Real Estate Property

Immovable property falls into three categories:

Immovables by nature are material things that, by reason of their very substance, have a fixed and non-transferable location, such as land, mines, plants rooted in the soil (so long as they remain attached to it), and buildings. The term "buildings" encompasses not only constructed structures (such as dwellings, warehouses, factories, temples, granaries, etc.) but also engineering works of every description, including bridges, wells, furnaces, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, and the like, provided they are formed by an assembly of building materials fastened together in a permanent manner, whether above or below ground level. All fixtures and fittings attached to a building and intended to complete it (such as balconies, gutters, door locks, and water-supply fittings) are likewise regarded as immovables by nature.

Immovables by designation are things that would ordinarily be considered movables but are appurtenances of an immovable by nature, subject to the following conditions:

1. 1)That the thing and the immovable by nature belong to the same owner.
2. 2)That the thing is designated for the exploitation of the property or, more generally, for the service of the property of which it forms a part.
3. 3)Among such things are:
4. 4)In respect of agricultural exploitation: animals kept for cultivation, agricultural implements, oil presses, stills, large casks intended for holding grapes in a winery, seed-stocks of nurseries, beehives, silkworm cocoons in a cocoonery, fertiliser and straw intended for use on the farm, and lime-spreaders.
5. 5)In respect of industrial exploitation: raw materials and all machinery (including small motors, pulleys, etc. and looms), provided that the building in which such machinery is installed is specially equipped for the machinery and apparatus it contains.
6. 6)(The furniture of hotels, furnished houses, entertainment establishments, bathhouses, and commercial premises is not considered immovable.)
7. 7)Among things also considered immovable are movables permanently fixed in the ground.

Incorporeal immovables are rights, charges, easements in rem, and other rights whose object is a tangible immovable property.

Real property ownership is the right to use, enjoy, and dispose of a given immovable, within the limits of the laws, decrees, and regulations. This right may only be exercised over freehold (milk) properties.

Ownership of a given immovable confers on its holder the right to all produce of the property and to everything that becomes physically united with it, whether such union or production is natural or artificial.

Ownership of land extends to ownership of everything above and below its surface; accordingly, the owner of land may plant it with whatever he wishes, erect whatever buildings he wishes, carry out excavations to any desired depth, and extract from those excavations whatever they may yield, all within the restrictions imposed by the laws, decrees, and regulations.

Low-lying lands are burdened, with respect to the higher lands that overlook them, with the obligation to receive water that flows naturally from those higher lands, without any human intervention in its flow. The owner of the lower land may not erect any dam to prevent this flow. The owner of the higher land may not take any action that increases the burden of this easement on the lower land.

Every owner of a property has the right to use rainwater falling on his land and to dispose of it; however, if such use or the direction in which the water is channelled is liable to increase the burden of the natural easement of drainage referred to in the preceding article, compensation must be paid to the owner of the lower land. The same provisions apply to water from springs rising on any land. If the owner of land diverts water onto his land by sinking a well or by underground excavations, the owners of lower-lying land must receive it, but they have a right to compensation if its drainage causes them harm. Houses, courtyards, gardens, orchards, and enclosed parcels adjacent to dwellings are not subject to the easement of drainage of water in the cases provided for in the preceding paragraphs. Disputes arising from the creation or exercise of the easements referred to in the preceding paragraphs, and similarly questions of compensation owed, where appropriate, to owners of lower-lying land, shall be referred to the judge of the district court. That judge shall, in rendering his decision, balance the interests of agriculture and industry with respect for the right of ownership.

Every landowner may enclose his property, unless such enclosure prevents the exercise of an easement established for the benefit of an adjacent property.

A sale with right of redemption (bay' bil-wafa') or pledge by transfer of ownership is a sale of an immovable on condition that the seller shall have the right at any time, or upon expiry of the agreed term, to repurchase the property by refunding the price, and the buyer shall have the right to recover the price upon return of the property.

Any immovable that may be sold may also be sold with a right of redemption. It may be stipulated in the sale with right of redemption contract that the seller shall remain in possession of the property as tenant: this is the sale with exploitation (bay' bil-istighlal).

Neither the buyer nor the seller may, during the term of the contract, transfer the property, lease it, or create real rights over it except with their mutual express consent.

The contract may stipulate that the buyer shall enjoy the use of the property without charge, or that he shall receive a portion of its fruits.

The buyer shall, unless otherwise agreed, be responsible for maintaining the property and carrying out useful and necessary repairs, and may recover the resulting costs from the fruits of the property. Once the property is delivered to him, the buyer becomes liable to the seller for the fruits received — unless otherwise agreed — and each year the value of the fruits shall be set off against the principal of the debt, after deducting, where appropriate, the value of the fruits received on his own account in accordance with the contractual conditions, and the amount of his expenditure on the property.

The buyer is liable for loss or damage to the property sold, on the following terms: The amount of the loss or damage shall be set off against the principal of the debt; if that amount equals or exceeds the price of the property, the sale shall be rescinded as a matter of law, and the surplus shall be owed to the buyer, unless the loss or damage was caused by force majeure. If an insured property is lost or damaged, the insurance indemnity shall be applied in priority to payment of the creditor's debt, and the debtor's debt shall be reduced by the amount of the indemnity.

Upon the death of the buyer or seller, the right of rescission passes to their heirs.

A sale with right of redemption is indivisible, even if the debt is divided among the heirs of the buyer or the seller.

During the entire term of the contract and prior to repayment of the price to the buyer, the seller's creditors have no right to exercise any claim over the property.

If the seller does not repay the price, the buyer is entitled to request the sale of the property in order to recover his debt from the proceeds.

A privilege, in real property matters, is a real right granted to a creditor by reason of the particular nature of his debt, entitling him to rank ahead of all other creditors, even ahead of holders of charges.

Privileged debts are three only:

1. 1)The debt defined in Article 44 of Decree No. 186 of 15 March 1926.
2. 2)Judicial costs arising from the sale of the property and the distribution of the proceeds thereof.
3. 3)Transfer duties and penalties imposed for false declarations regarding the sale price.

By way of exception to the general principle laid down in Article 10 of the Decree governing the establishment of the land register, these privileges are exempt from registration.

Waqf property may not be sold, transferred gratuitously or for value, or pass by inheritance; nor may it be pledged or charged. However, it may be substituted and subjected to double lease (ijaratain) and muqata'a.

The waqf does not prejudice real rights legally acquired and reserved over the property prior to registration of the waqf in the land register.

A waqf has no legal effect until the day of its registration in the land register.

The waqf covers all things that are or become integral parts of the property, as well as its appurtenances and necessary accessories.

No right whatsoever may be acquired by prescription over waqf properties used as a mosque, church, synagogue, hospital, educational institution, or property dedicated for public use.

The rules relating to the creation, validity, purpose, partition, lease, and substitution of endowments are set out in the provisions of the special laws governing them.

Real rights are acquired and transferred by registration in the land register. In addition to that mode, ownership rights and rights of tasarruf are also acquired by accession in accordance with the provisions of Chapter III of this Part. A person who acquires an immovable by inheritance, compulsory expropriation, or court order is an owner prior to registration, but the acquisition shall have no legal effect until registration.

The effects of registration entries are defined by the provisions of Article 11 of Decree No. 188 relating to the land register.

The right to registration in the land register is acquired by the following means:

1. 1)By inheritance.
2. 2)By gift inter vivos and by bequest.
3. 3)By occupation (istighal).
4. 4)By pre-emption (shuf'a).
5. 5)By prescription.
6. 6)By virtue of contracts.
7. 7)The right to registration in respect of gifts and bequests is acquired by the mere occurrence of the gift and the death of the testator.

Freehold properties (milk) are immovable properties situated within the zones of inhabited localities as those zones are administratively defined, over which full ownership may be exercised, with the exception of properties located in the territories of the former independent State of Mount Lebanon, which remain subject to customary and local rules.

Miri lands are immovable properties the bare ownership (raqaba) of which belongs to the State and over which a right of tasarruf (disposition) may be exercised.

1. 1)Public dedicated properties (matruka muraffaqa) are immovable properties belonging to the State over which communities hold a right of use whose characteristics and extent are defined by local custom or by administrative regulations.
2. 2)The properties referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed to be the special property of the municipality if they are situated within its boundaries. Municipal authorities may cancel or modify the right of use over some of the said properties while preserving the rights of third parties.
3. 3)Municipalities may sell or dispose of the properties referred to in paragraph 2 only with the approval of the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Finance and Municipal and Rural Affairs.

Protected public domain properties (matruka mahmiya) are immovable properties belonging to the State or to municipalities and forming part of the public domain.

Vacant waste lands (mewat) are miri lands belonging to the State that are not under cultivation and have not been reclaimed; the first person to occupy such land acquires, by virtue of a permit granted by the State, a right of priority thereover, subject to the conditions prescribed in the regulations governing State property.

Tasarruf is the right to use, enjoy, and dispose of a given immovable within the conditions prescribed in the provisions of this Decree and within the limits of the laws, decrees, and regulations. This right may only be exercised over miri lands.

Tasarruf over a given immovable confers on its holder the right to all produce of the property and to everything that becomes physically united with it, whether such union or production is natural or artificial.

The holder of a right of tasarruf over land may plant it with whatever he wishes and erect whatever buildings he wishes; he may carry out excavations to any desired depth and extract from those excavations whatever building materials he wishes, and may freely dispose of such materials, together with all other products, subject in each case to the restrictions imposed by the laws, decrees, and regulations.

The holder of a right of tasarruf over an immovable may exercise over it any act of disposition whatsoever, save that he may not create a waqf over it.

Any waqf created after the entry into force of this Decree over miri land shall be null and void and treated as if it had never existed.

The right of tasarruf is extinguished after the land has been left uncultivated or unused for a period of ten consecutive years.

A legal easement may be for the benefit of the public or for the benefit of private parties.

A mortgage (rahn) is a contract whereby the debtor pledges an immovable in the hands of his creditor, or in the hands of a third party, and the creditor acquires the right to retain the property until he is fully paid. If the debt is not paid, the creditor has the right to pursue the forced transfer of ownership of the debtor's property by legal means.

A mortgage may not be constituted to secure obligations of uncertain subject-matter or uncertain performance.

The validity of a mortgage is conditional upon the existence of a debt duly and properly established.

Any immovable that may be sold may be mortgaged. Co-owned shares may not be mortgaged.

An immovable may be mortgaged as security for a debt owed to a third party other than the pledgor.

The entire mortgaged property guarantees every part of the debt; however, the debtor may not claim to take back his property before the debt is fully paid.

It may not be agreed that the mortgaged property shall, in the event of failure to pay the debt, become the property of the creditor.

The property shall remain under the supervision of the depositary (adl) and shall remain at the owner's risk and responsibility if the pledgee proves the occurrence of force majeure events.

A mortgage does not rank ahead of real rights legally established and reserved over the property prior to registration of the mortgage in the land register.

The mortgage covers all things that are or become integral parts of the property, as well as its necessary appurtenances.

The creditor may not without the debtor's consent derive any gratuitous benefit from the mortgaged property; he shall, however, cause it to produce all the fruits it is capable of yielding, and those fruits shall be set off against the secured debt, even before maturity, applied first to interest and expenses, then to the principal.

The creditor is required to maintain the mortgaged property and to carry out useful and necessary repairs, and may recover from the fruits all costs of maintenance and repairs or claim them in priority from the proceeds of the property. He may at any time be relieved of these obligations by surrendering his right of mortgage.

A mortgage is indivisible, even if the debt is divided among the heirs of the debtor and the heirs of the creditor. If a debtor's heir pays his portion of the debt he cannot claim delivery of the mortgaged property, just as a creditor's heir who has received his portion of the debt cannot deliver the property and thereby prejudice the interests of his co-heirs who have not yet received their shares.

Neither the debtor nor the creditor may dispose of the mortgaged property without their mutual consent; any contract concluded in contravention of this rule is null and void.

A mortgaged property that the pledgee-creditor lends back to the debtor or leases from him remains allocated to securing payment of the debt.

The mortgage is extinguished by payment of the debt at maturity, or by agreement between the debtor and the pledgee-creditor, or by the pledgee's unilateral declaration of intent. The extinction of the mortgage has no legal effect until the registration entry in the land register has been cancelled.

A double lease (ijaratain) is a contract whereby a person acquires permanently the right to use and enjoy a waqf property upon payment of its price. Such price consists of a specified sum of money regarded as an advance rent equivalent to the value of the right transferred, to which is added a perpetual annuity equivalent to 3 per mille of the value of the property as assessed for the purpose of levying the real property tax.

The holder of the double lease (ijaratain) is entitled at any time to purchase the bare ownership of the property for a price equivalent to thirty annual instalments.

Prior judicial authorisation must be obtained before concluding an ijaratain contract.

The holder of ijaratain has the right to use and enjoy the property as a genuine owner; he may enjoy it personally or lease it, and may freely dispose of his right, in particular by transferring it with or without consideration, mortgaging it, creating a charge over it, and imposing any other real right or easement over it.

The right of ijaratain is transferable by inheritance or by bequest in accordance with the rules applicable to miri properties.

The right of ijaratain encompasses all the produce and all accessions to the property, whether the accession is natural or artificial.

The holder of the right of ijaratain may, with the permission of the waqf trustee, plant whatever he wishes and erect whatever buildings he wishes in the property, provided he observes the regulations relating to public order, roads, development, and planning.

The holder of the right of ijaratain may carry out excavations to any depth in the property and — subject to compliance with the laws and decrees relating to mines, quarries, and antiquities and to the regulations on public order and roads — may extract building materials from those excavations, but not any other materials.

The provisions of Articles 215 and following of this Decree shall apply in all cases where the holder of the right of ijaratain has erected buildings or made plantings without prior permission from the waqf trustee.

The holder of the right of ijaratain is liable for any diminution in the value of the property caused by him. He bears the costs of maintenance and any taxes and levies affecting the property. He may not claim reimbursement of expenditure incurred or the value of any improvement he introduces.

The holder of the right of ijaratain is obligated to pay the perpetual annuity; if he fails to pay it or fails to pay compensation and other expenses owed, his right may be subjected to compulsory expropriation by legal means.

The right of ijaratain subsists for the waqf in the event of the extinction of the heirs of the holder; however, it reverts to the waqf, and is extinguished as against its holder if he has failed to exercise it for ten consecutive years.

The right of ijaratain is not extinguished by the total destruction of the buildings or plantings; it continues over the land.

Alluvion — that is, silt deposited gradually and imperceptibly on land adjoining a watercourse — belongs to the owner of that land.

The owner of land displaced from its location by a sudden accident to lower-lying land may reclaim it, where it can be identified, within the year following the accident, under penalty of forfeiture of that right.

Large and small islands that form naturally in the beds of rivers and streams constitute the private property of the State.

Islands, large and small, and alluvion forming in lakes, as well as the alluvion of lakes and the sea, constitute the private property of the State.

Lands recovered from the sea, lakes, swamps, and marshes without prior survey constitute the private property of the State.

If a river or stream changes its course and takes a new channel, the owners of the adjacent land have the right to acquire ownership of the old channel, each in the surface area extending in front of his land up to the presumed median line of the river; the price of the old channel is determined by experts appointed by the president of the local court. The proceeds of such a sale shall be distributed as compensation to the owners of the land occupied by the new channel, in proportion to the value of the land lost by each of them.

The owner of a piece of land also becomes the owner by accession of a well sunk by a third party thereon, provided he pays the price thereof; he may, however, if he so wishes, allow the other party to take the crops produced in exchange for a fixed annual rental. If the well has not yet been completed, the landowner may require the third party to abandon it without paying him for ploughing and the well.

Buildings, plantings, and structures on any land are presumed to have been made by the landowner at his own expense and to belong to him, unless there is evidence to the contrary.

A landowner who builds on his land using materials belonging to another, or sows it with seeds belonging to another, is not required to return those materials or seeds, but must pay their value to their owner.

If a third party erects buildings or makes plantings on land belonging to another, using materials or plants belonging to the landowner, the landowner acquires those buildings or plantings by accession under the following conditions:

If the person who erected the buildings or made the plantings acted in good faith, he shall not be required to pay for fruits taken, or to pay for damage or deterioration caused by him; and if he has built or planted on land sought to be recovered, he cannot be compelled to demolish the buildings he erected or uproot the plantings he made, but shall be paid compensation for the improvement brought about on the land by those buildings and plantings. If the buildings or plantings exceed the value of the land, the holder of the buildings or plantings is entitled to acquire ownership of the land on which they stand after paying the owner the value of the bare land.

