a plot until that part has its own folio, so before then what can be registered is a number of shares in the whole plot^[7]. An apartment gets its own folio only when the building is divided into units^[2].

Until your sale is inscribed, the property stays in the seller's name and is exposed to any sale, mortgage or attachment entered before you, according to Kallas Law Firm^[3]. A promise of sale that is provisionally inscribed on the folio keeps your rank against later sales and mortgages^[3,8]. Kallas also says such an annotation does not transfer ownership, and your right stays a personal one subject to the ten-year limitation until final registration^[9]. Kallas does not discuss off-plan units, and the annotation would sit on the plot's folio, so ask a Lebanese lawyer how this applies before your unit has its own folio. More on this in whether a promise of sale protects you.

Stage one: the final occupancy permit#

Once the permitted building is complete, external facades included, the owner applies to the technical administration for the occupancy permit, with as-built plans registered with the Order of Engineers^[1]. The permit is given only after the technical administrations approve and any fees and fines for extra area built without a permit are paid. Non-compliant parts must first be brought into line.

The permit must be granted or refused within one month^[1] of the application. If no decision comes, the applicant may treat the building as licensed at his own responsibility and inform the administration in writing, provided the building conforms and fees for any extra area are paid within 2 months.

A final permit can cover the whole works, or one building or block once its common parts are complete^[1]. The implementing decree also uses the term إفادة إنجاز البناء (completion certificate), and which name your municipality uses is not confirmed. Check that the permit you are shown is final, not provisional: see provisional versus final occupancy permits.

The law accepts substitutes for the permit in some cases. One is an official statement that the building was completed before 13 September 1971^[1]. Another is a statement that the occupancy request was not decided in time plus an engineer's conformity certificate. Article 7 lists further substitutes that we have not read in full.

Stage two: dividing the building into units#

The owner of the whole building applies to the Land Registry to divide it into separate units. Kallas Law Firm stresses that this is the owner's choice, and that a building is not under the condominium regime just because it has several floors^[2]. The units can be registered only if the construction complies with the building laws, so violations can block a separate deed for your flat.

Where the building has three or more units^[2], regulations certified by a notary must be deposited. They hold a table of units, a plan and management rules, and give each unit's share in the common areas out of 1,000. Your share of the common areas goes with your flat and cannot be sold or mortgaged separately.

Fees at this stage are only partly published. Kallas gives 1%^[2] for registering a building under the condominium regime, without saying what it is charged on or who pays. For the new deed issued after a subdivision, Kallas puts the flat fee at LBP 150,000 under Law 10/2022, while Art. 81 as amended by decree 56/2025 is reported to list LBP 300,000 for most such items. We have not seen that decree^[10]. Ask the Land Registry office or the notary for the current figures.

Charges on the parent plot matter at this stage. Releasing a registered mortgage that secures an interest-bearing debt needs prior approval of the tax departments^[10,11], with some exclusions, and Kallas puts the release fee at 1% of the debt released^[10]. Any balance of a building-violation settlement under Law 139/2019 is a privileged debt on the folio and must be paid before the property is subdivided^[12]. No source says what happens to buyers if these are never cleared. See if the developer's bank or creditors take the land and ask a lawyer.