Title deeds in Lebanon: the green deed, shares and what to check

A Lebanese title deed (سند ملكية), the "green deed" buyers ask for, is the owner's certified copy of the property's page at the Land Registry. The register is what proves ownership, not the paper, so check a fresh title extract before you pay. Then ask whether the home has its own number, is held in shares, or sits in an area that has never been surveyed.

What the green deed is

The title deed is a certified copy of the property's page (صحيفة عينية) in the Land Registry, made out in the owner's name and stamped by the registrar. Under Decision 188 of 1926, only owners get one.

People call it the green deed (السند الأخضر). When a seller says a home "has a green deed", the most it tells you is that the property is registered at the Land Registry. That matters: register entries are legal proof against third parties, and a sale takes effect only once it's registered (Articles 8 and 11 of Decision 188).

The phrase doesn't tell you two things. Co-owners get a deed too, showing their number of shares (Article 35). And a deed is only as current as the day it was issued: a court seizure can be added to the register without it (Article 37). Paper can also be faked. In May 2026, State Security said it had arrested a man at the Metn registry building who had made colour copies of two title deeds to pass them off as real.

Tip: Compare the deed with a fresh official extract: owners, shares and area. If they don't match, go by the extract. Here's how to read a title extract.

Surveyed and unsurveyed areas

Title deeds exist only where the land has been surveyed (التحديد والتحرير). In 2020 the Land Registry's director general put the unsurveyed share at 35% of Lebanon's territory. Most towns are surveyed. The gaps are mostly rural: parts of the North Bekaa and the eastern mountains, and some villages in the South.

There, owners hold other papers: a mukhtar's statement (علم وخبر), a possession paper (حيازة) or a sanad amiri (سند أميري). A 2025 IOM study in the South notes that these don't prove full ownership and that the state keeps no copy. Some families also hold an Ottoman-era title (سند طابو), backed by the old Ottoman land registers, which the survey takes into account.

The mukhtar identifies people. He doesn't confer ownership. In February 2026, after a run of irregular registrations, the Finance Minister told mukhtars to stop issuing these statements for communal and public-use land (المشاعات والمتروكة المرفقة): claims of ownership through long possession are for the land judge.

When the survey reaches a village, claims are due within 30 days of the provisional results being posted, and a court challenge stays open for two years after they're final. An owner can also ask for an optional survey of a single plot (Decision 2576 of 1929), which has the same legal effect once it's registered. Before buying land in a village, ask about the survey and have a lawyer and a sworn surveyor read the papers.

What you own when you hold shares (أسهم)

Lebanese registers count every property in 2,400 shares. With 600 shares, you own a quarter of the whole plot or flat, spread across all of it, and no particular floor or corner is yours until a partition. Inherited land is often held this way.

You can sell or mortgage your own shares without the other owners' consent. Selling the whole property needs every owner's signature.

Buying shares from one co-owner carries a specific risk: pre-emption (الشفعة). The other co-owners can take over your purchase on the same terms within 10 days of a notary's notice, or within a year of registration without one. It doesn't apply if you're already a co-owner, or to sales between spouses, between siblings, or between parents or grandparents and their descendants.

Tip: If you buy shares, have your lawyer notify the other co-owners through a notary once the sale is registered. Their window drops from a year to 10 days.

Getting out of shares

No one can be forced to stay a co-owner (Article 840 of the Code of Obligations and Contracts). The cheapest exit is an agreed partition deed, registered at the Land Registry.

Otherwise any co-owner, however small the share, can file a case to end the co-ownership (دعوى إزالة الشيوع) at the first-instance court where the property lies, under Law 16/1982. The court works through these in order:

1. Divide the property, if that's legally possible.
2. Turn it into a real-estate company, if owners of at least 51% of the shares ask.
3. Sell it at auction and split the price by shares.

There is one appeal, and its ruling is final. Land can't always be split, because of minimum plot sizes. A building that can't be split can be divided into flats instead, if owners of more than half the shares ask (Article 76 of Decree-Law 88/1983).

Flats in a building that hasn't been divided

A flat gets its own page in the register, and its own deed, only once the building is divided into units (فرز) under Decree-Law 88/1983. The owner of the whole building applies with a plan and building rules. The registry divides only a building that complies with the building law, which in practice means an occupancy permit (رخصة إشغال).

Until then there's one page for the whole plot. A buyer is entered on it as a co-owner with a number of shares (Article 22 of Decision 189 of 1926), or holds a contract with the developer, which a provisional registration (قيد احتياطي) can protect: how well depends on the kind of contract, so ask your lawyer. Check the plot's extract for a mortgage the developer took: it stays on the plot until the bank lifts it. More in buying off-plan in Lebanon.

A lost deed, and deeds after a death

To replace a lost or damaged deed, the owner goes to the registry office in person with witnesses who know what happened to it, and the registrar records their statements. The report is published in the Official Gazette and three local newspapers. If no one objects within 15 days and the registrar is satisfied, they issue a second copy (بدل عن ضائع) that counts as the original. Disputes go to court (Articles 92 to 94 of Decision 188).

When an owner dies, the heirs:

1. Declare the estate to the Ministry of Finance within 90 days of the death.
2. Get a probate decision (قرار حصر الإرث) from the competent court, naming the heirs and their shares.
3. Pay the inheritance tax (رسم الانتقال). The registry records nothing until the Ministry clears it.
4. Register the transfer, and receive new deeds in their names, in shares.

The heirs then own the property in shares, under the rules above, and buying from heirs takes longer (see how buying a home in Lebanon works). When the papers are clear, search homes for sale across Lebanon on one map.