If the person who erected the buildings or made the plantings acted in bad faith, he must restore to the landowner the value of the fruits he received. Even if he is not responsible for a loss resulting from a fall in prices, he is liable for damage or deterioration even where it has not been caused by him. He may be required to demolish the buildings or uproot the plantings, unless the landowner prefers to keep them and pay their owner the mere cost of materials and plants, after deducting the costs of removal if he is compelled to remove them. Upon expiry of the usufruct term, these provisions apply to a usufructuary who has erected buildings or made plantings on the land.

If the plantings or buildings have been made or erected by a third party using materials not belonging to him, the owner of those materials has no right to reclaim them but is entitled to compensation payable by that third party and also by the landowner, but from the latter only to the extent of the value remaining in his hands.

If the plantings or buildings were made or erected on co-owned property by one of the co-owners without the permission of the other co-owners, the property shall be partitioned where necessary at the direction of the court, which shall then apply to each share the provisions of Article 216.

An heir acquires by succession the immovables included in the estate; however, he may not dispose of them vis-à-vis third parties until they are registered in the land register.

Estates are governed by the provisions of general law.

A foreigner is only entitled to inherit or receive a bequest of real property if the laws of his country accord Syrians and Lebanese reciprocal rights. A foreigner's real property estate by inheritance or bequest is governed by the laws of his country.

The following real rights may exist over immovable property:

1. 1)Ownership
2. 2)Tasarruf (right of disposition)
3. 3)Superficie (surface right)
4. 4)Usufruct
5. 5)Right of priority over vacant waste lands
6. 6)Real easements
7. 7)Rights of pledge: mortgage (rahn) and sale with right of redemption
8. 8)Privileges and charges
9. 9)Waqf (endowment)
10. 10)Double lease (ijaratain)
11. 11)Long lease (emphyteusis)
12. 12)Option arising from a sale with right of redemption.

No co-owner of jointly held immovable property may exercise his rights over the entire property or over a specified portion of it without the consent of the remaining co-owners. Nor may he exercise any right whatsoever over a co-owner's share without that co-owner's permission; however, the consent of an absent co-owner shall be presumed to have been given at all times in matters relating to the management and administration of the property, provided no harm accruing to the absent co-owner from such management exceeds the value of his share, calculated at the minimum. This provision does not preclude the application of Decrees Nos. 188 and 189 establishing the land registration system.

The co-owners shall, by mutual agreement, determine the manner of enjoyment of the co-owned property, and the fruits of the property shall be distributed in proportion to the respective shares, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

Each co-owner of jointly held property is obligated to pay, in proportion to his share, the costs of administration, repair, maintenance, and the taxes and levies applicable to the co-owned property. A co-owner who has advanced all or part of such expenses is entitled to recover them, unless they were incurred solely for the purpose of improving or beautifying the property, in which case they remain the liability of the person who incurred them.

Each co-owner may freely dispose of his rights in the property; he may transfer them to a third party or create a charge over them without the consent of his co-owners, but he may not mortgage his share.

Landowners may create over or for the benefit of their properties any easements they wish, provided that such easements are not imposed on persons or for the benefit of persons but rather on or for the benefit of land, and do not contravene public policy. The manner of use of such easements and their extent are defined by the instrument creating them; if no instrument exists, the following rules shall apply:

A creditor holding a charge may not assign his right to a third party without the debtor's express consent, unless the contract contains a clear provision authorising him to do so (for example, where the contract states that the charge is to bearer).

Assignment of the right is effected either by registration in the land register or in the charges register, or by endorsing the registration certificate. In the latter case, the endorser's signature must be officially certified in accordance with the provisions of Articles 59, 60, and 61 of Decree No. 188 issued by the High Commissioner of the French Republic on 15 March 1926.

Holders of debts secured by a charge over an immovable may pursue it in whatever hands it passes and receive the amounts allocated to them, each according to his registered rank.

A long lease (emphyteusis / muqata'a) is a contract whereby its holder acquires, for a specified consideration, the right to erect whatever buildings and make whatever plantings he wishes on waqf property; and he may thereby acquire exclusive ownership of those buildings and plantings within the conditions specified in Article 196.

The long lease with muqata'a — that is, with a fixed annual payment — is the only contract authorised; no other contract is permitted.

The consideration shall be a specified sum of money equivalent to the value of the right transferred, to which is added a perpetual annuity at the rate of two and a half per mille of the value of the property as assessed for the purpose of levying the real property tax. The rights arising from long-lease contracts other than muqata'a, acquired prior to the entry into force of this Decree, must be redeemed by purchase pursuant to the provisions of Decree No. 80 of 29 December 1926.

The holder of the right of muqata'a may at any time acquire ownership of the property for a purchase price equivalent to thirty annual instalments.

Prior judicial authorisation must be obtained before concluding a muqata'a contract.

The holder of the right of muqata'a is the owner of the buildings erected and the plantings made on the waqf property; he uses, enjoys, and disposes of them with full freedom as an owner. He may specifically transfer them with or without consideration, mortgage them, create a charge over them, create a waqf over them, or impose any other real right or easement within the limits of his right.

The endowed land shall be treated as an appurtenance of the buildings erected on it and the plantings growing in it; the land is therefore included in any transfer, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

The right of muqata'a is transferable by inheritance or by bequest in accordance with the rules applicable to freehold (milk) properties.

If no trace whatsoever of buildings or plantings remains on the land, the right of the muqata'a holder is forfeited if he fails to rebuild those buildings or replant within three years following a notice served on him by the waqf trustee, or if he fails to pay three years' due annual annuity. Forfeiture of the right in these two cases is declared by court order.

The right of muqata'a is extinguished by consolidation of rights in the same person, by forfeiture of the right by its holder, or by extinction of the heirs; in all three cases the right reverts to the waqf.

The provisions relating to co-ownership and partition apply to the rights of ijaratain and long lease (muqata'a).

The provisions of local law relating to gifts apply to foreigners.

The capacity to create a waqf and the form of its constitutive instrument are governed by the provisions of local law.

Immovable property falls into three categories:

Immovables by nature are material things that, by reason of their very substance, have a fixed and non-transferable location, such as land, mines, plants rooted in the soil (so long as they remain attached to it), and buildings. The term "buildings" encompasses not only constructed structures (such as dwellings, warehouses, factories, temples, granaries, etc.) but also engineering works of every description, including bridges, wells, furnaces, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, and the like, provided they are formed by an assembly of building materials fastened together in a permanent manner, whether above or below ground level. All fixtures and fittings attached to a building and intended to complete it (such as balconies, gutters, door locks, and water-supply fittings) are likewise regarded as immovables by nature.

Immovables by designation are things that would ordinarily be considered movables but are appurtenances of an immovable by nature, subject to the following conditions:

1. 1)That the thing and the immovable by nature belong to the same owner.
2. 2)That the thing is designated for the exploitation of the property or, more generally, for the service of the property of which it forms a part.
3. 3)Among such things are:
4. 4)In respect of agricultural exploitation: animals kept for cultivation, agricultural implements, oil presses, stills, large casks intended for holding grapes in a winery, seed-stocks of nurseries, beehives, silkworm cocoons in a cocoonery, fertiliser and straw intended for use on the farm, and lime-spreaders.
5. 5)In respect of industrial exploitation: raw materials and all machinery (including small motors, pulleys, etc. and looms), provided that the building in which such machinery is installed is specially equipped for the machinery and apparatus it contains.
6. 6)(The furniture of hotels, furnished houses, entertainment establishments, bathhouses, and commercial premises is not considered immovable.)
7. 7)Among things also considered immovable are movables permanently fixed in the ground.

Incorporeal immovables are rights, charges, easements in rem, and other rights whose object is a tangible immovable property.

Real property ownership is the right to use, enjoy, and dispose of a given immovable, within the limits of the laws, decrees, and regulations. This right may only be exercised over freehold (milk) properties.

Ownership of a given immovable confers on its holder the right to all produce of the property and to everything that becomes physically united with it, whether such union or production is natural or artificial.

Ownership of land extends to ownership of everything above and below its surface; accordingly, the owner of land may plant it with whatever he wishes, erect whatever buildings he wishes, carry out excavations to any desired depth, and extract from those excavations whatever they may yield, all within the restrictions imposed by the laws, decrees, and regulations.

Low-lying lands are burdened, with respect to the higher lands that overlook them, with the obligation to receive water that flows naturally from those higher lands, without any human intervention in its flow. The owner of the lower land may not erect any dam to prevent this flow. The owner of the higher land may not take any action that increases the burden of this easement on the lower land.

Every owner of a property has the right to use rainwater falling on his land and to dispose of it; however, if such use or the direction in which the water is channelled is liable to increase the burden of the natural easement of drainage referred to in the preceding article, compensation must be paid to the owner of the lower land. The same provisions apply to water from springs rising on any land. If the owner of land diverts water onto his land by sinking a well or by underground excavations, the owners of lower-lying land must receive it, but they have a right to compensation if its drainage causes them harm. Houses, courtyards, gardens, orchards, and enclosed parcels adjacent to dwellings are not subject to the easement of drainage of water in the cases provided for in the preceding paragraphs. Disputes arising from the creation or exercise of the easements referred to in the preceding paragraphs, and similarly questions of compensation owed, where appropriate, to owners of lower-lying land, shall be referred to the judge of the district court. That judge shall, in rendering his decision, balance the interests of agriculture and industry with respect for the right of ownership.

Every landowner may enclose his property, unless such enclosure prevents the exercise of an easement established for the benefit of an adjacent property.

A sale with right of redemption (bay' bil-wafa') or pledge by transfer of ownership is a sale of an immovable on condition that the seller shall have the right at any time, or upon expiry of the agreed term, to repurchase the property by refunding the price, and the buyer shall have the right to recover the price upon return of the property.

Any immovable that may be sold may also be sold with a right of redemption. It may be stipulated in the sale with right of redemption contract that the seller shall remain in possession of the property as tenant: this is the sale with exploitation (bay' bil-istighlal).

Neither the buyer nor the seller may, during the term of the contract, transfer the property, lease it, or create real rights over it except with their mutual express consent.

The contract may stipulate that the buyer shall enjoy the use of the property without charge, or that he shall receive a portion of its fruits.

The buyer shall, unless otherwise agreed, be responsible for maintaining the property and carrying out useful and necessary repairs, and may recover the resulting costs from the fruits of the property. Once the property is delivered to him, the buyer becomes liable to the seller for the fruits received — unless otherwise agreed — and each year the value of the fruits shall be set off against the principal of the debt, after deducting, where appropriate, the value of the fruits received on his own account in accordance with the contractual conditions, and the amount of his expenditure on the property.

The buyer is liable for loss or damage to the property sold, on the following terms: The amount of the loss or damage shall be set off against the principal of the debt; if that amount equals or exceeds the price of the property, the sale shall be rescinded as a matter of law, and the surplus shall be owed to the buyer, unless the loss or damage was caused by force majeure. If an insured property is lost or damaged, the insurance indemnity shall be applied in priority to payment of the creditor's debt, and the debtor's debt shall be reduced by the amount of the indemnity.

Upon the death of the buyer or seller, the right of rescission passes to their heirs.

A sale with right of redemption is indivisible, even if the debt is divided among the heirs of the buyer or the seller.

During the entire term of the contract and prior to repayment of the price to the buyer, the seller's creditors have no right to exercise any claim over the property.

If the seller does not repay the price, the buyer is entitled to request the sale of the property in order to recover his debt from the proceeds.

A privilege, in real property matters, is a real right granted to a creditor by reason of the particular nature of his debt, entitling him to rank ahead of all other creditors, even ahead of holders of charges.

Privileged debts are three only:

1. 1)The debt defined in Article 44 of Decree No. 186 of 15 March 1926.
2. 2)Judicial costs arising from the sale of the property and the distribution of the proceeds thereof.
3. 3)Transfer duties and penalties imposed for false declarations regarding the sale price.

By way of exception to the general principle laid down in Article 10 of the Decree governing the establishment of the land register, these privileges are exempt from registration.

Waqf property may not be sold, transferred gratuitously or for value, or pass by inheritance; nor may it be pledged or charged. However, it may be substituted and subjected to double lease (ijaratain) and muqata'a.

The waqf does not prejudice real rights legally acquired and reserved over the property prior to registration of the waqf in the land register.

A waqf has no legal effect until the day of its registration in the land register.

The waqf covers all things that are or become integral parts of the property, as well as its appurtenances and necessary accessories.

No right whatsoever may be acquired by prescription over waqf properties used as a mosque, church, synagogue, hospital, educational institution, or property dedicated for public use.

The rules relating to the creation, validity, purpose, partition, lease, and substitution of endowments are set out in the provisions of the special laws governing them.

Real rights are acquired and transferred by registration in the land register. In addition to that mode, ownership rights and rights of tasarruf are also acquired by accession in accordance with the provisions of Chapter III of this Part. A person who acquires an immovable by inheritance, compulsory expropriation, or court order is an owner prior to registration, but the acquisition shall have no legal effect until registration.

The effects of registration entries are defined by the provisions of Article 11 of Decree No. 188 relating to the land register.

The right to registration in the land register is acquired by the following means:

1. 1)By inheritance.
2. 2)By gift inter vivos and by bequest.
3. 3)By occupation (istighal).
4. 4)By pre-emption (shuf'a).
5. 5)By prescription.
6. 6)By virtue of contracts.
7. 7)The right to registration in respect of gifts and bequests is acquired by the mere occurrence of the gift and the death of the testator.

Freehold properties (milk) are immovable properties situated within the zones of inhabited localities as those zones are administratively defined, over which full ownership may be exercised, with the exception of properties located in the territories of the former independent State of Mount Lebanon, which remain subject to customary and local rules.

Miri lands are immovable properties the bare ownership (raqaba) of which belongs to the State and over which a right of tasarruf (disposition) may be exercised.

1. 1)Public dedicated properties (matruka muraffaqa) are immovable properties belonging to the State over which communities hold a right of use whose characteristics and extent are defined by local custom or by administrative regulations.
2. 2)The properties referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed to be the special property of the municipality if they are situated within its boundaries. Municipal authorities may cancel or modify the right of use over some of the said properties while preserving the rights of third parties.
3. 3)Municipalities may sell or dispose of the properties referred to in paragraph 2 only with the approval of the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Finance and Municipal and Rural Affairs.

Protected public domain properties (matruka mahmiya) are immovable properties belonging to the State or to municipalities and forming part of the public domain.

Vacant waste lands (mewat) are miri lands belonging to the State that are not under cultivation and have not been reclaimed; the first person to occupy such land acquires, by virtue of a permit granted by the State, a right of priority thereover, subject to the conditions prescribed in the regulations governing State property.

Tasarruf is the right to use, enjoy, and dispose of a given immovable within the conditions prescribed in the provisions of this Decree and within the limits of the laws, decrees, and regulations. This right may only be exercised over miri lands.

Tasarruf over a given immovable confers on its holder the right to all produce of the property and to everything that becomes physically united with it, whether such union or production is natural or artificial.

The holder of a right of tasarruf over land may plant it with whatever he wishes and erect whatever buildings he wishes; he may carry out excavations to any desired depth and extract from those excavations whatever building materials he wishes, and may freely dispose of such materials, together with all other products, subject in each case to the restrictions imposed by the laws, decrees, and regulations.

The holder of a right of tasarruf over an immovable may exercise over it any act of disposition whatsoever, save that he may not create a waqf over it.

Any waqf created after the entry into force of this Decree over miri land shall be null and void and treated as if it had never existed.

The right of tasarruf is extinguished after the land has been left uncultivated or unused for a period of ten consecutive years.

A legal easement may be for the benefit of the public or for the benefit of private parties.

A mortgage (rahn) is a contract whereby the debtor pledges an immovable in the hands of his creditor, or in the hands of a third party, and the creditor acquires the right to retain the property until he is fully paid. If the debt is not paid, the creditor has the right to pursue the forced transfer of ownership of the debtor's property by legal means.

A mortgage may not be constituted to secure obligations of uncertain subject-matter or uncertain performance.

The validity of a mortgage is conditional upon the existence of a debt duly and properly established.

Any immovable that may be sold may be mortgaged. Co-owned shares may not be mortgaged.

An immovable may be mortgaged as security for a debt owed to a third party other than the pledgor.

The entire mortgaged property guarantees every part of the debt; however, the debtor may not claim to take back his property before the debt is fully paid.

It may not be agreed that the mortgaged property shall, in the event of failure to pay the debt, become the property of the creditor.

The property shall remain under the supervision of the depositary (adl) and shall remain at the owner's risk and responsibility if the pledgee proves the occurrence of force majeure events.

A mortgage does not rank ahead of real rights legally established and reserved over the property prior to registration of the mortgage in the land register.

The mortgage covers all things that are or become integral parts of the property, as well as its necessary appurtenances.

