Expropriation

Real property or parts thereof may be expropriated and rights of easement may be established thereon for the benefit of the Administration. The Administration may likewise expropriate rights held by the owner of a property in the airspace above it and in the subsoil beneath its surface, as well as real property rights in rem, all for the purpose of public utility. No one may be deprived of his property except for reasons of public utility and after payment of fair compensation, in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

The term 'property' in this Law means a real property unit or a group of contiguous real property units owned by a single person or by several persons, even if each person's share differs from one unit to another. Where the dividing element is a public road, a railway, a river, a seasonal watercourse or a private passage serving several properties owned by different persons, the group of real property units shall not be considered a single property. A husband and wife and their children shall be deemed one person if one of them acquired the property affected by the expropriation during the year preceding the issuance of the decree declaring public utility.

For the purposes of applying the definition set out above, the state of the group of contiguous real property units at the date of issuance of the decree shall be taken into account.

The party requesting expropriation is referred to in this Law as 'the Administration', and the declaration of public utility is referred to as 'the Decree'.

Public utility shall be declared by decree issued on the proposal of the competent minister, based on a request from the relevant Administration, the municipality, the optional council in villages without a municipality, the public institution, or the concessionaire. The public Administration and municipalities may expropriate properties for the benefit of persons designated by law.

The decree shall specify the maximum period within which expropriation proceedings must be initiated, which may not exceed eight years from the date of publication of the decree in the Official Gazette.

As for expropriation decrees relating to antiquities, the maximum period of their validity shall not exceed three years from the date of publication of the decree in the Official Gazette, during which the Administration shall be entitled to carry out excavation works on the property or properties subject to expropriation and to extract antiquities therefrom when required. The Administration may, during the last six months before the expiry of the decree's period of validity, extend it for a maximum of five additional years if the results of the excavation reveal the existence of antiquities whose extraction within the decree's period of validity is impracticable. It may also extend it, with the approval of the Council of Ministers, for a maximum of ten additional years in the event of the existence of antiquities of significant archaeological and historical value.

If the three-year period expires without the relevant Administration having decided to proceed with the execution of the expropriation pursuant to Article 8 of the Expropriation Law for the purpose of executing the works, the decree declaring public utility shall be deemed null and void and without any effect. The competent Administration shall be required, on its own initiative or at the request of the interested party, to apply to the Registrar of the Land Registry for the cancellation of the entries resulting therefrom. It shall thereafter be impossible to expropriate the same property or properties for the same purpose before ten years have elapsed.

The following documents shall accompany the decree:

1. 1)A general plan of the works proposed to be carried out.
2. 2)A detailed map showing the properties proposed for expropriation.
3. 3)A schedule of the numbers of these properties, their locations, the names of the owners and holders of rights registered in the Land Register. Where a property is not subject to the Land Register system, it is sufficient to state its number and the date of its registration in the Mukhtar's register, the Tapu register, or the demarcation and survey record held by the Real Property Judge. Where no such registration exists, the schedule shall mention the name of the apparent owner, as known to and confirmed by the Mukhtar, indicating the existence of the property.
4. 4)A detailed statement of the contents of the properties proposed for expropriation, and detailed maps of the buildings constructed thereon prior to publication of the decree in the Official Gazette.

A copy of the above-mentioned documents shall be deposited with the Administration, and any interested party shall be entitled to inspect them and to obtain copies thereof.

The competent Administration shall publish the decree in the Official Gazette together with the schedule referred to in paragraph 3 of the preceding Article. A copy of the decree and its accompanying schedule shall be posted in the designated notice boards at the seat of the municipality within whose jurisdiction the properties proposed for expropriation are located, or at the Mukhtar's centre in villages without a municipality. A municipal official or the Mukhtar shall draw up a report confirming completion of the notification procedures and deposit it with the expropriating Administration.

The Administration shall notify a copy of the decree to the interested parties whose names appear in the accompanying schedule at their place of residence by administrative means or through a local official. If they are not present, notification shall be effected through an adult member of their family residing with them. If notification by this means is impracticable, or if the interested parties are of unknown address, deceased with unknown heirs, the local Mukhtar shall draw up a report of the facts, attach the documents thereto, and notification shall be substituted by publication in two local newspapers, copies of which shall be kept in the file relating to the decree. In such a case, notification by publication in two newspapers shall be deemed valid in law.

