What is amiri land in Lebanon, and can I buy or build on it?

Key facts#

The law

Code of Real Property (Decree 3339 of 1930)^[1,2]

The five land types

mulk, amiri, matrouke murfaka, matrouke mahmiya and mewat^[1,2]

Amiri in one line

State-owned land with a private right of tasarruf^[1,2]

What the holder may do

According to Kallas Law Firm: may build and dispose of the right; no new waqf since 1930^[1]

Right lost after

five years of non-use^[1], according to Kallas Law Firm

Land Registry fee on a sale

3% of the value for Lebanese buyers, 5% for non-Lebanese^[4]

Building permit from

the head of the municipality, or the governor or caimacam outside municipal areas^[3]

Ownership shares

2,400 shares^[2,5,6] make up the whole property

How to check an amiri plot from abroad#

1. 1
   Get the plot's identifiers from the seller. Ask for the governorate (muhafaza), district (caza), real estate zone and property number, plus the section and block where they apply. Any certificate request needs them^[6,12]. If the seller will not give them, stop there.
2. 2
   Have someone in Lebanon take a first look through OMT. Since 13 October 2020, OMT has let customers view a property's title register and get an unofficial copy at more than 1,000 OMT outlets^[12,13], in cooperation with the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre. Besides the plot identifiers, the agent asks for a mobile number and email address^[6,12]. Neither OMT page we read shows a fee, so ask at the outlet. Treat the copy as a preview: an official certificate is needed for any transaction^[6,12,13,14].
3. 3
   Get the official certificate (ifadeh aqariyeh). It is requested in person at the land registry office for the area where the plot lies^[6,10]. Legalmondo (June 2025) gave the fee as USD 5^[6], but no official current fee table could be read and the fee may be charged in LBP, so ask that land registry office before going. The same firm says certificates are public and anyone may request one, so a lawyer or someone you trust can collect it for you. It also says no certificate is issued while a lien or a registration on the plot is still in process. Kallas (October 2025) gives about 2 business days for a physical certificate, and times vary with office opening days^[14]. More in getting a Land Registry extract.
4. 4
   Read the right and the charges. The certificate lists the holders, the source of their right, their shares, and any mortgages, seizures, other charges and pending court actions^[6,14]. Shares are counted out of 2,400^[2,5,6]. The land type is recorded in the registry entry^[1,2], and Legalmondo notes that a certificate may show the right split between a usage right and bare ownership. Ask the registry office or your lawyer to point out exactly where it says amiri and who is recorded as tasarruf-holder.
5. 5
   Match the paper to the ground. Where boundaries on the cadastral plan differ from those on the ground, the plan prevails^[5,8]. The Cadastre monitors sworn surveyors and engineers^[15]. We found no published way or price to order a plan or a surveyor, so ask the registry office or your lawyer for a sworn surveyor to mark the boundaries against the cadastral plan. See cadastral maps and surveys.
6. 6
   Ask about use and zoning. Have your lawyer assess the five-year non-use risk^[1]. Ask the municipality what the master plan allows on the plot.
7. 7
   Sign, pay and register without delay. The sale is a notarial deed followed by inscription at the Land Registry^[7], and the registration fee is paid before registration^[9,10]. Priority between competing rights goes by the date of entry in the registry's daily journal, not the date you signed^[8]. If you cannot travel, someone can sign for you under a power of attorney signed at a Lebanese embassy or consulate, or before a local notary and then legalised^{[16,17,18,19]}.

It depends on#

• Whether the plot is surveyed. Where delimitation and registration are not complete, a special procedure of provisional delimitation and publication applies before any new inscription, with two months for oppositions^[8]. The certificate may also not show the area^[6,14]. Ask a lawyer, and read buying unsurveyed land.
• How the land has been used. Kallas reads the Code as ending the right after five years of non-use^[1]. Ask a property lawyer how that applies to your plot.
• Buying a share, not the whole plot. No real right can be registered on a defined part of a plot until it is partitioned and that part gets its own folio^[8]. Co-owners may also pre-empt your purchase^[11].
• Your nationality. A foreigner may hold up to 3,000 m²^[2,20,21] in total without a licence, built property included, and non-Lebanese buyers pay the higher registration fee^[4]. We found no source on how a tasarruf right counts toward the limit, so ask the notary. More in can foreigners buy property in Lebanon?
• The municipality. The building permit comes from the head of the municipality, or the governor or caimacam outside municipal areas^[3], and Kallas advises checking the master plan before you buy^[1]. Ask the municipality before you commit.

Common questions#