The creditor may not without the debtor's consent derive any gratuitous benefit from the mortgaged property; he shall, however, cause it to produce all the fruits it is capable of yielding, and those fruits shall be set off against the secured debt, even before maturity, applied first to interest and expenses, then to the principal.

The creditor is required to maintain the mortgaged property and to carry out useful and necessary repairs, and may recover from the fruits all costs of maintenance and repairs or claim them in priority from the proceeds of the property. He may at any time be relieved of these obligations by surrendering his right of mortgage.

A mortgage is indivisible, even if the debt is divided among the heirs of the debtor and the heirs of the creditor. If a debtor's heir pays his portion of the debt he cannot claim delivery of the mortgaged property, just as a creditor's heir who has received his portion of the debt cannot deliver the property and thereby prejudice the interests of his co-heirs who have not yet received their shares.

Neither the debtor nor the creditor may dispose of the mortgaged property without their mutual consent; any contract concluded in contravention of this rule is null and void.

A mortgaged property that the pledgee-creditor lends back to the debtor or leases from him remains allocated to securing payment of the debt.

The mortgage is extinguished by payment of the debt at maturity, or by agreement between the debtor and the pledgee-creditor, or by the pledgee's unilateral declaration of intent. The extinction of the mortgage has no legal effect until the registration entry in the land register has been cancelled.

A double lease (ijaratain) is a contract whereby a person acquires permanently the right to use and enjoy a waqf property upon payment of its price. Such price consists of a specified sum of money regarded as an advance rent equivalent to the value of the right transferred, to which is added a perpetual annuity equivalent to 3 per mille of the value of the property as assessed for the purpose of levying the real property tax.

The holder of the double lease (ijaratain) is entitled at any time to purchase the bare ownership of the property for a price equivalent to thirty annual instalments.

Prior judicial authorisation must be obtained before concluding an ijaratain contract.

The holder of ijaratain has the right to use and enjoy the property as a genuine owner; he may enjoy it personally or lease it, and may freely dispose of his right, in particular by transferring it with or without consideration, mortgaging it, creating a charge over it, and imposing any other real right or easement over it.

The right of ijaratain is transferable by inheritance or by bequest in accordance with the rules applicable to miri properties.

The right of ijaratain encompasses all the produce and all accessions to the property, whether the accession is natural or artificial.

The holder of the right of ijaratain may, with the permission of the waqf trustee, plant whatever he wishes and erect whatever buildings he wishes in the property, provided he observes the regulations relating to public order, roads, development, and planning.

The holder of the right of ijaratain may carry out excavations to any depth in the property and — subject to compliance with the laws and decrees relating to mines, quarries, and antiquities and to the regulations on public order and roads — may extract building materials from those excavations, but not any other materials.

The provisions of Articles 215 and following of this Decree shall apply in all cases where the holder of the right of ijaratain has erected buildings or made plantings without prior permission from the waqf trustee.

The holder of the right of ijaratain is liable for any diminution in the value of the property caused by him. He bears the costs of maintenance and any taxes and levies affecting the property. He may not claim reimbursement of expenditure incurred or the value of any improvement he introduces.

The holder of the right of ijaratain is obligated to pay the perpetual annuity; if he fails to pay it or fails to pay compensation and other expenses owed, his right may be subjected to compulsory expropriation by legal means.

The right of ijaratain subsists for the waqf in the event of the extinction of the heirs of the holder; however, it reverts to the waqf, and is extinguished as against its holder if he has failed to exercise it for ten consecutive years.

The right of ijaratain is not extinguished by the total destruction of the buildings or plantings; it continues over the land.

Alluvion — that is, silt deposited gradually and imperceptibly on land adjoining a watercourse — belongs to the owner of that land.

The owner of land displaced from its location by a sudden accident to lower-lying land may reclaim it, where it can be identified, within the year following the accident, under penalty of forfeiture of that right.

Large and small islands that form naturally in the beds of rivers and streams constitute the private property of the State.

Islands, large and small, and alluvion forming in lakes, as well as the alluvion of lakes and the sea, constitute the private property of the State.

Lands recovered from the sea, lakes, swamps, and marshes without prior survey constitute the private property of the State.

If a river or stream changes its course and takes a new channel, the owners of the adjacent land have the right to acquire ownership of the old channel, each in the surface area extending in front of his land up to the presumed median line of the river; the price of the old channel is determined by experts appointed by the president of the local court. The proceeds of such a sale shall be distributed as compensation to the owners of the land occupied by the new channel, in proportion to the value of the land lost by each of them.

The owner of a piece of land also becomes the owner by accession of a well sunk by a third party thereon, provided he pays the price thereof; he may, however, if he so wishes, allow the other party to take the crops produced in exchange for a fixed annual rental. If the well has not yet been completed, the landowner may require the third party to abandon it without paying him for ploughing and the well.

Buildings, plantings, and structures on any land are presumed to have been made by the landowner at his own expense and to belong to him, unless there is evidence to the contrary.

A landowner who builds on his land using materials belonging to another, or sows it with seeds belonging to another, is not required to return those materials or seeds, but must pay their value to their owner.

If a third party erects buildings or makes plantings on land belonging to another, using materials or plants belonging to the landowner, the landowner acquires those buildings or plantings by accession under the following conditions:

If the person who erected the buildings or made the plantings acted in good faith, he shall not be required to pay for fruits taken, or to pay for damage or deterioration caused by him; and if he has built or planted on land sought to be recovered, he cannot be compelled to demolish the buildings he erected or uproot the plantings he made, but shall be paid compensation for the improvement brought about on the land by those buildings and plantings. If the buildings or plantings exceed the value of the land, the holder of the buildings or plantings is entitled to acquire ownership of the land on which they stand after paying the owner the value of the bare land.

If the person who erected the buildings or made the plantings acted in bad faith, he must restore to the landowner the value of the fruits he received. Even if he is not responsible for a loss resulting from a fall in prices, he is liable for damage or deterioration even where it has not been caused by him. He may be required to demolish the buildings or uproot the plantings, unless the landowner prefers to keep them and pay their owner the mere cost of materials and plants, after deducting the costs of removal if he is compelled to remove them. Upon expiry of the usufruct term, these provisions apply to a usufructuary who has erected buildings or made plantings on the land.

If the plantings or buildings have been made or erected by a third party using materials not belonging to him, the owner of those materials has no right to reclaim them but is entitled to compensation payable by that third party and also by the landowner, but from the latter only to the extent of the value remaining in his hands.

If the plantings or buildings were made or erected on co-owned property by one of the co-owners without the permission of the other co-owners, the property shall be partitioned where necessary at the direction of the court, which shall then apply to each share the provisions of Article 216.

An heir acquires by succession the immovables included in the estate; however, he may not dispose of them vis-à-vis third parties until they are registered in the land register.

Estates are governed by the provisions of general law.

A foreigner is only entitled to inherit or receive a bequest of real property if the laws of his country accord Syrians and Lebanese reciprocal rights. A foreigner's real property estate by inheritance or bequest is governed by the laws of his country.

The following real rights may exist over immovable property:

1. 1)Ownership
2. 2)Tasarruf (right of disposition)
3. 3)Superficie (surface right)
4. 4)Usufruct
5. 5)Right of priority over vacant waste lands
6. 6)Real easements
7. 7)Rights of pledge: mortgage (rahn) and sale with right of redemption
8. 8)Privileges and charges
9. 9)Waqf (endowment)
10. 10)Double lease (ijaratain)
11. 11)Long lease (emphyteusis)
12. 12)Option arising from a sale with right of redemption.

No co-owner of jointly held immovable property may exercise his rights over the entire property or over a specified portion of it without the consent of the remaining co-owners. Nor may he exercise any right whatsoever over a co-owner's share without that co-owner's permission; however, the consent of an absent co-owner shall be presumed to have been given at all times in matters relating to the management and administration of the property, provided no harm accruing to the absent co-owner from such management exceeds the value of his share, calculated at the minimum. This provision does not preclude the application of Decrees Nos. 188 and 189 establishing the land registration system.

The co-owners shall, by mutual agreement, determine the manner of enjoyment of the co-owned property, and the fruits of the property shall be distributed in proportion to the respective shares, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

Each co-owner of jointly held property is obligated to pay, in proportion to his share, the costs of administration, repair, maintenance, and the taxes and levies applicable to the co-owned property. A co-owner who has advanced all or part of such expenses is entitled to recover them, unless they were incurred solely for the purpose of improving or beautifying the property, in which case they remain the liability of the person who incurred them.

Each co-owner may freely dispose of his rights in the property; he may transfer them to a third party or create a charge over them without the consent of his co-owners, but he may not mortgage his share.

Landowners may create over or for the benefit of their properties any easements they wish, provided that such easements are not imposed on persons or for the benefit of persons but rather on or for the benefit of land, and do not contravene public policy. The manner of use of such easements and their extent are defined by the instrument creating them; if no instrument exists, the following rules shall apply:

A creditor holding a charge may not assign his right to a third party without the debtor's express consent, unless the contract contains a clear provision authorising him to do so (for example, where the contract states that the charge is to bearer).

Assignment of the right is effected either by registration in the land register or in the charges register, or by endorsing the registration certificate. In the latter case, the endorser's signature must be officially certified in accordance with the provisions of Articles 59, 60, and 61 of Decree No. 188 issued by the High Commissioner of the French Republic on 15 March 1926.

Holders of debts secured by a charge over an immovable may pursue it in whatever hands it passes and receive the amounts allocated to them, each according to his registered rank.

A long lease (emphyteusis / muqata'a) is a contract whereby its holder acquires, for a specified consideration, the right to erect whatever buildings and make whatever plantings he wishes on waqf property; and he may thereby acquire exclusive ownership of those buildings and plantings within the conditions specified in Article 196.

The long lease with muqata'a — that is, with a fixed annual payment — is the only contract authorised; no other contract is permitted.

The consideration shall be a specified sum of money equivalent to the value of the right transferred, to which is added a perpetual annuity at the rate of two and a half per mille of the value of the property as assessed for the purpose of levying the real property tax. The rights arising from long-lease contracts other than muqata'a, acquired prior to the entry into force of this Decree, must be redeemed by purchase pursuant to the provisions of Decree No. 80 of 29 December 1926.

The holder of the right of muqata'a may at any time acquire ownership of the property for a purchase price equivalent to thirty annual instalments.

Prior judicial authorisation must be obtained before concluding a muqata'a contract.

The holder of the right of muqata'a is the owner of the buildings erected and the plantings made on the waqf property; he uses, enjoys, and disposes of them with full freedom as an owner. He may specifically transfer them with or without consideration, mortgage them, create a charge over them, create a waqf over them, or impose any other real right or easement within the limits of his right.

The endowed land shall be treated as an appurtenance of the buildings erected on it and the plantings growing in it; the land is therefore included in any transfer, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

The right of muqata'a is transferable by inheritance or by bequest in accordance with the rules applicable to freehold (milk) properties.

If no trace whatsoever of buildings or plantings remains on the land, the right of the muqata'a holder is forfeited if he fails to rebuild those buildings or replant within three years following a notice served on him by the waqf trustee, or if he fails to pay three years' due annual annuity. Forfeiture of the right in these two cases is declared by court order.

The right of muqata'a is extinguished by consolidation of rights in the same person, by forfeiture of the right by its holder, or by extinction of the heirs; in all three cases the right reverts to the waqf.

The provisions relating to co-ownership and partition apply to the rights of ijaratain and long lease (muqata'a).

The provisions of local law relating to gifts apply to foreigners.

The capacity to create a waqf and the form of its constitutive instrument are governed by the provisions of local law.

Superficie is the right of ownership in buildings, structures, or plantings standing on land belonging to another person.

The right of superficie may be transferred and may be the subject of a charge. An easement may be imposed over property subject to a right of superficie, but only within the limits compatible with the exercise of that right of superficie.

The right of superficie is extinguished:

1. 1)By consolidation with the right of ownership of the land in the same persons and in the same proportions of ownership.
2. 2)By the total destruction of the buildings or structures, or by the destruction or disappearance of the plantings, that form the subject-matter of the right.
3. 3)Buildings or structures that have become unfit for the use for which they were intended are deemed to be destroyed; the holder of the superficie may not rebuild them for renewed use, nor may he restore the plantings after his right has been extinguished. Nor may the holder of the right of superficie add any new structures.
4. 4)The right of superficie remains confined to the buildings, structures, or plantings originally covered by the right.
5. 5)Where it is established that the existence of the right of superficie impedes the exploitation of the land or its security, or that the benefit expected from it is so slight as to be disproportionate to the economic loss thereby caused to the land.
6. 6)The land registrar shall cancel the right of superficie by administrative act in the case provided for in paragraph (1) of this article.
7. 7)In all other cases, the extinction of the right of superficie is established by a judgment having the force of res judicata, rendered upon an action brought by the landowner before the civil single judge who applies the procedural rules governing urgent matters.
8. 8)The landowner is required to pay the holder of the right of superficie compensation assessed by the competent court, not exceeding three times the value of the buildings, structures, or plantings subject to the right as at the date of commencement of the proceedings, in the cases set out in paragraphs (2) and (3) of this article.

No right of superficie may be created except as from the date of entry into force of this Decree.

Whoever has created an easement is deemed to have implicitly granted everything necessary for its exercise. Thus the right to draw water from a spring necessarily includes the right of way over the land where the spring is located.

The owner of the dominant tenement has the right to construct in the servient tenement all structures necessary for the exercise and maintenance of the easement.

The costs of structures necessary for the exercise and maintenance of the easement shall be borne by the owner of the dominant tenement.

If the dominant tenement is subdivided, the right of easement shall remain attached to each part of it without thereby increasing the burden on the servient tenement. For example, in the case of a right of way, all of the co-owners of the property must use the same route.

The owner of the servient tenement may not carry out any act aimed at diminishing the use of the easement or making it more burdensome. In particular, he may not change the situation of the land or move the easement to a location other than that originally assigned to it. However, if the easement in its original location has become more burdensome for the owner of the servient tenement or prevents him from making useful improvements, he may offer the owner of the dominant tenement a location equally convenient for the exercise of his rights; and the latter may not refuse such an offer. Every holder of an easement may use it only in accordance with the terms of the instrument creating it, and may not carry out on his own land or on the servient tenement any act that would aggravate the burden on that tenement.

The debtor or the depositary may freely dispose of the charged property and may, in accordance with the rules set out below, discharge the obligation before maturity without the consent of the creditors holding charges.

If the debtor sells the property or the right subject to a charge after the charge agreement is concluded, the third party to whom the property is transferred, who is a party to the proceedings, has the option either to pay the pursuing creditor the full capital with interest and costs, or to submit to the procedures of compulsory expropriation initiated by the creditor.

If the charged property or properties suffer deterioration or damage rendering them insufficient as security for the creditor, the creditor is entitled to demand immediate repayment of his capital following a court declaration of insufficiency, or to demand additional security. Insurance indemnities shall in principle be applied to restore the property to its former state, subject to their being sufficient for that purpose. Restoration shall be carried out and the funds disbursed under the supervision of the creditor or creditors holding charges on terms agreed between them and the debtor; if no agreement is reached, the matter is decided by the court. If the insurance indemnity is insufficient, or if the debtor renounces restoration of the property, the indemnity shall be paid to the holders of privileged debts and charges entitled to participate in the distribution, each according to his debt rank; the debtor's right to the benefit of the term shall be reduced by the amount of such payment.

If the person to whom the charged property is transferred makes alterations to the property, damage resulting from his acts or neglect that prejudices the creditors holding charges entitles them to bring an action for damages against him. He, for his part, may claim expenses he deemed it necessary to incur for the maintenance and upkeep of the property.

Occupation grants the first occupant, by virtue of a legal permit from the State, the right to be preferred over all others in acquiring the right of tasarruf over vacant waste land.

A holder of a right of priority who proves, after three years, that he has cultivated the land, erected buildings thereon, made plantings, or improved it within the conditions set out in the special regulations governing State property, acquires free of charge the right to register the tasarruf in respect of the part he has cultivated, planted, built upon, or improved; however, he forfeits the right of tasarruf if, after registration, he abandons the exercise of his right for three consecutive years during the ten years following registration.

Occupation does not confer any right whatsoever over property already registered in the land register or under the administration of State property, nor over forests, public dedicated lands, or protected public domain lands.

Treasure found in the ground shall be divided as follows: three-fifths to the landowner, one-fifth to the finder, and the remaining fifth to the public treasury, subject to the restrictions set out in the applicable laws and regulations concerning mines and antiquities.

Usufruct is a real right to use and enjoy a thing belonging to another, and it is extinguished ipso jure upon the death of the usufructuary. A right of usufruct may not be created in favour of legal persons.

A right of usufruct is created by the mere declaration of will and may be created for a term or subject to a condition.