The Administration shall send a copy of the decree together with its accompanying schedule to the Land Registry Secretariat for the notation of this decree to be entered immediately on the title deeds of the properties concerned. The entry must state the name of the party requesting the expropriation, the number and date of the decree, the date of its publication in the Official Gazette, and the date of its entry on the title deed.

When the Administration decides to proceed with the execution of the expropriation, it shall refer the decree together with the entire file to the competent Primary Expropriation Committee. The file shall include, in addition to the documents specified in Article 4 of this Law, comprehensive real property statements no older than three months.

The following shall be appointed by decree for each governorate:

1. 1)One or more Primary Expropriation Committee(s), each composed of: a judge of the tenth grade or above, or its equivalent, as president; and two members, one being an engineer from the staff of public administrations, municipalities or public institutions, and the other an expert in valuation.
2. 2)One or more Appellate Expropriation Committee(s), each composed of: a judge of the sixth grade or above, or its equivalent, as president; and two members, one being an engineer from the staff of public administrations, municipalities or public institutions, and the other an engineer expert in real property matters and valuation.

A substitute president and two substitute members shall be appointed for each of the primary and appellate committees, to act in place of the president and the two full members when they are absent for any reason or when their participation in the committee's work is impracticable.

Each primary committee shall have attached to it a clerk and a local notification officer. Each appellate committee shall have attached to it a clerk and a bailiff from the judicial assistants' establishment.

The presidents and members of the above-mentioned committees shall be appointed by decree on the proposal of the competent ministers, and the officials attached to the committees shall be appointed by decision of the Minister of Justice.

The Administration shall be represented before the primary and appellate committees by an officer of at least the third category who holds a degree in law or civil engineering, designated by decision of the Director General or the head of the administrative unit directly reporting to the minister, where the expropriation is for the benefit of public administrations. Where the expropriation is for the benefit of municipalities, public institutions or any other body, the representative shall be appointed in accordance with the rules applicable to the body requesting the expropriation. State administrations may have recourse to the State Litigation Department at the Ministry of Justice in important cases involving a legal dispute; in such cases, they shall be represented by the head of the State Litigation Department or by a judge, official or lawyer attached to the Department acting on his behalf. The Administration's representative shall by operation of law be empowered to: - Receive all summonses, pleadings, memoranda and decisions addressed to his administration. - Submit pleadings and memoranda, pursue all channels of review, and perform all acts required in defence of his administration's interests before the expropriation committees.

The president and members of the expropriation committees, the officials attached thereto and the Administration's representatives shall receive an allowance to be determined by decree, payable from the budget of the expropriating Administration.

The procedures to be followed before the primary expropriation committees shall be as follows:

1. 1)The committee shall, as soon as it takes possession of the expropriation file, carry out an inspection of the properties proposed for expropriation in order to examine their location and verify their description, contents, purpose of use, and any rights attaching to or encumbrances on them. It shall draw up an inspection report for each property.
2. 2)The committee shall summon the Administration, the owners, and known rights-holders to a public hearing. The summons notice shall state in bold type that the owner is required to inform the committee of all rights-holders such as occupants, tenants and operators, with the commencement date of their occupation and the rents paid. The committee shall likewise summon rights-holders declared by the owner or rights-holders whose occupation the committee ascertains during the inspection to a similar hearing, with the summons notice stating that they must submit any documents and evidence proving their rights and must inform the committee of any other legal rights-holders, if any exist.
3. 3)Notification shall be effected directly or through the designated official attached to the committee in accordance with the rules set out in the Code of Civil Procedure. Rights-holders may appear voluntarily before the committee to assert their rights even if not declared by the owner.
4. 4)The primary committee shall apply urgent procedures.
5. 5)The committee shall notify its decisions as soon as they are issued to the Administration's representative and to the interested parties in accordance with the procedures set out in paragraph 2 above.
6. 6)Decisions of the primary committee may be appealed within the prescribed periods and in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure.

