How do I cancel a power of attorney for Lebanon?

Also asked as: “Revoke power of attorney Lebanon” · “Cancel a wakala for Lebanon from abroad” · “Can I cancel an irrevocable power of attorney in Lebanon?” · “Withdraw a power of attorney at a Lebanese consulate”

Ordinary or irrevocable: which one did you sign?#

Kallas Law Firm reads Art. 810 of the Code of Obligations and Contracts this way: you can revoke an ordinary power of attorney (wakala) whenever you wish, and a clause saying you cannot has no effect^[3,4]. The exception is a POA given in the interest of the agent or of a third party, which can be withdrawn only with that person's consent^[3]. In Arabic it is usually written وكالة غير قابلة للعزل, so look for that phrase in your copy.

The label alone does not decide it. According to Kallas, a POA is irrevocable when you acknowledged receiving the full price, discharged the agent, or expressly named a third-party beneficiary. A POA that only lets the agent carry out a sale, with no agreed price, receipt or discharge, stays ordinary and can be revoked at will^[3]. A court may read a specific document differently, so have a lawyer in Lebanon read the wording. More on this in what an irrevocable power of attorney means.

Waiting for it to expire does not work#

According to Kallas Law Firm, a power of attorney does not lapse with time unless a term is written into it^[3]. Using it at the Land Registry is another matter. Kallas reads Art. 50 of Decision 188/1926, as amended in 1953, as requiring an agent who registers a real right to produce a POA that is no more than 5 years old^[3,4]. Kallas cites a Court of Cassation ruling (9th Chamber, decision 25 of 19/6/2015) that lets the registrar raise this rule on his own for an ordinary POA.

Kallas also says settled case law exempts a truly irrevocable POA from the five-year limit, so it can still be presented after that period^[3,4]. An old ordinary POA is harder to register with, but it still exists until you revoke it^[3].

Where you sign the revocation#

Lebanese missions abroad handle revocations as well as new powers of attorney^[1,2]. We found published rules for two of them:

• Dubai: the consulate asks for a copy of the POA to be revoked and charges AED 276 per signature^[1].
• The Netherlands: the embassy in The Hague says cancellation of a mandate can be arranged by emailing its consular services^[2]. It publishes no fee for this.

We found no published revocation procedure or fee for any other country. Write to your mission and ask which documents it wants, what the revocation costs and whether you must come in person.

Then there is the question of a further stamp in Beirut. Kallas Law Firm says documents executed abroad, such as a power of attorney, generally pass through the Lebanese mission and then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before they can be used in Lebanon^[5,6]. No source says whether a revocation follows the same path. Ask the notary or Land Registry office that will receive it, and see whether the foreign ministry step applies.

Making the revocation count in Lebanon#

The people in Lebanon who would act on the POA may not learn of your revocation unless you tell them. For the same reason, a buyer relying on an ordinary POA carries the risk that it was revoked before the sale^[3,4]. Send the agent a copy of the revocation in a way that gives you proof of receipt. If a notary (kateb adel) in Lebanon drew up the original POA, send that notary a copy too. We found no published procedure for lodging a revocation at the Land Registry, so ask a Lebanese lawyer, or the land registry office for the property's area, whether it can be done and how^[7,8].

If the agent has already used the POA, the revocation may not undo it. According to Kallas, a person who acquired a right relying on the Land Registry entries keeps it unless they knew beforehand of grounds that would annul it^[9]. Between competing rights on the same property, the one entered first in the registry's daily journal ranks first. What a revocation does to acts already done is a question for a lawyer.

To see what has happened to your property, read its Land Registry extract (ifadeh aqariyeh). It shows the owner, mortgages and restrictions^[9,10]. Forged powers of attorney have been used to try to sell or mortgage property in Lebanon, including the property of an owner living abroad^[11,12,13]. More on this in protecting your property from a forged power of attorney.