In real property matters, a right of usufruct may be created over the following rights:

1. 1)Ownership
2. 2)Tasarruf
3. 3)Superficie
4. 4)Double lease (ijaratain)
5. 5)Long lease (emphyteusis).

An easement is extinguished by cancellation of the registration entry. Cancellation is effected by agreement of the parties or by court order. The court may order cancellation if the easement is of no benefit or if it is impossible to enforce it.

A charge is extinguished by cancellation. Cancellation takes effect:

1. 1)By extinction of the obligation secured by the charge.
2. 2)By the creditor's renunciation of his right.

Pre-emption (shuf'a) is a right entitling its holder to substitute himself for the buyer in respect of the property sold, in the circumstances and on the conditions set out in the following articles. The right of pre-emption applies to freehold (milk) properties and to miri lands. Rights of preference (rujhan) and tapu rights under Ottoman land law are hereby abolished.

The right of pre-emption vests:

1. 1)In the owner of the bare property, if the right of usufruct is sold, whether the sale covers the entire right or part of it.
2. 2)In a co-owner in jointly held property, if a share or more is sold to a person who is not a co-owner.
3. 3)In the holder of the right of usufruct, if the bare ownership is sold, whether the sale covers the entire bare ownership or part of it.
4. 4)All other rights of pre-emption that arose before the entry into force of this Law and have not yet been exercised are hereby extinguished.

If pre-emptors from different categories compete, the right of pre-emption shall be exercised according to the order of priority set out in Article 239 above. If pre-emptors from the same category compete, the right of each shall be proportional to his share; if one or more of them waives his right, the remaining pre-emptors may exercise the right in proportion to their respective shares.

The right of pre-emption belongs to the persons referred to in Article 239 whose title deed pre-dates the buyer's title deed.

The right of pre-emption passes upon the death of its holder to his heirs. It may not be transferred to a third party.

The right of pre-emption may only be exercised against the buyer or the donee for value. In the latter case, the right of pre-emption is subject to the same grounds of nullity, voidability, and cancellation as the gift itself. A pre-emption action does not lie in respect of an exchange of immovables or in respect of a sale between spouses, or between an ascendant and a descendant, or between brothers and sisters.

The right of pre-emption is indivisible and may not be exercised or waived except in full. If there are multiple pre-emptors of equal rank and one or more of them waives his right, the remaining pre-emptors must either all claim pre-emption or all waive it. However, if there are multiple buyers, the pre-emptor may take the share of one of them only.

The right of pre-emption is forfeited:

1. 1)If the pre-emptor fails to exercise it within the legal periods specified in the next two articles.
2. 2)If the pre-emptor, prior to registration, expressly waives it in a written instrument of a duly established date that contains the name of the buyer, the price, and the conditions, and whose date does not pre-date registration by more than six months.
3. 3)If the pre-emptor was the agent of the seller in the sale or a witness to the contract and signed without reservation.
4. 4)If the pre-emptor expressly or impliedly waives his right after registration; however, after an action for pre-emption has been filed, such waiver is only valid with the buyer's consent.

After registration of the property, the buyer may notify pre-emptors of the registration through the notary for persons domiciled in Lebanon, and in accordance with Article 362 of the Code of Civil Procedure for persons residing abroad, stating in the notice the property sold and its description, the date of registration, the names and addresses of the contracting parties, the price, and the contractual conditions. The pre-emptor must exercise his right within ten days of notification, after adding a period for distance, under penalty of forfeiture.

If the notification provided for in the preceding article has not been given, the right of pre-emption lapses after one year from the date of registration of the contract in the land register. This period runs against incapacitated persons and absent persons. The period referred to in this article and in the preceding article is only interrupted by the filing of a pre-emption action before the court having jurisdiction in the place where the property is situated, determined by the amount stated in the contract.

The right of pre-emption may only be exercised on condition that the holder fully compensates the buyer. This compensation includes:

1. 1)The sale price that must be reimbursed and actually deposited on the day the pre-emption action is filed at the latest, unless the registered contract provides for deferred payment. The offer and actual deposit shall be made in the registry of the competent court hearing the pre-emption action.
2. 2)Contract expenses, including official registration fees and the agent's commission, provided this commission does not exceed the amount fixed by the legal schedule.
3. 3)The value of improvements made to the property by the buyer's acts, without regard to economic appreciation resulting from market fluctuations.

If the pre-empted property has been transferred to a third party by registration in the land register prior to the filing of the pre-emption action, pre-emption may only be exercised against the second buyer and on the conditions on which he purchased.

If there is a dispute between the buyer and the holder of the right of pre-emption as to the amount of the price of the pre-empted property, the court shall determine the true price having regard to the value of the pre-empted property. The buyer may not be heard to claim that the price is higher than that stated in the registered contract.

The right of pre-emption is established and the pre-emptor acquires the right to registration either by the buyer's voluntary delivery of the pre-empted property after payment of the price and its accessories as specified in Article 249, or by a judgment rendered in favour of the pre-emptor.

The pre-emptor is deemed to have purchased from the buyer, and the pre-emption has between them the effects of a sale. The pre-emptor is not entitled to benefit from any deferred payment provided for in the contract for the buyer's benefit, unless the court so decides subject to such guarantees as it deems necessary. Where there is deferred payment as provided for in the contract, the court may not grant the pre-emptor a period for payment.

There is no right of pre-emption in respect of waqf property, nor in respect of a sale by public auction conducted by the administration or the courts.

Immovable property falls into three categories:

Immovables by nature are material things that, by reason of their very substance, have a fixed and non-transferable location, such as land, mines, plants rooted in the soil (so long as they remain attached to it), and buildings. The term "buildings" encompasses not only constructed structures (such as dwellings, warehouses, factories, temples, granaries, etc.) but also engineering works of every description, including bridges, wells, furnaces, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, and the like, provided they are formed by an assembly of building materials fastened together in a permanent manner, whether above or below ground level. All fixtures and fittings attached to a building and intended to complete it (such as balconies, gutters, door locks, and water-supply fittings) are likewise regarded as immovables by nature.

Immovables by designation are things that would ordinarily be considered movables but are appurtenances of an immovable by nature, subject to the following conditions:

1. 1)That the thing and the immovable by nature belong to the same owner.
2. 2)That the thing is designated for the exploitation of the property or, more generally, for the service of the property of which it forms a part.
3. 3)Among such things are:
4. 4)In respect of agricultural exploitation: animals kept for cultivation, agricultural implements, oil presses, stills, large casks intended for holding grapes in a winery, seed-stocks of nurseries, beehives, silkworm cocoons in a cocoonery, fertiliser and straw intended for use on the farm, and lime-spreaders.
5. 5)In respect of industrial exploitation: raw materials and all machinery (including small motors, pulleys, etc. and looms), provided that the building in which such machinery is installed is specially equipped for the machinery and apparatus it contains.
6. 6)(The furniture of hotels, furnished houses, entertainment establishments, bathhouses, and commercial premises is not considered immovable.)
7. 7)Among things also considered immovable are movables permanently fixed in the ground.

Incorporeal immovables are rights, charges, easements in rem, and other rights whose object is a tangible immovable property.

Real property ownership is the right to use, enjoy, and dispose of a given immovable, within the limits of the laws, decrees, and regulations. This right may only be exercised over freehold (milk) properties.

Ownership of a given immovable confers on its holder the right to all produce of the property and to everything that becomes physically united with it, whether such union or production is natural or artificial.

Ownership of land extends to ownership of everything above and below its surface; accordingly, the owner of land may plant it with whatever he wishes, erect whatever buildings he wishes, carry out excavations to any desired depth, and extract from those excavations whatever they may yield, all within the restrictions imposed by the laws, decrees, and regulations.

Low-lying lands are burdened, with respect to the higher lands that overlook them, with the obligation to receive water that flows naturally from those higher lands, without any human intervention in its flow. The owner of the lower land may not erect any dam to prevent this flow. The owner of the higher land may not take any action that increases the burden of this easement on the lower land.

Every owner of a property has the right to use rainwater falling on his land and to dispose of it; however, if such use or the direction in which the water is channelled is liable to increase the burden of the natural easement of drainage referred to in the preceding article, compensation must be paid to the owner of the lower land. The same provisions apply to water from springs rising on any land. If the owner of land diverts water onto his land by sinking a well or by underground excavations, the owners of lower-lying land must receive it, but they have a right to compensation if its drainage causes them harm. Houses, courtyards, gardens, orchards, and enclosed parcels adjacent to dwellings are not subject to the easement of drainage of water in the cases provided for in the preceding paragraphs. Disputes arising from the creation or exercise of the easements referred to in the preceding paragraphs, and similarly questions of compensation owed, where appropriate, to owners of lower-lying land, shall be referred to the judge of the district court. That judge shall, in rendering his decision, balance the interests of agriculture and industry with respect for the right of ownership.

Every landowner may enclose his property, unless such enclosure prevents the exercise of an easement established for the benefit of an adjacent property.

A sale with right of redemption (bay' bil-wafa') or pledge by transfer of ownership is a sale of an immovable on condition that the seller shall have the right at any time, or upon expiry of the agreed term, to repurchase the property by refunding the price, and the buyer shall have the right to recover the price upon return of the property.

Any immovable that may be sold may also be sold with a right of redemption. It may be stipulated in the sale with right of redemption contract that the seller shall remain in possession of the property as tenant: this is the sale with exploitation (bay' bil-istighlal).

Neither the buyer nor the seller may, during the term of the contract, transfer the property, lease it, or create real rights over it except with their mutual express consent.

The contract may stipulate that the buyer shall enjoy the use of the property without charge, or that he shall receive a portion of its fruits.

The buyer shall, unless otherwise agreed, be responsible for maintaining the property and carrying out useful and necessary repairs, and may recover the resulting costs from the fruits of the property. Once the property is delivered to him, the buyer becomes liable to the seller for the fruits received — unless otherwise agreed — and each year the value of the fruits shall be set off against the principal of the debt, after deducting, where appropriate, the value of the fruits received on his own account in accordance with the contractual conditions, and the amount of his expenditure on the property.

The buyer is liable for loss or damage to the property sold, on the following terms: The amount of the loss or damage shall be set off against the principal of the debt; if that amount equals or exceeds the price of the property, the sale shall be rescinded as a matter of law, and the surplus shall be owed to the buyer, unless the loss or damage was caused by force majeure. If an insured property is lost or damaged, the insurance indemnity shall be applied in priority to payment of the creditor's debt, and the debtor's debt shall be reduced by the amount of the indemnity.

Upon the death of the buyer or seller, the right of rescission passes to their heirs.

A sale with right of redemption is indivisible, even if the debt is divided among the heirs of the buyer or the seller.

During the entire term of the contract and prior to repayment of the price to the buyer, the seller's creditors have no right to exercise any claim over the property.

If the seller does not repay the price, the buyer is entitled to request the sale of the property in order to recover his debt from the proceeds.

A privilege, in real property matters, is a real right granted to a creditor by reason of the particular nature of his debt, entitling him to rank ahead of all other creditors, even ahead of holders of charges.

Privileged debts are three only:

1. 1)The debt defined in Article 44 of Decree No. 186 of 15 March 1926.
2. 2)Judicial costs arising from the sale of the property and the distribution of the proceeds thereof.
3. 3)Transfer duties and penalties imposed for false declarations regarding the sale price.

By way of exception to the general principle laid down in Article 10 of the Decree governing the establishment of the land register, these privileges are exempt from registration.

Waqf property may not be sold, transferred gratuitously or for value, or pass by inheritance; nor may it be pledged or charged. However, it may be substituted and subjected to double lease (ijaratain) and muqata'a.

The waqf does not prejudice real rights legally acquired and reserved over the property prior to registration of the waqf in the land register.

A waqf has no legal effect until the day of its registration in the land register.

The waqf covers all things that are or become integral parts of the property, as well as its appurtenances and necessary accessories.

No right whatsoever may be acquired by prescription over waqf properties used as a mosque, church, synagogue, hospital, educational institution, or property dedicated for public use.

The rules relating to the creation, validity, purpose, partition, lease, and substitution of endowments are set out in the provisions of the special laws governing them.

Real rights are acquired and transferred by registration in the land register. In addition to that mode, ownership rights and rights of tasarruf are also acquired by accession in accordance with the provisions of Chapter III of this Part. A person who acquires an immovable by inheritance, compulsory expropriation, or court order is an owner prior to registration, but the acquisition shall have no legal effect until registration.

The effects of registration entries are defined by the provisions of Article 11 of Decree No. 188 relating to the land register.

The right to registration in the land register is acquired by the following means:

1. 1)By inheritance.
2. 2)By gift inter vivos and by bequest.
3. 3)By occupation (istighal).
4. 4)By pre-emption (shuf'a).
5. 5)By prescription.
6. 6)By virtue of contracts.
7. 7)The right to registration in respect of gifts and bequests is acquired by the mere occurrence of the gift and the death of the testator.

Freehold properties (milk) are immovable properties situated within the zones of inhabited localities as those zones are administratively defined, over which full ownership may be exercised, with the exception of properties located in the territories of the former independent State of Mount Lebanon, which remain subject to customary and local rules.

Miri lands are immovable properties the bare ownership (raqaba) of which belongs to the State and over which a right of tasarruf (disposition) may be exercised.

1. 1)Public dedicated properties (matruka muraffaqa) are immovable properties belonging to the State over which communities hold a right of use whose characteristics and extent are defined by local custom or by administrative regulations.
2. 2)The properties referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed to be the special property of the municipality if they are situated within its boundaries. Municipal authorities may cancel or modify the right of use over some of the said properties while preserving the rights of third parties.
3. 3)Municipalities may sell or dispose of the properties referred to in paragraph 2 only with the approval of the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Finance and Municipal and Rural Affairs.

Protected public domain properties (matruka mahmiya) are immovable properties belonging to the State or to municipalities and forming part of the public domain.

Vacant waste lands (mewat) are miri lands belonging to the State that are not under cultivation and have not been reclaimed; the first person to occupy such land acquires, by virtue of a permit granted by the State, a right of priority thereover, subject to the conditions prescribed in the regulations governing State property.

Tasarruf is the right to use, enjoy, and dispose of a given immovable within the conditions prescribed in the provisions of this Decree and within the limits of the laws, decrees, and regulations. This right may only be exercised over miri lands.

Tasarruf over a given immovable confers on its holder the right to all produce of the property and to everything that becomes physically united with it, whether such union or production is natural or artificial.

The holder of a right of tasarruf over land may plant it with whatever he wishes and erect whatever buildings he wishes; he may carry out excavations to any desired depth and extract from those excavations whatever building materials he wishes, and may freely dispose of such materials, together with all other products, subject in each case to the restrictions imposed by the laws, decrees, and regulations.

The holder of a right of tasarruf over an immovable may exercise over it any act of disposition whatsoever, save that he may not create a waqf over it.

Any waqf created after the entry into force of this Decree over miri land shall be null and void and treated as if it had never existed.

The right of tasarruf is extinguished after the land has been left uncultivated or unused for a period of ten consecutive years.

A legal easement may be for the benefit of the public or for the benefit of private parties.

A mortgage (rahn) is a contract whereby the debtor pledges an immovable in the hands of his creditor, or in the hands of a third party, and the creditor acquires the right to retain the property until he is fully paid. If the debt is not paid, the creditor has the right to pursue the forced transfer of ownership of the debtor's property by legal means.

A mortgage may not be constituted to secure obligations of uncertain subject-matter or uncertain performance.

The validity of a mortgage is conditional upon the existence of a debt duly and properly established.

Any immovable that may be sold may be mortgaged. Co-owned shares may not be mortgaged.

An immovable may be mortgaged as security for a debt owed to a third party other than the pledgor.

The entire mortgaged property guarantees every part of the debt; however, the debtor may not claim to take back his property before the debt is fully paid.

It may not be agreed that the mortgaged property shall, in the event of failure to pay the debt, become the property of the creditor.

The property shall remain under the supervision of the depositary (adl) and shall remain at the owner's risk and responsibility if the pledgee proves the occurrence of force majeure events.

A mortgage does not rank ahead of real rights legally established and reserved over the property prior to registration of the mortgage in the land register.

The mortgage covers all things that are or become integral parts of the property, as well as its necessary appurtenances.

The creditor may not without the debtor's consent derive any gratuitous benefit from the mortgaged property; he shall, however, cause it to produce all the fruits it is capable of yielding, and those fruits shall be set off against the secured debt, even before maturity, applied first to interest and expenses, then to the principal.

The creditor is required to maintain the mortgaged property and to carry out useful and necessary repairs, and may recover from the fruits all costs of maintenance and repairs or claim them in priority from the proceeds of the property. He may at any time be relieved of these obligations by surrendering his right of mortgage.

