How buying a home in Lebanon works, and how long it takes

Buying a home in Lebanon takes five steps: check the title, sign a promise to sell, gather the papers, sign the sale contract, then register the sale at the Land Registry. For a resale paid in cash with clean papers, plan for about 1 to 3 months from agreeing a price to holding the new title deed. Most of the wait is at the registry.

Step 1: check the property before you agree to anything

Ask the seller for the property's district, cadastral zone and plot number, plus the section and block for an apartment. With these, your lawyer gets the official title extract (إفادة عقارية) from the Land Registry office for that district. OMT counters print an unofficial copy the same day, which is fine for a first look, but the sale needs the official one.

Check that the owner on the extract is the seller. If the home belongs to several heirs or is held in shares (أسهم), every owner has to sign. Then look for a mortgage, a court seizure (حجز) or a lawsuit notice: anything recorded on the property passes to you unless it's cleared before the sale.

In a new building, ask whether the flats already have their own numbers at the registry. If the building hasn't been divided yet (فرز), you're buying shares of the plot and your own deed comes later. Off-plan, check the plot for a bank mortgage taken by the developer, which has held up buyers' deeds before.

Tip: Get a fresh extract when you start, and another one just before you sign the final contract.

Step 2: agree the price and sign a promise to sell

The buyer and seller usually sign a promise to sell (وعد بالبيع) at a notary, and the buyer pays a deposit (عربون). Write down whether the deposit counts toward the price, what happens if either side pulls out, and who pays which fees. No law decides that last point for you.

Your lawyer can then record the promise on the property's page at the registry (قيد احتياطي). From then on, the seller can't sell or mortgage the home to someone else ahead of you.

Step 3: gather the papers

The Land Registry asks for the sale contract and the title deed. For a built property it also needs the rental value statement from the Ministry of Finance, which the fees are based on. For land, it needs a statement from the municipality and a location map.

The seller settles their capital gains tax. Since February 2026, a share of unbuilt land owned for less than 12 years can't be registered without the tax receipt or an exemption.

Step 4: sign the sale contract and pay the fees

Your lawyer prepares the sale contract. It's signed before a notary, or at the Land Registry itself as a "clean" sale contract (عقد بيع ممسوح).

Since January 2026, the notary must write the payment method into the contract, name the agent with their tax number, and check everyone against sanctions lists. A bank transfer or cheque is recorded by its reference. Cash needs a signed declaration of where it came from.

The transfer fee is 3% for Lebanese buyers and 5% for foreigners, on the price or the Ministry of Finance's figure, whichever is higher. With stamp duty and smaller fees it comes to about 4% or 6%. The full list is in what buying a home in Lebanon costs.

Step 5: register the sale and collect your title deed

The registry records the sale and issues a new title deed (سند ملكية) in your name. Ask for a new extract afterwards to confirm it.

Speed depends on the office. The Mount Lebanon registries were closed for about 18 months in 2022 to 2024 after a bribery investigation and cleared their backlog during 2025. Since the war resumed in March 2026, the records of Nabatieh and Marjayoun have moved to Saida and Beirut.

How long does each step take?

There's no official figure. These are estimates for a resale paid in cash, with clean papers, at a registry working normally:

Before the crisis, in 2019, the World Bank timed a simple transfer in Beirut at 37 days. Expect longer for a home held in shares or by heirs, a mortgage to lift, an off-plan flat, a power of attorney from abroad, or a property in the South.

How you pay

Sales are paid in fresh dollars: a bank transfer, a fresh-dollar cheque or cash. The local-dollar cheques of 2019 to 2022 are no longer accepted. Pay against signed papers and keep a record of each payment.

Banks still weren't giving home loans in September 2026. The Housing Bank (بنك الإسكان) lends up to $100,000 at 5.75% for a flat of up to 150 m², to households earning roughly $2,500 to $5,000 a month. Try the numbers with our mortgage calculator.

Buying from abroad, or as a foreigner

From abroad, you can give someone in Lebanon a power of attorney (وكالة) to sign for you. Sign it at a Lebanese embassy or consulate, or before a local notary and have it legalised by the Lebanese embassy. Lebanon isn't in the Apostille Convention, so an apostille alone won't do. Name the property in it, and use it within five years.

Foreigners can buy up to 3,000 m² in Lebanon without a licence, a spouse and minor children counting as one buyer. Above that, a Cabinet decree is needed.

When you're ready, search homes for sale or land for sale across Lebanon on one map.