What is a title deed in Lebanon and what does it prove?

Also asked as: “What is a sanad tamlik in Lebanon?” · “What does a Lebanese title deed prove?” · “Is a title deed proof of ownership in Lebanon?” · “سند تمليك لبنان”

What a Lebanese title deed is#

The Land Registry (السجل العقاري) is kept by property, not by owner. Each property has its own real folio under its survey number, which gathers all its rights and charges. The owners receive a conforming copy of that folio, and that copy is the title deed^[1]. The register is run by the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre, Ministry of Finance^[5,6].

A property is identified by place and number, not by the owner's name. Any certificate request needs the property's governorate, district, real estate zone, property number, section and block^[5,7], with section and block only where they apply. Here is how to find your property's number, zone and section.

In an apartment building that has been divided into units, each unit gets a number added to the plot number and has its own folio. Common areas are numbered 1 to 3 and private units start from 4^[9]. Our sources do not say for certain that this unit number is the "section" asked for on certificate requests, so ask the registry office.

Ownership is written in shares out of 2,400, so 2,400 shares means the whole property^[2,7,8]. In a divided building, each unit counts as 2,400 parts of its own^[9]. The register also records the right according to the land's legal type. On mulk land the person named has full ownership; on amiri land the State owns the land, and the person named holds a right of use and disposal (tasarruf)^[10]. We have not seen how the land type appears on a deed or extract, so ask the registry office or a lawyer to point it out on yours.

What it proves, and what it does not#

According to Kallas Law Firm's reading of Decree 188/1926, the registry's inscriptions are proof against third parties of the facts and rights they record. Where the boundaries on the cadastral plan differ from those on the ground, the plan prevails^[1,2]. A buyer who relies on the registry entries keeps the right they acquired, unless they knew beforehand of a defect that would annul it^[1].

Registered ownership cannot be lost to someone who occupies the land, however long they stay^[1]. If you bought but the sale was never registered, you have only a personal claim against the seller, not ownership^[3,8]. Ownership passes only when the sale is inscribed at the Land Registry^[3].

The paper does not prove that the person showing it to you is the owner, or that nothing has been added since it was printed. Legalmondo calls the deed the sole proof of ownership^[7]. Kallas reads Decree 188/1926 differently in practice: rights, seizures and court actions count against others only once they are inscribed on the folio^[1], and a copy issued earlier cannot show what was inscribed after it. If the registry makes a mistake, Lebanon has no state-backed fund to compensate you. The officials are personally liable, and the State pays only if they cannot^[1,2].

Unsurveyed land works differently, because a Land Registry is opened in an area only after the survey and registration works there are completed and certified^[2,8]. The Monthly Magazine (2015) put the never-surveyed share of Lebanon at about a quarter, recorded only in booklets kept by mukhtars^[11]. Other estimates differ: LIBC (2021) says 20% is neither delineated nor surveyed, and GLTN (2024) says 35% is not surveyed^[6,8,11]. Where a plot has not been finally surveyed, the certificate does not show its area^[7,12].

Deed, official extract or unofficial copy#

The official extract describes the plot and its total and cadastral area. It lists the owners, the source of their right and each owner's shares, and it shows mortgages, pledges, provisional and executive seizures, other charges and pending court actions^[7,12]. Kallas says every charge on the folio passes to a buyer unless it is cleared before the purchase^[3]. That is why you check the extract, not the seller's paper. See how to get a Land Registry extract and what it costs.

According to Legalmondo, extracts are public and anyone may request one without showing a legal interest, but none is issued while a lien or a registration on the plot is still being processed^[7]. Legalmondo puts the official extract at USD 5 and the unofficial online form at USD 4, both as of June 2025. We could not reach the registry website to confirm the online service still runs. Kallas (October 2025) gives about 2 business days for a physical certificate, and times vary with office opening days^[12].

Matching the paper to the ground#

On surveyed land, the cadastral plan decides where the boundaries are, even where the walls or fences say otherwise^[1,2]. The Cadastre oversees the sworn surveyors it treats as its affiliates^[6]. We found no published procedure or price for ordering a cadastral plan or hiring a sworn surveyor, so ask the registry office for the plot and a surveyor directly. More in how to get a cadastral map or survey.

If your village has not been surveyed yet, watch for survey works there. Kallas says the operations are announced at least two months ahead in the Official Gazette and in three local newspapers, and people who do not attend are bound as if they had been present^[1,2]. Oppositions are due within 30 days of the posting of the provisional delimitation record. After the works close, claims go 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.