A mortgage is indivisible, even if the debt is divided among the heirs of the debtor and the heirs of the creditor. If a debtor's heir pays his portion of the debt he cannot claim delivery of the mortgaged property, just as a creditor's heir who has received his portion of the debt cannot deliver the property and thereby prejudice the interests of his co-heirs who have not yet received their shares.

Neither the debtor nor the creditor may dispose of the mortgaged property without their mutual consent; any contract concluded in contravention of this rule is null and void.

A mortgaged property that the pledgee-creditor lends back to the debtor or leases from him remains allocated to securing payment of the debt.

The mortgage is extinguished by payment of the debt at maturity, or by agreement between the debtor and the pledgee-creditor, or by the pledgee's unilateral declaration of intent. The extinction of the mortgage has no legal effect until the registration entry in the land register has been cancelled.

A double lease (ijaratain) is a contract whereby a person acquires permanently the right to use and enjoy a waqf property upon payment of its price. Such price consists of a specified sum of money regarded as an advance rent equivalent to the value of the right transferred, to which is added a perpetual annuity equivalent to 3 per mille of the value of the property as assessed for the purpose of levying the real property tax.

The holder of the double lease (ijaratain) is entitled at any time to purchase the bare ownership of the property for a price equivalent to thirty annual instalments.

Prior judicial authorisation must be obtained before concluding an ijaratain contract.

The holder of ijaratain has the right to use and enjoy the property as a genuine owner; he may enjoy it personally or lease it, and may freely dispose of his right, in particular by transferring it with or without consideration, mortgaging it, creating a charge over it, and imposing any other real right or easement over it.

The right of ijaratain is transferable by inheritance or by bequest in accordance with the rules applicable to miri properties.

The right of ijaratain encompasses all the produce and all accessions to the property, whether the accession is natural or artificial.

The holder of the right of ijaratain may, with the permission of the waqf trustee, plant whatever he wishes and erect whatever buildings he wishes in the property, provided he observes the regulations relating to public order, roads, development, and planning.

The holder of the right of ijaratain may carry out excavations to any depth in the property and — subject to compliance with the laws and decrees relating to mines, quarries, and antiquities and to the regulations on public order and roads — may extract building materials from those excavations, but not any other materials.

The provisions of Articles 215 and following of this Decree shall apply in all cases where the holder of the right of ijaratain has erected buildings or made plantings without prior permission from the waqf trustee.

The holder of the right of ijaratain is liable for any diminution in the value of the property caused by him. He bears the costs of maintenance and any taxes and levies affecting the property. He may not claim reimbursement of expenditure incurred or the value of any improvement he introduces.

The holder of the right of ijaratain is obligated to pay the perpetual annuity; if he fails to pay it or fails to pay compensation and other expenses owed, his right may be subjected to compulsory expropriation by legal means.

The right of ijaratain subsists for the waqf in the event of the extinction of the heirs of the holder; however, it reverts to the waqf, and is extinguished as against its holder if he has failed to exercise it for ten consecutive years.

The right of ijaratain is not extinguished by the total destruction of the buildings or plantings; it continues over the land.

Alluvion — that is, silt deposited gradually and imperceptibly on land adjoining a watercourse — belongs to the owner of that land.

The owner of land displaced from its location by a sudden accident to lower-lying land may reclaim it, where it can be identified, within the year following the accident, under penalty of forfeiture of that right.

Large and small islands that form naturally in the beds of rivers and streams constitute the private property of the State.

Islands, large and small, and alluvion forming in lakes, as well as the alluvion of lakes and the sea, constitute the private property of the State.

Lands recovered from the sea, lakes, swamps, and marshes without prior survey constitute the private property of the State.

If a river or stream changes its course and takes a new channel, the owners of the adjacent land have the right to acquire ownership of the old channel, each in the surface area extending in front of his land up to the presumed median line of the river; the price of the old channel is determined by experts appointed by the president of the local court. The proceeds of such a sale shall be distributed as compensation to the owners of the land occupied by the new channel, in proportion to the value of the land lost by each of them.

The owner of a piece of land also becomes the owner by accession of a well sunk by a third party thereon, provided he pays the price thereof; he may, however, if he so wishes, allow the other party to take the crops produced in exchange for a fixed annual rental. If the well has not yet been completed, the landowner may require the third party to abandon it without paying him for ploughing and the well.

Buildings, plantings, and structures on any land are presumed to have been made by the landowner at his own expense and to belong to him, unless there is evidence to the contrary.

A landowner who builds on his land using materials belonging to another, or sows it with seeds belonging to another, is not required to return those materials or seeds, but must pay their value to their owner.

If a third party erects buildings or makes plantings on land belonging to another, using materials or plants belonging to the landowner, the landowner acquires those buildings or plantings by accession under the following conditions:

If the person who erected the buildings or made the plantings acted in good faith, he shall not be required to pay for fruits taken, or to pay for damage or deterioration caused by him; and if he has built or planted on land sought to be recovered, he cannot be compelled to demolish the buildings he erected or uproot the plantings he made, but shall be paid compensation for the improvement brought about on the land by those buildings and plantings. If the buildings or plantings exceed the value of the land, the holder of the buildings or plantings is entitled to acquire ownership of the land on which they stand after paying the owner the value of the bare land.

If the person who erected the buildings or made the plantings acted in bad faith, he must restore to the landowner the value of the fruits he received. Even if he is not responsible for a loss resulting from a fall in prices, he is liable for damage or deterioration even where it has not been caused by him. He may be required to demolish the buildings or uproot the plantings, unless the landowner prefers to keep them and pay their owner the mere cost of materials and plants, after deducting the costs of removal if he is compelled to remove them. Upon expiry of the usufruct term, these provisions apply to a usufructuary who has erected buildings or made plantings on the land.

If the plantings or buildings have been made or erected by a third party using materials not belonging to him, the owner of those materials has no right to reclaim them but is entitled to compensation payable by that third party and also by the landowner, but from the latter only to the extent of the value remaining in his hands.

If the plantings or buildings were made or erected on co-owned property by one of the co-owners without the permission of the other co-owners, the property shall be partitioned where necessary at the direction of the court, which shall then apply to each share the provisions of Article 216.

An heir acquires by succession the immovables included in the estate; however, he may not dispose of them vis-à-vis third parties until they are registered in the land register.

Estates are governed by the provisions of general law.

A foreigner is only entitled to inherit or receive a bequest of real property if the laws of his country accord Syrians and Lebanese reciprocal rights. A foreigner's real property estate by inheritance or bequest is governed by the laws of his country.

The following real rights may exist over immovable property:

1. 1)Ownership
2. 2)Tasarruf (right of disposition)
3. 3)Superficie (surface right)
4. 4)Usufruct
5. 5)Right of priority over vacant waste lands
6. 6)Real easements
7. 7)Rights of pledge: mortgage (rahn) and sale with right of redemption
8. 8)Privileges and charges
9. 9)Waqf (endowment)
10. 10)Double lease (ijaratain)
11. 11)Long lease (emphyteusis)
12. 12)Option arising from a sale with right of redemption.

No co-owner of jointly held immovable property may exercise his rights over the entire property or over a specified portion of it without the consent of the remaining co-owners. Nor may he exercise any right whatsoever over a co-owner's share without that co-owner's permission; however, the consent of an absent co-owner shall be presumed to have been given at all times in matters relating to the management and administration of the property, provided no harm accruing to the absent co-owner from such management exceeds the value of his share, calculated at the minimum. This provision does not preclude the application of Decrees Nos. 188 and 189 establishing the land registration system.

The co-owners shall, by mutual agreement, determine the manner of enjoyment of the co-owned property, and the fruits of the property shall be distributed in proportion to the respective shares, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

Each co-owner of jointly held property is obligated to pay, in proportion to his share, the costs of administration, repair, maintenance, and the taxes and levies applicable to the co-owned property. A co-owner who has advanced all or part of such expenses is entitled to recover them, unless they were incurred solely for the purpose of improving or beautifying the property, in which case they remain the liability of the person who incurred them.

Each co-owner may freely dispose of his rights in the property; he may transfer them to a third party or create a charge over them without the consent of his co-owners, but he may not mortgage his share.

Landowners may create over or for the benefit of their properties any easements they wish, provided that such easements are not imposed on persons or for the benefit of persons but rather on or for the benefit of land, and do not contravene public policy. The manner of use of such easements and their extent are defined by the instrument creating them; if no instrument exists, the following rules shall apply:

A creditor holding a charge may not assign his right to a third party without the debtor's express consent, unless the contract contains a clear provision authorising him to do so (for example, where the contract states that the charge is to bearer).

Assignment of the right is effected either by registration in the land register or in the charges register, or by endorsing the registration certificate. In the latter case, the endorser's signature must be officially certified in accordance with the provisions of Articles 59, 60, and 61 of Decree No. 188 issued by the High Commissioner of the French Republic on 15 March 1926.

Holders of debts secured by a charge over an immovable may pursue it in whatever hands it passes and receive the amounts allocated to them, each according to his registered rank.

A long lease (emphyteusis / muqata'a) is a contract whereby its holder acquires, for a specified consideration, the right to erect whatever buildings and make whatever plantings he wishes on waqf property; and he may thereby acquire exclusive ownership of those buildings and plantings within the conditions specified in Article 196.

The long lease with muqata'a — that is, with a fixed annual payment — is the only contract authorised; no other contract is permitted.

The consideration shall be a specified sum of money equivalent to the value of the right transferred, to which is added a perpetual annuity at the rate of two and a half per mille of the value of the property as assessed for the purpose of levying the real property tax. The rights arising from long-lease contracts other than muqata'a, acquired prior to the entry into force of this Decree, must be redeemed by purchase pursuant to the provisions of Decree No. 80 of 29 December 1926.

The holder of the right of muqata'a may at any time acquire ownership of the property for a purchase price equivalent to thirty annual instalments.

Prior judicial authorisation must be obtained before concluding a muqata'a contract.

The holder of the right of muqata'a is the owner of the buildings erected and the plantings made on the waqf property; he uses, enjoys, and disposes of them with full freedom as an owner. He may specifically transfer them with or without consideration, mortgage them, create a charge over them, create a waqf over them, or impose any other real right or easement within the limits of his right.

The endowed land shall be treated as an appurtenance of the buildings erected on it and the plantings growing in it; the land is therefore included in any transfer, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

The right of muqata'a is transferable by inheritance or by bequest in accordance with the rules applicable to freehold (milk) properties.

If no trace whatsoever of buildings or plantings remains on the land, the right of the muqata'a holder is forfeited if he fails to rebuild those buildings or replant within three years following a notice served on him by the waqf trustee, or if he fails to pay three years' due annual annuity. Forfeiture of the right in these two cases is declared by court order.

The right of muqata'a is extinguished by consolidation of rights in the same person, by forfeiture of the right by its holder, or by extinction of the heirs; in all three cases the right reverts to the waqf.

The provisions relating to co-ownership and partition apply to the rights of ijaratain and long lease (muqata'a).

The provisions of local law relating to gifts apply to foreigners.

The capacity to create a waqf and the form of its constitutive instrument are governed by the provisions of local law.

Superficie is the right of ownership in buildings, structures, or plantings standing on land belonging to another person.

The right of superficie may be transferred and may be the subject of a charge. An easement may be imposed over property subject to a right of superficie, but only within the limits compatible with the exercise of that right of superficie.

The right of superficie is extinguished:

1. 1)By consolidation with the right of ownership of the land in the same persons and in the same proportions of ownership.
2. 2)By the total destruction of the buildings or structures, or by the destruction or disappearance of the plantings, that form the subject-matter of the right.
3. 3)Buildings or structures that have become unfit for the use for which they were intended are deemed to be destroyed; the holder of the superficie may not rebuild them for renewed use, nor may he restore the plantings after his right has been extinguished. Nor may the holder of the right of superficie add any new structures.
4. 4)The right of superficie remains confined to the buildings, structures, or plantings originally covered by the right.
5. 5)Where it is established that the existence of the right of superficie impedes the exploitation of the land or its security, or that the benefit expected from it is so slight as to be disproportionate to the economic loss thereby caused to the land.
6. 6)The land registrar shall cancel the right of superficie by administrative act in the case provided for in paragraph (1) of this article.
7. 7)In all other cases, the extinction of the right of superficie is established by a judgment having the force of res judicata, rendered upon an action brought by the landowner before the civil single judge who applies the procedural rules governing urgent matters.
8. 8)The landowner is required to pay the holder of the right of superficie compensation assessed by the competent court, not exceeding three times the value of the buildings, structures, or plantings subject to the right as at the date of commencement of the proceedings, in the cases set out in paragraphs (2) and (3) of this article.

No right of superficie may be created except as from the date of entry into force of this Decree.

Whoever has created an easement is deemed to have implicitly granted everything necessary for its exercise. Thus the right to draw water from a spring necessarily includes the right of way over the land where the spring is located.

The owner of the dominant tenement has the right to construct in the servient tenement all structures necessary for the exercise and maintenance of the easement.

The costs of structures necessary for the exercise and maintenance of the easement shall be borne by the owner of the dominant tenement.

If the dominant tenement is subdivided, the right of easement shall remain attached to each part of it without thereby increasing the burden on the servient tenement. For example, in the case of a right of way, all of the co-owners of the property must use the same route.

The owner of the servient tenement may not carry out any act aimed at diminishing the use of the easement or making it more burdensome. In particular, he may not change the situation of the land or move the easement to a location other than that originally assigned to it. However, if the easement in its original location has become more burdensome for the owner of the servient tenement or prevents him from making useful improvements, he may offer the owner of the dominant tenement a location equally convenient for the exercise of his rights; and the latter may not refuse such an offer. Every holder of an easement may use it only in accordance with the terms of the instrument creating it, and may not carry out on his own land or on the servient tenement any act that would aggravate the burden on that tenement.

The debtor or the depositary may freely dispose of the charged property and may, in accordance with the rules set out below, discharge the obligation before maturity without the consent of the creditors holding charges.

If the debtor sells the property or the right subject to a charge after the charge agreement is concluded, the third party to whom the property is transferred, who is a party to the proceedings, has the option either to pay the pursuing creditor the full capital with interest and costs, or to submit to the procedures of compulsory expropriation initiated by the creditor.

If the charged property or properties suffer deterioration or damage rendering them insufficient as security for the creditor, the creditor is entitled to demand immediate repayment of his capital following a court declaration of insufficiency, or to demand additional security. Insurance indemnities shall in principle be applied to restore the property to its former state, subject to their being sufficient for that purpose. Restoration shall be carried out and the funds disbursed under the supervision of the creditor or creditors holding charges on terms agreed between them and the debtor; if no agreement is reached, the matter is decided by the court. If the insurance indemnity is insufficient, or if the debtor renounces restoration of the property, the indemnity shall be paid to the holders of privileged debts and charges entitled to participate in the distribution, each according to his debt rank; the debtor's right to the benefit of the term shall be reduced by the amount of such payment.

If the person to whom the charged property is transferred makes alterations to the property, damage resulting from his acts or neglect that prejudices the creditors holding charges entitles them to bring an action for damages against him. He, for his part, may claim expenses he deemed it necessary to incur for the maintenance and upkeep of the property.

Occupation grants the first occupant, by virtue of a legal permit from the State, the right to be preferred over all others in acquiring the right of tasarruf over vacant waste land.

A holder of a right of priority who proves, after three years, that he has cultivated the land, erected buildings thereon, made plantings, or improved it within the conditions set out in the special regulations governing State property, acquires free of charge the right to register the tasarruf in respect of the part he has cultivated, planted, built upon, or improved; however, he forfeits the right of tasarruf if, after registration, he abandons the exercise of his right for three consecutive years during the ten years following registration.

Occupation does not confer any right whatsoever over property already registered in the land register or under the administration of State property, nor over forests, public dedicated lands, or protected public domain lands.

Treasure found in the ground shall be divided as follows: three-fifths to the landowner, one-fifth to the finder, and the remaining fifth to the public treasury, subject to the restrictions set out in the applicable laws and regulations concerning mines and antiquities.

Usufruct is a real right to use and enjoy a thing belonging to another, and it is extinguished ipso jure upon the death of the usufructuary. A right of usufruct may not be created in favour of legal persons.

A right of usufruct is created by the mere declaration of will and may be created for a term or subject to a condition.

In real property matters, a right of usufruct may be created over the following rights:

1. 1)Ownership
2. 2)Tasarruf
3. 3)Superficie
4. 4)Double lease (ijaratain)
5. 5)Long lease (emphyteusis).

An easement is extinguished by cancellation of the registration entry. Cancellation is effected by agreement of the parties or by court order. The court may order cancellation if the easement is of no benefit or if it is impossible to enforce it.

A charge is extinguished by cancellation. Cancellation takes effect:

1. 1)By extinction of the obligation secured by the charge.
2. 2)By the creditor's renunciation of his right.