The appellate committee shall follow the procedures below:

1. 1)Each party may appeal decisions of the primary committee before the appellate committee within whose jurisdiction the property falls, within thirty days of receipt of the decision, provided that the appeal is signed by a lawyer. Decisions shall be appealed individually, and no appeal may cover more than one primary decision except in cases of connection.
2. 2)The appeal shall be subject to stamp duty, a fixed fee, and an appellate deposit. Public administrations, public institutions and municipalities shall be exempt from these duties and this deposit.
3. 3)The appeal shall be lodged with the clerk of the appellate committee or with the clerk of the primary committee that issued the decision, who shall register it in a special register, issue a receipt, and without delay send it to the clerk of the appellate committee together with the primary file containing all papers, maps, documents, reports, decisions and notification records relating to the decision being appealed. If the clerk of the primary committee fails to send the file within one week of the date of lodging the appeal, a fine shall be imposed on him, assessed by the president of the appellate committee, of not less than five thousand pounds and not exceeding twenty-five thousand Lebanese pounds.
4. 4)The appellate committee shall apply urgent procedures and shall issue its decision within a period that should not exceed three months.
5. 5)An incidental appeal (Appel incident) shall be admissible on the conditions set out in the Code of Civil Procedure.
6. 6)An appeal shall not suspend the progress of expropriation proceedings. However, if the Administration files a principal appeal, it may retain ten per cent (10%) of the compensation initially determined until the appellate decision is issued.

Sessions of the primary and appellate committees shall only be valid when all members of the committee are present. Expropriation committees may have recourse to experts only in important matters that require specialist expertise, or where the assessment of compensation or the resolution of a point in dispute requires technical information not available to the committee members. They may not, however, have recourse to experts in ordinary matters limited to the valuation of land and the structures and trees thereon.

The expropriation committees shall issue their decisions unanimously or by majority vote, and shall give reasons for their decisions and detail the elements of the compensation they assess.

If a material error occurs in the final decisions of the expropriation committees, or if their interpretation is ambiguous, or if it becomes apparent that a decision relates to an area of a property previously expropriated, or contains an error in the determination of the area or in the contents of the area proposed for expropriation, or in the names of rights-holders, any party may apply for correction or interpretation by means of a petition submitted to the committee that issued the decision. A copy shall be notified to the other party, who shall be invited to submit observations within eight days, whereupon the committee shall decide on the application within one week of the expiry of the last period. The committees may in such cases withdraw their decision, amend it, or interpret it in the presence of the other party.

Decisions of the appellate expropriation committees shall not be subject to any means of review other than opposition, third-party opposition and retrial, within the prescribed periods and on the grounds set out in the Code of Civil Procedure. However, owners and rights-holders shall be entitled to challenge decisions of the appellate expropriation committees before the Council of State if the committees reduce the compensation initially awarded by more than 25%, and the expropriating Administration shall be entitled to do so if the appellate expropriation committees increase the compensation by more than 50%. Such a review shall be subject to the same periods, procedures and grounds as an appeal before the Council of State, which shall decide on the review within one month following the end of the exchange of pleadings.

The following fall within the jurisdiction of the expropriation committees:

1. 1)Determination of the amount of all compensation arising from the expropriation.
2. 2)Adjudication on applications for total expropriation referred to in Articles 27 and 28 of this Law.
3. 3)Assessment of the price of surplus plots referred to in Article 40 of this Law.
4. 4)Determination of the value of improvement as a preliminary to the imposition of the tax thereon.
5. 5)Resolution of disputes where there is a serious disagreement between owners, or between them and rights-holders, or among rights-holders themselves, relating to those rights or to rights over the property. The committee shall assess the compensation amount and order its payment to be withheld until the dispute is resolved by agreement of the parties or by a final court judgment of the competent court.
6. 6)Resolution of disputes concerning the application of the concept of the real property unit and the amount of successive deductions affecting the property.
7. 7)Any other matter on which this Law or other legislation makes specific provision.

1- The value of expropriation compensation shall be determined in respect of all elements of damage arising directly from the expropriation, based on prevailing prices at the date of the primary committee's decision, taking into account all valuation and compensation factors, including location, area, shape, investment purpose, such as goodwill, loss of profit, difference in rent, and loss of income from work in the case of commercial and industrial establishments and liberal professions. If the primary committee's decision has been appealed, or if the case had previously been appealed and remains pending before the appellate expropriation committee, and the Administration has obtained a decision to take possession following the deposit of the initially determined compensation, the compensation shall be assessed at prices prevailing at the date of the primary decision. If more than one year has elapsed between the date of the primary decision and the date of the possession order, compensation shall be assessed at prices prevailing at the date of the possession order. If the deposit has not been made and no possession order has therefore been issued, compensation shall be assessed at prices prevailing at the date of the appellate decision. - No account shall be taken when valuing the expropriated property of: - The improvement that arose from the issuance of the decree declaring public utility or from the execution of the project for which the expropriation is being carried out. - Structures erected after the notation of the decree on the title deed of the property, or in the registers or record referred to in item 3 of Article 4 of this Law. - Buildings, plantations, lease and operation contracts, and other improvements if their purpose was to obtain higher compensation. These shall be presumed to have been made for the said purpose, without need to prove that they post-date the notation of the decree in the title deed of the property, or, for properties not subject to the Land Register system, the publication of the decree in the Official Gazette. 2- If the execution of the expropriation results in a decrease in the value of the non-expropriated part of the property, the committee shall assess the value of the decrease and add it to the compensation determined.

