Can I find out who owns a property, or which properties a person owns, in Lebanon?

Also asked as: “How do I find out who owns a plot in Lebanon?” · “Land Registry search by owner name” · “How to find all properties registered to someone in Lebanon” · “Is the Lebanese land register public?”

Two searches: by property and by person#

The Land Registry (السجل العقاري) is organised by property, not by owner. Each property has its own real folio under its survey number, and that folio holds all its rights and charges^[9]. So the usual question is "who owns plot X?", and a property certificate answers it. The other question, "what does this person own?", needs a separate search by name^[2,3].

Who owns a plot you can identify#

To request a certificate, you give the property's governorate, district, real estate zone, property number, section and block^[1,5]. The last two apply only to some properties. If you don't have these details, first find the property's number, zone and section. The official certificate comes from the land registry office for the property's area^[1,7].

According to Legalmondo (June 2025), it is issued only in person there and costs USD 5^[1]. We could not read an official fee table. Kallas Law Firm puts the wait at 2 business days (October 2025)^[2]. More in how to get a Land Registry extract and what it costs.

Legalmondo also says certificates are public, so anyone may ask for one without showing a legal interest^[1]. No official text we read confirms this. Two limits apply. No certificate is issued while a lien or a registration on the plot is still in process, and details of court actions on the plot are open only to the parties, their representatives and others with a sufficient legal interest.

For a first look, since 13 October 2020 you can view a property's title register at more than 1,000 OMT outlets^[5,8] and leave with an unofficial copy. OMT's pages show no fee, so ask at the outlet. Legalmondo (June 2025) also describes an unofficial information form on the registry's website for USD 4^[1], and we could not check that this service still runs. Both copies are for reference only. Any transaction or court use needs the official certificate^[1,2,5,8].

For an apartment, the building first has to be divided into units. Each unit then gets a number added to the plot number and has its own folio, with private units numbered from 4^[10]. Dividing a building is the owner's choice, and not every building is divided. Without that division, a flat has no folio of its own^[11]. Ask for the unit number and check that it appears on the certificate.

Which properties a person owns#

Kallas Law Firm describes a general property search using the person's full name, birth year and mother's name^[2,3]. A copy of their ID helps. The search lists every property registered to that person, with its property number, district and number of shares, and you then request a certificate for each property it finds. Kallas gives about 10 days for the search^[2]. In April 2026 the Finance Minister said, as reported by Annahar, that the registry's automated database covers all surveyed and numbered properties and can be searched by owner name or by property number^[3].

Kallas was writing about asset searches in disputes (25 October 2025), and the article does not deal with buyers checking a seller^[2,3]. No source we read says who may ask for a name search, at which office, at what fee, or whether the owner is told. Before you rely on this route, ask the Land Registry office for the area or a Lebanese lawyer.

Two gaps can hide properties. Recent records include the owner's mother's name and how the property was acquired, but older records often do not, because they were never fully entered into the electronic system^[3]. In our reading, a search using the mother's name may therefore miss or blur old entries. Land that has never been surveyed is outside the database. See surveyed versus unsurveyed land.

How much land is unsurveyed is not settled. LIBC (2021) says 30% of the territory is delineated but not surveyed and 20% neither, UN-Habitat/GLTN (2024) says 35% is not surveyed, and The Monthly Magazine (2015) puts the wholly unsurveyed share at about 25%^[6,12,13]. The Monthly Magazine also said such land was recorded only in booklets kept by mukhtars^[13]. Annahar reported that Finance Ministry Circular 609/2026 of 25 February 2026 limits the mukhtar's role for unsurveyed land to identification^[14]. As of 30 March 2026 the circular was contested, with objections from the Maronite League and talks on a new decision^[14,15]. We did not find whether it has changed since, so ask the Land Registry office or a property lawyer what records exist for such a plot.

What the certificate tells you, and what it doesn't#

A certificate describes the plot and lists:

• the owners, the source of their right and each owner's shares;
• mortgages, pledges and seizures;
• other charges and pending court actions^[1,2].

Ownership is counted out of 2,400 shares^[1,12,16], so holding all 2,400 means owning the whole property. If the plot has not been finally surveyed, the area may not be shown^[1,2].

Registry entries are proof against third parties of what they record. Where the boundaries on the cadastral plan differ from those on the ground, the plan prevails^[9,16]. So to see exactly which piece of ground a plot number covers, you need its cadastral plan, not just the certificate. The Cadastre, run with the registry by the same directorate^[5,6], monitors the sworn surveyors and engineers it treats as affiliates (LIBC, 2021)^[6]. We found no published procedure or fee for ordering a plan. Ask the Land Registry office for the area or a sworn surveyor, and see cadastral maps and surveys.

A person who acquires a right relying on registry entries keeps it, unless they knew beforehand of the defects that would annul it^[9]. The certificate still shows only a name. Matching that name to the real person in front of you is a separate check, covered in step 6 below.