Pre-emption (shuf'a) is a right entitling its holder to substitute himself for the buyer in respect of the property sold, in the circumstances and on the conditions set out in the following articles. The right of pre-emption applies to freehold (milk) properties and to miri lands. Rights of preference (rujhan) and tapu rights under Ottoman land law are hereby abolished.

The right of pre-emption vests:

1. 1)In the owner of the bare property, if the right of usufruct is sold, whether the sale covers the entire right or part of it.
2. 2)In a co-owner in jointly held property, if a share or more is sold to a person who is not a co-owner.
3. 3)In the holder of the right of usufruct, if the bare ownership is sold, whether the sale covers the entire bare ownership or part of it.
4. 4)All other rights of pre-emption that arose before the entry into force of this Law and have not yet been exercised are hereby extinguished.

If pre-emptors from different categories compete, the right of pre-emption shall be exercised according to the order of priority set out in Article 239 above. If pre-emptors from the same category compete, the right of each shall be proportional to his share; if one or more of them waives his right, the remaining pre-emptors may exercise the right in proportion to their respective shares.

The right of pre-emption belongs to the persons referred to in Article 239 whose title deed pre-dates the buyer's title deed.

The right of pre-emption passes upon the death of its holder to his heirs. It may not be transferred to a third party.

The right of pre-emption may only be exercised against the buyer or the donee for value. In the latter case, the right of pre-emption is subject to the same grounds of nullity, voidability, and cancellation as the gift itself. A pre-emption action does not lie in respect of an exchange of immovables or in respect of a sale between spouses, or between an ascendant and a descendant, or between brothers and sisters.

The right of pre-emption is indivisible and may not be exercised or waived except in full. If there are multiple pre-emptors of equal rank and one or more of them waives his right, the remaining pre-emptors must either all claim pre-emption or all waive it. However, if there are multiple buyers, the pre-emptor may take the share of one of them only.

The right of pre-emption is forfeited:

1. 1)If the pre-emptor fails to exercise it within the legal periods specified in the next two articles.
2. 2)If the pre-emptor, prior to registration, expressly waives it in a written instrument of a duly established date that contains the name of the buyer, the price, and the conditions, and whose date does not pre-date registration by more than six months.
3. 3)If the pre-emptor was the agent of the seller in the sale or a witness to the contract and signed without reservation.
4. 4)If the pre-emptor expressly or impliedly waives his right after registration; however, after an action for pre-emption has been filed, such waiver is only valid with the buyer's consent.

After registration of the property, the buyer may notify pre-emptors of the registration through the notary for persons domiciled in Lebanon, and in accordance with Article 362 of the Code of Civil Procedure for persons residing abroad, stating in the notice the property sold and its description, the date of registration, the names and addresses of the contracting parties, the price, and the contractual conditions. The pre-emptor must exercise his right within ten days of notification, after adding a period for distance, under penalty of forfeiture.

If the notification provided for in the preceding article has not been given, the right of pre-emption lapses after one year from the date of registration of the contract in the land register. This period runs against incapacitated persons and absent persons. The period referred to in this article and in the preceding article is only interrupted by the filing of a pre-emption action before the court having jurisdiction in the place where the property is situated, determined by the amount stated in the contract.

The right of pre-emption may only be exercised on condition that the holder fully compensates the buyer. This compensation includes:

1. 1)The sale price that must be reimbursed and actually deposited on the day the pre-emption action is filed at the latest, unless the registered contract provides for deferred payment. The offer and actual deposit shall be made in the registry of the competent court hearing the pre-emption action.
2. 2)Contract expenses, including official registration fees and the agent's commission, provided this commission does not exceed the amount fixed by the legal schedule.
3. 3)The value of improvements made to the property by the buyer's acts, without regard to economic appreciation resulting from market fluctuations.

If the pre-empted property has been transferred to a third party by registration in the land register prior to the filing of the pre-emption action, pre-emption may only be exercised against the second buyer and on the conditions on which he purchased.

If there is a dispute between the buyer and the holder of the right of pre-emption as to the amount of the price of the pre-empted property, the court shall determine the true price having regard to the value of the pre-empted property. The buyer may not be heard to claim that the price is higher than that stated in the registered contract.

The right of pre-emption is established and the pre-emptor acquires the right to registration either by the buyer's voluntary delivery of the pre-empted property after payment of the price and its accessories as specified in Article 249, or by a judgment rendered in favour of the pre-emptor.

The pre-emptor is deemed to have purchased from the buyer, and the pre-emption has between them the effects of a sale. The pre-emptor is not entitled to benefit from any deferred payment provided for in the contract for the buyer's benefit, unless the court so decides subject to such guarantees as it deems necessary. Where there is deferred payment as provided for in the contract, the court may not grant the pre-emptor a period for payment.

There is no right of pre-emption in respect of waqf property, nor in respect of a sale by public auction conducted by the administration or the courts.

Immovable property falls into three categories:

Immovables by nature are material things that, by reason of their very substance, have a fixed and non-transferable location, such as land, mines, plants rooted in the soil (so long as they remain attached to it), and buildings. The term "buildings" encompasses not only constructed structures (such as dwellings, warehouses, factories, temples, granaries, etc.) but also engineering works of every description, including bridges, wells, furnaces, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, and the like, provided they are formed by an assembly of building materials fastened together in a permanent manner, whether above or below ground level. All fixtures and fittings attached to a building and intended to complete it (such as balconies, gutters, door locks, and water-supply fittings) are likewise regarded as immovables by nature.

Immovables by designation are things that would ordinarily be considered movables but are appurtenances of an immovable by nature, subject to the following conditions:

1. 1)That the thing and the immovable by nature belong to the same owner.
2. 2)That the thing is designated for the exploitation of the property or, more generally, for the service of the property of which it forms a part.
3. 3)Among such things are:
4. 4)In respect of agricultural exploitation: animals kept for cultivation, agricultural implements, oil presses, stills, large casks intended for holding grapes in a winery, seed-stocks of nurseries, beehives, silkworm cocoons in a cocoonery, fertiliser and straw intended for use on the farm, and lime-spreaders.
5. 5)In respect of industrial exploitation: raw materials and all machinery (including small motors, pulleys, etc. and looms), provided that the building in which such machinery is installed is specially equipped for the machinery and apparatus it contains.
6. 6)(The furniture of hotels, furnished houses, entertainment establishments, bathhouses, and commercial premises is not considered immovable.)
7. 7)Among things also considered immovable are movables permanently fixed in the ground.

Incorporeal immovables are rights, charges, easements in rem, and other rights whose object is a tangible immovable property.

Real property ownership is the right to use, enjoy, and dispose of a given immovable, within the limits of the laws, decrees, and regulations. This right may only be exercised over freehold (milk) properties.

Ownership of a given immovable confers on its holder the right to all produce of the property and to everything that becomes physically united with it, whether such union or production is natural or artificial.

Ownership of land extends to ownership of everything above and below its surface; accordingly, the owner of land may plant it with whatever he wishes, erect whatever buildings he wishes, carry out excavations to any desired depth, and extract from those excavations whatever they may yield, all within the restrictions imposed by the laws, decrees, and regulations.

Low-lying lands are burdened, with respect to the higher lands that overlook them, with the obligation to receive water that flows naturally from those higher lands, without any human intervention in its flow. The owner of the lower land may not erect any dam to prevent this flow. The owner of the higher land may not take any action that increases the burden of this easement on the lower land.

Every owner of a property has the right to use rainwater falling on his land and to dispose of it; however, if such use or the direction in which the water is channelled is liable to increase the burden of the natural easement of drainage referred to in the preceding article, compensation must be paid to the owner of the lower land. The same provisions apply to water from springs rising on any land. If the owner of land diverts water onto his land by sinking a well or by underground excavations, the owners of lower-lying land must receive it, but they have a right to compensation if its drainage causes them harm. Houses, courtyards, gardens, orchards, and enclosed parcels adjacent to dwellings are not subject to the easement of drainage of water in the cases provided for in the preceding paragraphs. Disputes arising from the creation or exercise of the easements referred to in the preceding paragraphs, and similarly questions of compensation owed, where appropriate, to owners of lower-lying land, shall be referred to the judge of the district court. That judge shall, in rendering his decision, balance the interests of agriculture and industry with respect for the right of ownership.

Every landowner may enclose his property, unless such enclosure prevents the exercise of an easement established for the benefit of an adjacent property.

A sale with right of redemption (bay' bil-wafa') or pledge by transfer of ownership is a sale of an immovable on condition that the seller shall have the right at any time, or upon expiry of the agreed term, to repurchase the property by refunding the price, and the buyer shall have the right to recover the price upon return of the property.

Any immovable that may be sold may also be sold with a right of redemption. It may be stipulated in the sale with right of redemption contract that the seller shall remain in possession of the property as tenant: this is the sale with exploitation (bay' bil-istighlal).

Neither the buyer nor the seller may, during the term of the contract, transfer the property, lease it, or create real rights over it except with their mutual express consent.

The contract may stipulate that the buyer shall enjoy the use of the property without charge, or that he shall receive a portion of its fruits.

The buyer shall, unless otherwise agreed, be responsible for maintaining the property and carrying out useful and necessary repairs, and may recover the resulting costs from the fruits of the property. Once the property is delivered to him, the buyer becomes liable to the seller for the fruits received — unless otherwise agreed — and each year the value of the fruits shall be set off against the principal of the debt, after deducting, where appropriate, the value of the fruits received on his own account in accordance with the contractual conditions, and the amount of his expenditure on the property.

The buyer is liable for loss or damage to the property sold, on the following terms: The amount of the loss or damage shall be set off against the principal of the debt; if that amount equals or exceeds the price of the property, the sale shall be rescinded as a matter of law, and the surplus shall be owed to the buyer, unless the loss or damage was caused by force majeure. If an insured property is lost or damaged, the insurance indemnity shall be applied in priority to payment of the creditor's debt, and the debtor's debt shall be reduced by the amount of the indemnity.

Upon the death of the buyer or seller, the right of rescission passes to their heirs.

A sale with right of redemption is indivisible, even if the debt is divided among the heirs of the buyer or the seller.

During the entire term of the contract and prior to repayment of the price to the buyer, the seller's creditors have no right to exercise any claim over the property.

If the seller does not repay the price, the buyer is entitled to request the sale of the property in order to recover his debt from the proceeds.

A privilege, in real property matters, is a real right granted to a creditor by reason of the particular nature of his debt, entitling him to rank ahead of all other creditors, even ahead of holders of charges.

Privileged debts are three only:

1. 1)The debt defined in Article 44 of Decree No. 186 of 15 March 1926.
2. 2)Judicial costs arising from the sale of the property and the distribution of the proceeds thereof.
3. 3)Transfer duties and penalties imposed for false declarations regarding the sale price.

By way of exception to the general principle laid down in Article 10 of the Decree governing the establishment of the land register, these privileges are exempt from registration.

Waqf property may not be sold, transferred gratuitously or for value, or pass by inheritance; nor may it be pledged or charged. However, it may be substituted and subjected to double lease (ijaratain) and muqata'a.

The waqf does not prejudice real rights legally acquired and reserved over the property prior to registration of the waqf in the land register.

A waqf has no legal effect until the day of its registration in the land register.

The waqf covers all things that are or become integral parts of the property, as well as its appurtenances and necessary accessories.

No right whatsoever may be acquired by prescription over waqf properties used as a mosque, church, synagogue, hospital, educational institution, or property dedicated for public use.

The rules relating to the creation, validity, purpose, partition, lease, and substitution of endowments are set out in the provisions of the special laws governing them.

Real rights are acquired and transferred by registration in the land register. In addition to that mode, ownership rights and rights of tasarruf are also acquired by accession in accordance with the provisions of Chapter III of this Part. A person who acquires an immovable by inheritance, compulsory expropriation, or court order is an owner prior to registration, but the acquisition shall have no legal effect until registration.

The effects of registration entries are defined by the provisions of Article 11 of Decree No. 188 relating to the land register.

The right to registration in the land register is acquired by the following means:

1. 1)By inheritance.
2. 2)By gift inter vivos and by bequest.
3. 3)By occupation (istighal).
4. 4)By pre-emption (shuf'a).
5. 5)By prescription.
6. 6)By virtue of contracts.
7. 7)The right to registration in respect of gifts and bequests is acquired by the mere occurrence of the gift and the death of the testator.

Freehold properties (milk) are immovable properties situated within the zones of inhabited localities as those zones are administratively defined, over which full ownership may be exercised, with the exception of properties located in the territories of the former independent State of Mount Lebanon, which remain subject to customary and local rules.

Miri lands are immovable properties the bare ownership (raqaba) of which belongs to the State and over which a right of tasarruf (disposition) may be exercised.

1. 1)Public dedicated properties (matruka muraffaqa) are immovable properties belonging to the State over which communities hold a right of use whose characteristics and extent are defined by local custom or by administrative regulations.
2. 2)The properties referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed to be the special property of the municipality if they are situated within its boundaries. Municipal authorities may cancel or modify the right of use over some of the said properties while preserving the rights of third parties.
3. 3)Municipalities may sell or dispose of the properties referred to in paragraph 2 only with the approval of the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Finance and Municipal and Rural Affairs.

Protected public domain properties (matruka mahmiya) are immovable properties belonging to the State or to municipalities and forming part of the public domain.

Vacant waste lands (mewat) are miri lands belonging to the State that are not under cultivation and have not been reclaimed; the first person to occupy such land acquires, by virtue of a permit granted by the State, a right of priority thereover, subject to the conditions prescribed in the regulations governing State property.

Tasarruf is the right to use, enjoy, and dispose of a given immovable within the conditions prescribed in the provisions of this Decree and within the limits of the laws, decrees, and regulations. This right may only be exercised over miri lands.

Tasarruf over a given immovable confers on its holder the right to all produce of the property and to everything that becomes physically united with it, whether such union or production is natural or artificial.

The holder of a right of tasarruf over land may plant it with whatever he wishes and erect whatever buildings he wishes; he may carry out excavations to any desired depth and extract from those excavations whatever building materials he wishes, and may freely dispose of such materials, together with all other products, subject in each case to the restrictions imposed by the laws, decrees, and regulations.

The holder of a right of tasarruf over an immovable may exercise over it any act of disposition whatsoever, save that he may not create a waqf over it.

Any waqf created after the entry into force of this Decree over miri land shall be null and void and treated as if it had never existed.

The right of tasarruf is extinguished after the land has been left uncultivated or unused for a period of ten consecutive years.

A legal easement may be for the benefit of the public or for the benefit of private parties.

A mortgage (rahn) is a contract whereby the debtor pledges an immovable in the hands of his creditor, or in the hands of a third party, and the creditor acquires the right to retain the property until he is fully paid. If the debt is not paid, the creditor has the right to pursue the forced transfer of ownership of the debtor's property by legal means.

A mortgage may not be constituted to secure obligations of uncertain subject-matter or uncertain performance.

The validity of a mortgage is conditional upon the existence of a debt duly and properly established.

Any immovable that may be sold may be mortgaged. Co-owned shares may not be mortgaged.

An immovable may be mortgaged as security for a debt owed to a third party other than the pledgor.

The entire mortgaged property guarantees every part of the debt; however, the debtor may not claim to take back his property before the debt is fully paid.

It may not be agreed that the mortgaged property shall, in the event of failure to pay the debt, become the property of the creditor.

The property shall remain under the supervision of the depositary (adl) and shall remain at the owner's risk and responsibility if the pledgee proves the occurrence of force majeure events.

A mortgage does not rank ahead of real rights legally established and reserved over the property prior to registration of the mortgage in the land register.

The mortgage covers all things that are or become integral parts of the property, as well as its necessary appurtenances.

The creditor may not without the debtor's consent derive any gratuitous benefit from the mortgaged property; he shall, however, cause it to produce all the fruits it is capable of yielding, and those fruits shall be set off against the secured debt, even before maturity, applied first to interest and expenses, then to the principal.

The creditor is required to maintain the mortgaged property and to carry out useful and necessary repairs, and may recover from the fruits all costs of maintenance and repairs or claim them in priority from the proceeds of the property. He may at any time be relieved of these obligations by surrendering his right of mortgage.

A mortgage is indivisible, even if the debt is divided among the heirs of the debtor and the heirs of the creditor. If a debtor's heir pays his portion of the debt he cannot claim delivery of the mortgaged property, just as a creditor's heir who has received his portion of the debt cannot deliver the property and thereby prejudice the interests of his co-heirs who have not yet received their shares.

Neither the debtor nor the creditor may dispose of the mortgaged property without their mutual consent; any contract concluded in contravention of this rule is null and void.

