Do property owners pay survey and cadastral delimitation costs under Law 40/2026 Art. 49?

Also asked as: “Who pays for the cadastral survey of my land in Lebanon?” · “Law 40/2026 Article 49 survey fee” · “How much is the delimitation fee per plot in Lebanon?” · “Is there a lien on my land for survey costs?”

What Article 49 says#

Article 49 of the 2026 Budget Law puts the cost of delimitation and cadastral survey on the owner. The amount depends on the parcel's area, in four bands from LBP 9 million to LBP 60 million, and it is recorded as a lien and a privileged debt on the property^[1,2]. The consolidated Article 82 of Law 10/2022, as amended by decree 56/2025, reportedly carries the same table.

The amounts are in Lebanese pounds. Under Article 87 of Law 10/2022, state taxes, fees and service charges are collected in Lebanese pounds, and the Banque du Liban rate applies where a charge has to be converted^[2,5]. For a rough sense of size: in a July 2025 report, BLOMINVEST Bank converted Land Registry transaction values at what it called the official rate, USD/LBP 89,500 (from 1 February 2024)^[6]. The bank used it as a statistical conversion and did not say it is the rate used to collect fees. At that rate, LBP 9 million is about USD 100 and LBP 60 million about USD 670; that arithmetic is ours.

This charge is separate from the fees paid when a property is sold. Article 49 ties the amount to the parcel's area, not to a sale price^[1,2].

What delimitation and survey mean in Lebanon#

Kallas Law Firm, citing Decree 186, explains that land is surveyed village by village in each caza and region by region in the cities. Delimitation is done on site in the presence of the mukhtar, the owners and the neighbours, boundary markers are placed at the limits, and people who do not attend are bound as if they had been there^[7]. A Land Registry opens in a region only after these works are completed and certified^[7,8]. According to LIBC (2021), the Cadastre plans this work and oversees the sworn surveyors linked to the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre^[4], which sits at the Ministry of Finance^[3,4].

Estimates of how much of the country is still unsurveyed differ. LIBC (2021) says 50% is surveyed, 30% is delineated but not surveyed and 20% is neither; UN-Habitat/GLTN (2024) puts it at 65% surveyed and 35% not; The Monthly Magazine (2015) gave about 54% with final surveys and about 25% wholly unsurveyed^[4,8,9]. The same 2015 article says land never surveyed is recorded only in booklets kept by mukhtars, including most of Baabda, Matn, Chouf, Aley and Keserwan^[9]. More in surveyed versus unsurveyed land.

What we could not confirm, and whom to ask#

We found no official explainer and no secondary source on Article 49. Three points are open: whether it reaches only parcels in areas being newly delimited or also plots surveyed long ago, whether the cost is charged at the survey, at a later sale or at registration, and how the lien is lifted once the cost is paid. Do not assume any of these from the table alone.

The offices that can answer are the Land Registry office for your property's area and the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre^[10,11][3,4]. Ask them, in writing if you can:

• Does Article 49 apply to this parcel?
• Has a delimitation or survey cost been recorded on its folio?
• When is it due, and where is it paid?
• What document lifts the lien once it is paid?

If you are buying, put the same questions to the notary (kateb adel) handling the sale.

Why it matters if you own or buy from abroad#

Kallas Law Firm says every charge on a property's real folio passes to the buyer unless it is cleared before the purchase^[12]. In its reading of Decree 188/1926, real rights, attachments and court actions count against third parties from the date they are inscribed on the folio^[13]. So look for any survey lien on the ifadeh aqariyeh (Land Registry extract) before you pay anyone.

The survey itself has deadlines. Operations are announced at least two months ahead in the Official Gazette and three local newspapers, and oppositions must be filed within 30 days of the posting of the provisional delimitation record^[7,13]. After the works close, a claim goes to the ordinary courts within two years of the certification decision becoming executory; after that, only a damages action for fraud remains, within ten years. Once the plan is certified, it prevails where it differs from the boundaries on the ground.

According to Kallas Law Firm, when a region is surveyed, a possessor can be registered as owner after peaceful, public and uninterrupted possession, for a period that depends on the land type: five years with title; 10 or 15 years without^[7]. If the possessor has no title, has not held the land long enough and does not pay the indemnity, the land is registered in the State's name; the indemnity is paid in ten equal annual instalments. This applies at the survey stage, not to land already registered. If your family's village has not been surveyed, watch for announced works there. To see where a plot lies, read how to get a cadastral map or survey.