Where there is a right of usufruct (Usufruit) on the expropriated property, the compensation of the holder of the right of usufruct (Usufruitier) shall be determined in proportion to his age as follows:

Age of the holder of the right of usufruct | Compensation entitlement 30 years and under | Six-tenths of the compensation (6/10) More than 30 up to 40 years | Five-tenths of the compensation (5/10) More than 40 up to 50 years | Four-tenths of the compensation (4/10) More than 50 up to 60 years | Three-tenths of the compensation (3/10) More than 60 up to 70 years | Two-tenths of the compensation (2/10) Over 70 years | One-tenth of the compensation (1/10)

The remainder shall revert to the owner of the bare title. These rules shall apply to properties of both the freehold (mulk) and the State leasehold (amiri) types alike, without regard to the State's rights over the bare title in the second type.

The committee shall determine the compensation due to beneficiaries of rights of easement (Droit de servitude) over the expropriated property, based on the amount of damage suffered by them directly from the extinguishment of that right. This compensation shall be deducted from the owner's compensation.

Where the subsoil of a property is expropriated independently of the surface, or where a right is created for the benefit of the Administration over the airspace above the surface of a property, compensation shall be determined by the measure of damage suffered by the owner as a result of the restriction on his enjoyment of his property.

The Administration shall not owe any compensation to rights-holders over the expropriated property, such as tenants and operators, unless their rights arose prior to the notation of the decree on the title deed of the property and are evidenced by a document of authentic date or by instruments of official character. Where the property is not subject to the Land Register system, compensation shall only be owed if the rights arose prior to the date of publication of the decree in the Official Gazette.

Buildings of which only a part has been determined for expropriation shall be taken in their entirety if the remaining part is unsuitable for use in accordance with the purpose for which it was intended, provided that total expropriation is requested by all owners of the property or of the separately partitioned section of the property by means of one or more petitions submitted to the primary expropriation committee, under penalty of forfeiture of the right after one year from the date of the final decision. The same procedure shall apply to any plot of land of which only an area remains after partition that is unsuitable for use in accordance with its original purpose, provided the owner does not possess an adjacent plot that could be merged with it.

The expropriation committee shall decide on an application for total expropriation and shall assess the compensation due to the owner and all other rights-holders in accordance with the provisions of Article 22 and the following articles, at prices prevailing at the date of the primary expropriation committee's decision relating to the partial expropriation. The expropriating Administration shall draw up a statement of the properties determined for total expropriation in accordance with the above procedures and shall communicate it to the real property authorities so that the ownership of the parts not originally subject to expropriation may be transferred to the Administration's private estate.

Upon receipt of the primary committee's decision, the Administration shall deposit the full amount of the determined compensation and notify the beneficiary accordingly, and shall then obtain a possession order for the expropriated property. An appeal shall not suspend the remaining expropriation proceedings.

If six months elapse from the date of notification of the primary committee's decision without the Administration having deposited the compensation, statutory interest shall accrue to its account from the date of expiry of the said period. If the delay exceeds two years from the date of notification, the compensation beneficiary may apply to the committee that issued the decision for a fresh valuation, and the committee shall reassess the compensation at prevailing prices in accordance with the criteria set out in Article 22 above. This provision shall apply to previous decisions that were not accompanied by a deposit, and the time limits shall run in respect of those decisions from the date of publication of this Law in the Official Gazette.