A mortgaged property that the pledgee-creditor lends back to the debtor or leases from him remains allocated to securing payment of the debt.

The mortgage is extinguished by payment of the debt at maturity, or by agreement between the debtor and the pledgee-creditor, or by the pledgee's unilateral declaration of intent. The extinction of the mortgage has no legal effect until the registration entry in the land register has been cancelled.

A double lease (ijaratain) is a contract whereby a person acquires permanently the right to use and enjoy a waqf property upon payment of its price. Such price consists of a specified sum of money regarded as an advance rent equivalent to the value of the right transferred, to which is added a perpetual annuity equivalent to 3 per mille of the value of the property as assessed for the purpose of levying the real property tax.

The holder of the double lease (ijaratain) is entitled at any time to purchase the bare ownership of the property for a price equivalent to thirty annual instalments.

Prior judicial authorisation must be obtained before concluding an ijaratain contract.

The holder of ijaratain has the right to use and enjoy the property as a genuine owner; he may enjoy it personally or lease it, and may freely dispose of his right, in particular by transferring it with or without consideration, mortgaging it, creating a charge over it, and imposing any other real right or easement over it.

The right of ijaratain is transferable by inheritance or by bequest in accordance with the rules applicable to miri properties.

The right of ijaratain encompasses all the produce and all accessions to the property, whether the accession is natural or artificial.

The holder of the right of ijaratain may, with the permission of the waqf trustee, plant whatever he wishes and erect whatever buildings he wishes in the property, provided he observes the regulations relating to public order, roads, development, and planning.

The holder of the right of ijaratain may carry out excavations to any depth in the property and — subject to compliance with the laws and decrees relating to mines, quarries, and antiquities and to the regulations on public order and roads — may extract building materials from those excavations, but not any other materials.

The provisions of Articles 215 and following of this Decree shall apply in all cases where the holder of the right of ijaratain has erected buildings or made plantings without prior permission from the waqf trustee.

The holder of the right of ijaratain is liable for any diminution in the value of the property caused by him. He bears the costs of maintenance and any taxes and levies affecting the property. He may not claim reimbursement of expenditure incurred or the value of any improvement he introduces.

The holder of the right of ijaratain is obligated to pay the perpetual annuity; if he fails to pay it or fails to pay compensation and other expenses owed, his right may be subjected to compulsory expropriation by legal means.

The right of ijaratain subsists for the waqf in the event of the extinction of the heirs of the holder; however, it reverts to the waqf, and is extinguished as against its holder if he has failed to exercise it for ten consecutive years.

The right of ijaratain is not extinguished by the total destruction of the buildings or plantings; it continues over the land.

Alluvion — that is, silt deposited gradually and imperceptibly on land adjoining a watercourse — belongs to the owner of that land.

The owner of land displaced from its location by a sudden accident to lower-lying land may reclaim it, where it can be identified, within the year following the accident, under penalty of forfeiture of that right.

Large and small islands that form naturally in the beds of rivers and streams constitute the private property of the State.

Islands, large and small, and alluvion forming in lakes, as well as the alluvion of lakes and the sea, constitute the private property of the State.

Lands recovered from the sea, lakes, swamps, and marshes without prior survey constitute the private property of the State.

If a river or stream changes its course and takes a new channel, the owners of the adjacent land have the right to acquire ownership of the old channel, each in the surface area extending in front of his land up to the presumed median line of the river; the price of the old channel is determined by experts appointed by the president of the local court. The proceeds of such a sale shall be distributed as compensation to the owners of the land occupied by the new channel, in proportion to the value of the land lost by each of them.

The owner of a piece of land also becomes the owner by accession of a well sunk by a third party thereon, provided he pays the price thereof; he may, however, if he so wishes, allow the other party to take the crops produced in exchange for a fixed annual rental. If the well has not yet been completed, the landowner may require the third party to abandon it without paying him for ploughing and the well.

Buildings, plantings, and structures on any land are presumed to have been made by the landowner at his own expense and to belong to him, unless there is evidence to the contrary.

A landowner who builds on his land using materials belonging to another, or sows it with seeds belonging to another, is not required to return those materials or seeds, but must pay their value to their owner.

If a third party erects buildings or makes plantings on land belonging to another, using materials or plants belonging to the landowner, the landowner acquires those buildings or plantings by accession under the following conditions:

If the person who erected the buildings or made the plantings acted in good faith, he shall not be required to pay for fruits taken, or to pay for damage or deterioration caused by him; and if he has built or planted on land sought to be recovered, he cannot be compelled to demolish the buildings he erected or uproot the plantings he made, but shall be paid compensation for the improvement brought about on the land by those buildings and plantings. If the buildings or plantings exceed the value of the land, the holder of the buildings or plantings is entitled to acquire ownership of the land on which they stand after paying the owner the value of the bare land.

If the person who erected the buildings or made the plantings acted in bad faith, he must restore to the landowner the value of the fruits he received. Even if he is not responsible for a loss resulting from a fall in prices, he is liable for damage or deterioration even where it has not been caused by him. He may be required to demolish the buildings or uproot the plantings, unless the landowner prefers to keep them and pay their owner the mere cost of materials and plants, after deducting the costs of removal if he is compelled to remove them. Upon expiry of the usufruct term, these provisions apply to a usufructuary who has erected buildings or made plantings on the land.

If the plantings or buildings have been made or erected by a third party using materials not belonging to him, the owner of those materials has no right to reclaim them but is entitled to compensation payable by that third party and also by the landowner, but from the latter only to the extent of the value remaining in his hands.

If the plantings or buildings were made or erected on co-owned property by one of the co-owners without the permission of the other co-owners, the property shall be partitioned where necessary at the direction of the court, which shall then apply to each share the provisions of Article 216.

An heir acquires by succession the immovables included in the estate; however, he may not dispose of them vis-à-vis third parties until they are registered in the land register.

Estates are governed by the provisions of general law.

A foreigner is only entitled to inherit or receive a bequest of real property if the laws of his country accord Syrians and Lebanese reciprocal rights. A foreigner's real property estate by inheritance or bequest is governed by the laws of his country.

Immovable property falls into three categories:

Immovables by nature are material things that, by reason of their very substance, have a fixed and non-transferable location, such as land, mines, plants rooted in the soil (so long as they remain attached to it), and buildings. The term "buildings" encompasses not only constructed structures (such as dwellings, warehouses, factories, temples, granaries, etc.) but also engineering works of every description, including bridges, wells, furnaces, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, and the like, provided they are formed by an assembly of building materials fastened together in a permanent manner, whether above or below ground level. All fixtures and fittings attached to a building and intended to complete it (such as balconies, gutters, door locks, and water-supply fittings) are likewise regarded as immovables by nature.

Immovables by designation are things that would ordinarily be considered movables but are appurtenances of an immovable by nature, subject to the following conditions:

1. 1)That the thing and the immovable by nature belong to the same owner.
2. 2)That the thing is designated for the exploitation of the property or, more generally, for the service of the property of which it forms a part.
3. 3)Among such things are:
4. 4)In respect of agricultural exploitation: animals kept for cultivation, agricultural implements, oil presses, stills, large casks intended for holding grapes in a winery, seed-stocks of nurseries, beehives, silkworm cocoons in a cocoonery, fertiliser and straw intended for use on the farm, and lime-spreaders.
5. 5)In respect of industrial exploitation: raw materials and all machinery (including small motors, pulleys, etc. and looms), provided that the building in which such machinery is installed is specially equipped for the machinery and apparatus it contains.
6. 6)(The furniture of hotels, furnished houses, entertainment establishments, bathhouses, and commercial premises is not considered immovable.)
7. 7)Among things also considered immovable are movables permanently fixed in the ground.

Incorporeal immovables are rights, charges, easements in rem, and other rights whose object is a tangible immovable property.

Real property ownership is the right to use, enjoy, and dispose of a given immovable, within the limits of the laws, decrees, and regulations. This right may only be exercised over freehold (milk) properties.

Ownership of a given immovable confers on its holder the right to all produce of the property and to everything that becomes physically united with it, whether such union or production is natural or artificial.

Ownership of land extends to ownership of everything above and below its surface; accordingly, the owner of land may plant it with whatever he wishes, erect whatever buildings he wishes, carry out excavations to any desired depth, and extract from those excavations whatever they may yield, all within the restrictions imposed by the laws, decrees, and regulations.

Low-lying lands are burdened, with respect to the higher lands that overlook them, with the obligation to receive water that flows naturally from those higher lands, without any human intervention in its flow. The owner of the lower land may not erect any dam to prevent this flow. The owner of the higher land may not take any action that increases the burden of this easement on the lower land.

Every owner of a property has the right to use rainwater falling on his land and to dispose of it; however, if such use or the direction in which the water is channelled is liable to increase the burden of the natural easement of drainage referred to in the preceding article, compensation must be paid to the owner of the lower land. The same provisions apply to water from springs rising on any land. If the owner of land diverts water onto his land by sinking a well or by underground excavations, the owners of lower-lying land must receive it, but they have a right to compensation if its drainage causes them harm. Houses, courtyards, gardens, orchards, and enclosed parcels adjacent to dwellings are not subject to the easement of drainage of water in the cases provided for in the preceding paragraphs. Disputes arising from the creation or exercise of the easements referred to in the preceding paragraphs, and similarly questions of compensation owed, where appropriate, to owners of lower-lying land, shall be referred to the judge of the district court. That judge shall, in rendering his decision, balance the interests of agriculture and industry with respect for the right of ownership.

Every landowner may enclose his property, unless such enclosure prevents the exercise of an easement established for the benefit of an adjacent property.

A sale with right of redemption (bay' bil-wafa') or pledge by transfer of ownership is a sale of an immovable on condition that the seller shall have the right at any time, or upon expiry of the agreed term, to repurchase the property by refunding the price, and the buyer shall have the right to recover the price upon return of the property.

Any immovable that may be sold may also be sold with a right of redemption. It may be stipulated in the sale with right of redemption contract that the seller shall remain in possession of the property as tenant: this is the sale with exploitation (bay' bil-istighlal).

Neither the buyer nor the seller may, during the term of the contract, transfer the property, lease it, or create real rights over it except with their mutual express consent.

The contract may stipulate that the buyer shall enjoy the use of the property without charge, or that he shall receive a portion of its fruits.

The buyer shall, unless otherwise agreed, be responsible for maintaining the property and carrying out useful and necessary repairs, and may recover the resulting costs from the fruits of the property. Once the property is delivered to him, the buyer becomes liable to the seller for the fruits received — unless otherwise agreed — and each year the value of the fruits shall be set off against the principal of the debt, after deducting, where appropriate, the value of the fruits received on his own account in accordance with the contractual conditions, and the amount of his expenditure on the property.

The buyer is liable for loss or damage to the property sold, on the following terms: The amount of the loss or damage shall be set off against the principal of the debt; if that amount equals or exceeds the price of the property, the sale shall be rescinded as a matter of law, and the surplus shall be owed to the buyer, unless the loss or damage was caused by force majeure. If an insured property is lost or damaged, the insurance indemnity shall be applied in priority to payment of the creditor's debt, and the debtor's debt shall be reduced by the amount of the indemnity.

Upon the death of the buyer or seller, the right of rescission passes to their heirs.

A sale with right of redemption is indivisible, even if the debt is divided among the heirs of the buyer or the seller.

During the entire term of the contract and prior to repayment of the price to the buyer, the seller's creditors have no right to exercise any claim over the property.

If the seller does not repay the price, the buyer is entitled to request the sale of the property in order to recover his debt from the proceeds.

A privilege, in real property matters, is a real right granted to a creditor by reason of the particular nature of his debt, entitling him to rank ahead of all other creditors, even ahead of holders of charges.

Privileged debts are three only:

1. 1)The debt defined in Article 44 of Decree No. 186 of 15 March 1926.
2. 2)Judicial costs arising from the sale of the property and the distribution of the proceeds thereof.
3. 3)Transfer duties and penalties imposed for false declarations regarding the sale price.

By way of exception to the general principle laid down in Article 10 of the Decree governing the establishment of the land register, these privileges are exempt from registration.

Waqf property may not be sold, transferred gratuitously or for value, or pass by inheritance; nor may it be pledged or charged. However, it may be substituted and subjected to double lease (ijaratain) and muqata'a.

The waqf does not prejudice real rights legally acquired and reserved over the property prior to registration of the waqf in the land register.

A waqf has no legal effect until the day of its registration in the land register.

The waqf covers all things that are or become integral parts of the property, as well as its appurtenances and necessary accessories.

No right whatsoever may be acquired by prescription over waqf properties used as a mosque, church, synagogue, hospital, educational institution, or property dedicated for public use.

The rules relating to the creation, validity, purpose, partition, lease, and substitution of endowments are set out in the provisions of the special laws governing them.

Real rights are acquired and transferred by registration in the land register. In addition to that mode, ownership rights and rights of tasarruf are also acquired by accession in accordance with the provisions of Chapter III of this Part. A person who acquires an immovable by inheritance, compulsory expropriation, or court order is an owner prior to registration, but the acquisition shall have no legal effect until registration.

The effects of registration entries are defined by the provisions of Article 11 of Decree No. 188 relating to the land register.

The right to registration in the land register is acquired by the following means:

1. 1)By inheritance.
2. 2)By gift inter vivos and by bequest.
3. 3)By occupation (istighal).
4. 4)By pre-emption (shuf'a).
5. 5)By prescription.
6. 6)By virtue of contracts.
7. 7)The right to registration in respect of gifts and bequests is acquired by the mere occurrence of the gift and the death of the testator.

Freehold properties (milk) are immovable properties situated within the zones of inhabited localities as those zones are administratively defined, over which full ownership may be exercised, with the exception of properties located in the territories of the former independent State of Mount Lebanon, which remain subject to customary and local rules.

Miri lands are immovable properties the bare ownership (raqaba) of which belongs to the State and over which a right of tasarruf (disposition) may be exercised.

1. 1)Public dedicated properties (matruka muraffaqa) are immovable properties belonging to the State over which communities hold a right of use whose characteristics and extent are defined by local custom or by administrative regulations.
2. 2)The properties referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed to be the special property of the municipality if they are situated within its boundaries. Municipal authorities may cancel or modify the right of use over some of the said properties while preserving the rights of third parties.
3. 3)Municipalities may sell or dispose of the properties referred to in paragraph 2 only with the approval of the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Finance and Municipal and Rural Affairs.

Protected public domain properties (matruka mahmiya) are immovable properties belonging to the State or to municipalities and forming part of the public domain.

Vacant waste lands (mewat) are miri lands belonging to the State that are not under cultivation and have not been reclaimed; the first person to occupy such land acquires, by virtue of a permit granted by the State, a right of priority thereover, subject to the conditions prescribed in the regulations governing State property.

Tasarruf is the right to use, enjoy, and dispose of a given immovable within the conditions prescribed in the provisions of this Decree and within the limits of the laws, decrees, and regulations. This right may only be exercised over miri lands.

Tasarruf over a given immovable confers on its holder the right to all produce of the property and to everything that becomes physically united with it, whether such union or production is natural or artificial.

The holder of a right of tasarruf over land may plant it with whatever he wishes and erect whatever buildings he wishes; he may carry out excavations to any desired depth and extract from those excavations whatever building materials he wishes, and may freely dispose of such materials, together with all other products, subject in each case to the restrictions imposed by the laws, decrees, and regulations.

The holder of a right of tasarruf over an immovable may exercise over it any act of disposition whatsoever, save that he may not create a waqf over it.

Any waqf created after the entry into force of this Decree over miri land shall be null and void and treated as if it had never existed.

The right of tasarruf is extinguished after the land has been left uncultivated or unused for a period of ten consecutive years.

A legal easement may be for the benefit of the public or for the benefit of private parties.

A mortgage (rahn) is a contract whereby the debtor pledges an immovable in the hands of his creditor, or in the hands of a third party, and the creditor acquires the right to retain the property until he is fully paid. If the debt is not paid, the creditor has the right to pursue the forced transfer of ownership of the debtor's property by legal means.

A mortgage may not be constituted to secure obligations of uncertain subject-matter or uncertain performance.

The validity of a mortgage is conditional upon the existence of a debt duly and properly established.

Any immovable that may be sold may be mortgaged. Co-owned shares may not be mortgaged.

An immovable may be mortgaged as security for a debt owed to a third party other than the pledgor.

The entire mortgaged property guarantees every part of the debt; however, the debtor may not claim to take back his property before the debt is fully paid.

It may not be agreed that the mortgaged property shall, in the event of failure to pay the debt, become the property of the creditor.

The property shall remain under the supervision of the depositary (adl) and shall remain at the owner's risk and responsibility if the pledgee proves the occurrence of force majeure events.

A mortgage does not rank ahead of real rights legally established and reserved over the property prior to registration of the mortgage in the land register.