After inspecting the deposit certificate, the Administration shall issue a possession order for the expropriated property. The order shall state the obligation to vacate within a period of not less than 15 days if the property is unbuilt, or thirty days if it is built. The Administration may retain one quarter of the compensation pending execution of the possession order. The possession order shall be notified to the interested parties and to the real property authorities. If the address of the party to be notified is unknown or is outside Lebanese territory, the possession order shall be posted on a visible part of the expropriated property and its summary shall be published in two local newspapers. The vacation period shall run from the date of the last publication. Upon expiry of the vacation period, the Administration may execute possession of the property. If it contains buildings expropriated in their entirety, the Administration shall demolish them and remove the debris at its own expense. If the buildings are partially expropriated, the owner shall demolish them and remove the debris in exchange for compensation determined by the valuation decision, payment of which shall be withheld until execution is completed. If the owner fails to carry out the demolition within the period set by the Administration, the Administration may itself carry out the work and retain the compensation allocated for that purpose.

Upon notification to the Land Registry of the possession order, ownership of the expropriated properties shall be transferred by operation of law (De plein droit) into the name of the expropriating Administration, free of all rights, security interests and easements, subject to the provisions of Article 33 of this Law.

The Administration may, at any time prior to the deposit of the determined compensation, withdraw the decree declaring public utility.

The Administration may decide to use the expropriated property for another project declared to be of public utility other than the project for which the expropriation was carried out, in which case it shall complete the legal procedures required for that purpose. If the Administration decides to abandon the project, the owner of the property or his universal successors shall be entitled to apply for its return within one year of being notified of the abandonment by administrative means.

If ten years elapse from the date of the possession order without the Administration having proceeded to execute the project for which the expropriation was carried out, whether in whole or in part, or without the Administration having decided to allocate it to another project declared to be of public utility, or if it made such a decision but failed to begin executing it within ten years, this shall be considered an abandonment, and the owner of the property or his universal successors shall be entitled to apply for its return within one year from the expiry of the said ten-year period, provided they submit a written request to the expropriating Administration.

Where a return application is submitted, the relevant Administration shall refer it to the competent expropriation committee, which shall determine the return price on the basis of the prevailing market value of the property at the date of the application, less 25% (twenty-five per cent).

The applicant for return, under penalty of forfeiture of his right, must pay the expropriating Administration in cash at the date of submission of the application the full expropriation compensation paid to him, and must pay the Administration the difference — if any — between the return price as determined by the committee and the expropriation compensation paid to him, within six months of notification of the primary expropriation committee's decision.

If the property is jointly owned by several co-owners, each of them shall be entitled to seek the return of his undivided share.

If the one-year period referred to in the first and second paragraphs of this Article expires without the owner having applied for return in due form, the Administration shall be entitled to register the property as its private property.

If the expropriating Administration has proceeded to execute the project for which the expropriation was carried out, it shall be entitled, after five years from completion of the project, to use the expropriated property for any other purpose it deems appropriate.

The provisions of this Law shall apply to expropriations pertaining to all State administrations, public institutions, municipalities and persons granted by law the right to request expropriation. All special legal and regulatory provisions shall be abrogated, whether relating to valuation rules, the composition of committees, or the procedures followed at the various stages of expropriation. Exempted and remaining in force are Legislative Decree No. 18 dated 30/3/1983 and Decree No. 107 dated 30/6/1977 as amended by Article 3 of Legislative Decree No. 18 mentioned above, and the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 69/83 dated 9/9/1983.

Until the expropriation committees are constituted in accordance with the provisions of this Law and their respective territorial jurisdictions are determined, the existing expropriation committees shall continue hearing the cases referred to them, and the provisions of this Law shall apply. Cases not yet finally decided at the stage at which they stand shall be transferred to the expropriation committees established under this Law as soon as they are constituted.

The Council of State shall continue hearing pending challenges against decisions of the appellate expropriation committees that have not yet been finally determined. Courts before which actions have been pending that, by virtue of Article 21 of this Law, have become within the jurisdiction of the expropriation committees, shall continue to hear those actions through all stages of proceedings and shall apply the ordinary rules of procedure.

The provisions of Articles 22, 27, 30 and 40 of this Law shall apply to all expropriation proceedings still pending before the primary or appellate expropriation committees that had not been finally and conclusively adjudicated as of the date this Law came into force.

Legislative Decree No. 4 dated 30/11/1954 and its amendments are hereby repealed, subject to Article 62 of this Law. The law implemented by Decree No. 188 dated 6/6/1977 and its subsequent amendments are hereby repealed with retroactive effect. Legislative Decree No. 125 dated 7/7/1977 (the Betterment Tax Law) is hereby repealed. All provisions contrary to the provisions of this Law or inconsistent with its content are likewise repealed, save for what has been excepted pursuant to the provisions of this Law.

This Law shall enter into force upon publication.