The mortgage covers all things that are or become integral parts of the property, as well as its necessary appurtenances.

The creditor may not without the debtor's consent derive any gratuitous benefit from the mortgaged property; he shall, however, cause it to produce all the fruits it is capable of yielding, and those fruits shall be set off against the secured debt, even before maturity, applied first to interest and expenses, then to the principal.

The creditor is required to maintain the mortgaged property and to carry out useful and necessary repairs, and may recover from the fruits all costs of maintenance and repairs or claim them in priority from the proceeds of the property. He may at any time be relieved of these obligations by surrendering his right of mortgage.

A mortgage is indivisible, even if the debt is divided among the heirs of the debtor and the heirs of the creditor. If a debtor's heir pays his portion of the debt he cannot claim delivery of the mortgaged property, just as a creditor's heir who has received his portion of the debt cannot deliver the property and thereby prejudice the interests of his co-heirs who have not yet received their shares.

Neither the debtor nor the creditor may dispose of the mortgaged property without their mutual consent; any contract concluded in contravention of this rule is null and void.

A mortgaged property that the pledgee-creditor lends back to the debtor or leases from him remains allocated to securing payment of the debt.

The mortgage is extinguished by payment of the debt at maturity, or by agreement between the debtor and the pledgee-creditor, or by the pledgee's unilateral declaration of intent. The extinction of the mortgage has no legal effect until the registration entry in the land register has been cancelled.

A double lease (ijaratain) is a contract whereby a person acquires permanently the right to use and enjoy a waqf property upon payment of its price. Such price consists of a specified sum of money regarded as an advance rent equivalent to the value of the right transferred, to which is added a perpetual annuity equivalent to 3 per mille of the value of the property as assessed for the purpose of levying the real property tax.

The holder of the double lease (ijaratain) is entitled at any time to purchase the bare ownership of the property for a price equivalent to thirty annual instalments.

Prior judicial authorisation must be obtained before concluding an ijaratain contract.

The holder of ijaratain has the right to use and enjoy the property as a genuine owner; he may enjoy it personally or lease it, and may freely dispose of his right, in particular by transferring it with or without consideration, mortgaging it, creating a charge over it, and imposing any other real right or easement over it.

The right of ijaratain is transferable by inheritance or by bequest in accordance with the rules applicable to miri properties.

The right of ijaratain encompasses all the produce and all accessions to the property, whether the accession is natural or artificial.

The holder of the right of ijaratain may, with the permission of the waqf trustee, plant whatever he wishes and erect whatever buildings he wishes in the property, provided he observes the regulations relating to public order, roads, development, and planning.

The holder of the right of ijaratain may carry out excavations to any depth in the property and — subject to compliance with the laws and decrees relating to mines, quarries, and antiquities and to the regulations on public order and roads — may extract building materials from those excavations, but not any other materials.

The provisions of Articles 215 and following of this Decree shall apply in all cases where the holder of the right of ijaratain has erected buildings or made plantings without prior permission from the waqf trustee.

The holder of the right of ijaratain is liable for any diminution in the value of the property caused by him. He bears the costs of maintenance and any taxes and levies affecting the property. He may not claim reimbursement of expenditure incurred or the value of any improvement he introduces.

The holder of the right of ijaratain is obligated to pay the perpetual annuity; if he fails to pay it or fails to pay compensation and other expenses owed, his right may be subjected to compulsory expropriation by legal means.

The right of ijaratain subsists for the waqf in the event of the extinction of the heirs of the holder; however, it reverts to the waqf, and is extinguished as against its holder if he has failed to exercise it for ten consecutive years.

The right of ijaratain is not extinguished by the total destruction of the buildings or plantings; it continues over the land.

Alluvion — that is, silt deposited gradually and imperceptibly on land adjoining a watercourse — belongs to the owner of that land.

The owner of land displaced from its location by a sudden accident to lower-lying land may reclaim it, where it can be identified, within the year following the accident, under penalty of forfeiture of that right.

Large and small islands that form naturally in the beds of rivers and streams constitute the private property of the State.

Islands, large and small, and alluvion forming in lakes, as well as the alluvion of lakes and the sea, constitute the private property of the State.

Lands recovered from the sea, lakes, swamps, and marshes without prior survey constitute the private property of the State.

If a river or stream changes its course and takes a new channel, the owners of the adjacent land have the right to acquire ownership of the old channel, each in the surface area extending in front of his land up to the presumed median line of the river; the price of the old channel is determined by experts appointed by the president of the local court. The proceeds of such a sale shall be distributed as compensation to the owners of the land occupied by the new channel, in proportion to the value of the land lost by each of them.

The owner of a piece of land also becomes the owner by accession of a well sunk by a third party thereon, provided he pays the price thereof; he may, however, if he so wishes, allow the other party to take the crops produced in exchange for a fixed annual rental. If the well has not yet been completed, the landowner may require the third party to abandon it without paying him for ploughing and the well.

Buildings, plantings, and structures on any land are presumed to have been made by the landowner at his own expense and to belong to him, unless there is evidence to the contrary.

A landowner who builds on his land using materials belonging to another, or sows it with seeds belonging to another, is not required to return those materials or seeds, but must pay their value to their owner.

If a third party erects buildings or makes plantings on land belonging to another, using materials or plants belonging to the landowner, the landowner acquires those buildings or plantings by accession under the following conditions:

If the person who erected the buildings or made the plantings acted in good faith, he shall not be required to pay for fruits taken, or to pay for damage or deterioration caused by him; and if he has built or planted on land sought to be recovered, he cannot be compelled to demolish the buildings he erected or uproot the plantings he made, but shall be paid compensation for the improvement brought about on the land by those buildings and plantings. If the buildings or plantings exceed the value of the land, the holder of the buildings or plantings is entitled to acquire ownership of the land on which they stand after paying the owner the value of the bare land.

If the person who erected the buildings or made the plantings acted in bad faith, he must restore to the landowner the value of the fruits he received. Even if he is not responsible for a loss resulting from a fall in prices, he is liable for damage or deterioration even where it has not been caused by him. He may be required to demolish the buildings or uproot the plantings, unless the landowner prefers to keep them and pay their owner the mere cost of materials and plants, after deducting the costs of removal if he is compelled to remove them. Upon expiry of the usufruct term, these provisions apply to a usufructuary who has erected buildings or made plantings on the land.

If the plantings or buildings have been made or erected by a third party using materials not belonging to him, the owner of those materials has no right to reclaim them but is entitled to compensation payable by that third party and also by the landowner, but from the latter only to the extent of the value remaining in his hands.

If the plantings or buildings were made or erected on co-owned property by one of the co-owners without the permission of the other co-owners, the property shall be partitioned where necessary at the direction of the court, which shall then apply to each share the provisions of Article 216.

An heir acquires by succession the immovables included in the estate; however, he may not dispose of them vis-à-vis third parties until they are registered in the land register.

Estates are governed by the provisions of general law.

A foreigner is only entitled to inherit or receive a bequest of real property if the laws of his country accord Syrians and Lebanese reciprocal rights. A foreigner's real property estate by inheritance or bequest is governed by the laws of his country.

The following real rights may exist over immovable property:

1. 1)Ownership
2. 2)Tasarruf (right of disposition)
3. 3)Superficie (surface right)
4. 4)Usufruct
5. 5)Right of priority over vacant waste lands
6. 6)Real easements
7. 7)Rights of pledge: mortgage (rahn) and sale with right of redemption
8. 8)Privileges and charges
9. 9)Waqf (endowment)
10. 10)Double lease (ijaratain)
11. 11)Long lease (emphyteusis)
12. 12)Option arising from a sale with right of redemption.

No co-owner of jointly held immovable property may exercise his rights over the entire property or over a specified portion of it without the consent of the remaining co-owners. Nor may he exercise any right whatsoever over a co-owner's share without that co-owner's permission; however, the consent of an absent co-owner shall be presumed to have been given at all times in matters relating to the management and administration of the property, provided no harm accruing to the absent co-owner from such management exceeds the value of his share, calculated at the minimum. This provision does not preclude the application of Decrees Nos. 188 and 189 establishing the land registration system.

The co-owners shall, by mutual agreement, determine the manner of enjoyment of the co-owned property, and the fruits of the property shall be distributed in proportion to the respective shares, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

Each co-owner of jointly held property is obligated to pay, in proportion to his share, the costs of administration, repair, maintenance, and the taxes and levies applicable to the co-owned property. A co-owner who has advanced all or part of such expenses is entitled to recover them, unless they were incurred solely for the purpose of improving or beautifying the property, in which case they remain the liability of the person who incurred them.

Each co-owner may freely dispose of his rights in the property; he may transfer them to a third party or create a charge over them without the consent of his co-owners, but he may not mortgage his share.

Landowners may create over or for the benefit of their properties any easements they wish, provided that such easements are not imposed on persons or for the benefit of persons but rather on or for the benefit of land, and do not contravene public policy. The manner of use of such easements and their extent are defined by the instrument creating them; if no instrument exists, the following rules shall apply:

A creditor holding a charge may not assign his right to a third party without the debtor's express consent, unless the contract contains a clear provision authorising him to do so (for example, where the contract states that the charge is to bearer).

Assignment of the right is effected either by registration in the land register or in the charges register, or by endorsing the registration certificate. In the latter case, the endorser's signature must be officially certified in accordance with the provisions of Articles 59, 60, and 61 of Decree No. 188 issued by the High Commissioner of the French Republic on 15 March 1926.

Holders of debts secured by a charge over an immovable may pursue it in whatever hands it passes and receive the amounts allocated to them, each according to his registered rank.

A long lease (emphyteusis / muqata'a) is a contract whereby its holder acquires, for a specified consideration, the right to erect whatever buildings and make whatever plantings he wishes on waqf property; and he may thereby acquire exclusive ownership of those buildings and plantings within the conditions specified in Article 196.

The long lease with muqata'a — that is, with a fixed annual payment — is the only contract authorised; no other contract is permitted.

The consideration shall be a specified sum of money equivalent to the value of the right transferred, to which is added a perpetual annuity at the rate of two and a half per mille of the value of the property as assessed for the purpose of levying the real property tax. The rights arising from long-lease contracts other than muqata'a, acquired prior to the entry into force of this Decree, must be redeemed by purchase pursuant to the provisions of Decree No. 80 of 29 December 1926.

The holder of the right of muqata'a may at any time acquire ownership of the property for a purchase price equivalent to thirty annual instalments.

Prior judicial authorisation must be obtained before concluding a muqata'a contract.

The holder of the right of muqata'a is the owner of the buildings erected and the plantings made on the waqf property; he uses, enjoys, and disposes of them with full freedom as an owner. He may specifically transfer them with or without consideration, mortgage them, create a charge over them, create a waqf over them, or impose any other real right or easement within the limits of his right.

The endowed land shall be treated as an appurtenance of the buildings erected on it and the plantings growing in it; the land is therefore included in any transfer, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

The right of muqata'a is transferable by inheritance or by bequest in accordance with the rules applicable to freehold (milk) properties.

If no trace whatsoever of buildings or plantings remains on the land, the right of the muqata'a holder is forfeited if he fails to rebuild those buildings or replant within three years following a notice served on him by the waqf trustee, or if he fails to pay three years' due annual annuity. Forfeiture of the right in these two cases is declared by court order.

The right of muqata'a is extinguished by consolidation of rights in the same person, by forfeiture of the right by its holder, or by extinction of the heirs; in all three cases the right reverts to the waqf.

The provisions relating to co-ownership and partition apply to the rights of ijaratain and long lease (muqata'a).

The provisions of local law relating to gifts apply to foreigners.

The capacity to create a waqf and the form of its constitutive instrument are governed by the provisions of local law.

Superficie is the right of ownership in buildings, structures, or plantings standing on land belonging to another person.

The right of superficie may be transferred and may be the subject of a charge. An easement may be imposed over property subject to a right of superficie, but only within the limits compatible with the exercise of that right of superficie.

The right of superficie is extinguished:

1. 1)By consolidation with the right of ownership of the land in the same persons and in the same proportions of ownership.
2. 2)By the total destruction of the buildings or structures, or by the destruction or disappearance of the plantings, that form the subject-matter of the right.
3. 3)Buildings or structures that have become unfit for the use for which they were intended are deemed to be destroyed; the holder of the superficie may not rebuild them for renewed use, nor may he restore the plantings after his right has been extinguished. Nor may the holder of the right of superficie add any new structures.
4. 4)The right of superficie remains confined to the buildings, structures, or plantings originally covered by the right.
5. 5)Where it is established that the existence of the right of superficie impedes the exploitation of the land or its security, or that the benefit expected from it is so slight as to be disproportionate to the economic loss thereby caused to the land.
6. 6)The land registrar shall cancel the right of superficie by administrative act in the case provided for in paragraph (1) of this article.
7. 7)In all other cases, the extinction of the right of superficie is established by a judgment having the force of res judicata, rendered upon an action brought by the landowner before the civil single judge who applies the procedural rules governing urgent matters.
8. 8)The landowner is required to pay the holder of the right of superficie compensation assessed by the competent court, not exceeding three times the value of the buildings, structures, or plantings subject to the right as at the date of commencement of the proceedings, in the cases set out in paragraphs (2) and (3) of this article.

No right of superficie may be created except as from the date of entry into force of this Decree.

Whoever has created an easement is deemed to have implicitly granted everything necessary for its exercise. Thus the right to draw water from a spring necessarily includes the right of way over the land where the spring is located.

The owner of the dominant tenement has the right to construct in the servient tenement all structures necessary for the exercise and maintenance of the easement.

The costs of structures necessary for the exercise and maintenance of the easement shall be borne by the owner of the dominant tenement.

If the dominant tenement is subdivided, the right of easement shall remain attached to each part of it without thereby increasing the burden on the servient tenement. For example, in the case of a right of way, all of the co-owners of the property must use the same route.

The owner of the servient tenement may not carry out any act aimed at diminishing the use of the easement or making it more burdensome. In particular, he may not change the situation of the land or move the easement to a location other than that originally assigned to it. However, if the easement in its original location has become more burdensome for the owner of the servient tenement or prevents him from making useful improvements, he may offer the owner of the dominant tenement a location equally convenient for the exercise of his rights; and the latter may not refuse such an offer. Every holder of an easement may use it only in accordance with the terms of the instrument creating it, and may not carry out on his own land or on the servient tenement any act that would aggravate the burden on that tenement.

The debtor or the depositary may freely dispose of the charged property and may, in accordance with the rules set out below, discharge the obligation before maturity without the consent of the creditors holding charges.

If the debtor sells the property or the right subject to a charge after the charge agreement is concluded, the third party to whom the property is transferred, who is a party to the proceedings, has the option either to pay the pursuing creditor the full capital with interest and costs, or to submit to the procedures of compulsory expropriation initiated by the creditor.

If the charged property or properties suffer deterioration or damage rendering them insufficient as security for the creditor, the creditor is entitled to demand immediate repayment of his capital following a court declaration of insufficiency, or to demand additional security. Insurance indemnities shall in principle be applied to restore the property to its former state, subject to their being sufficient for that purpose. Restoration shall be carried out and the funds disbursed under the supervision of the creditor or creditors holding charges on terms agreed between them and the debtor; if no agreement is reached, the matter is decided by the court. If the insurance indemnity is insufficient, or if the debtor renounces restoration of the property, the indemnity shall be paid to the holders of privileged debts and charges entitled to participate in the distribution, each according to his debt rank; the debtor's right to the benefit of the term shall be reduced by the amount of such payment.

If the person to whom the charged property is transferred makes alterations to the property, damage resulting from his acts or neglect that prejudices the creditors holding charges entitles them to bring an action for damages against him. He, for his part, may claim expenses he deemed it necessary to incur for the maintenance and upkeep of the property.

Occupation grants the first occupant, by virtue of a legal permit from the State, the right to be preferred over all others in acquiring the right of tasarruf over vacant waste land.

A holder of a right of priority who proves, after three years, that he has cultivated the land, erected buildings thereon, made plantings, or improved it within the conditions set out in the special regulations governing State property, acquires free of charge the right to register the tasarruf in respect of the part he has cultivated, planted, built upon, or improved; however, he forfeits the right of tasarruf if, after registration, he abandons the exercise of his right for three consecutive years during the ten years following registration.

Occupation does not confer any right whatsoever over property already registered in the land register or under the administration of State property, nor over forests, public dedicated lands, or protected public domain lands.

Treasure found in the ground shall be divided as follows: three-fifths to the landowner, one-fifth to the finder, and the remaining fifth to the public treasury, subject to the restrictions set out in the applicable laws and regulations concerning mines and antiquities.

Usufruct is a real right to use and enjoy a thing belonging to another, and it is extinguished ipso jure upon the death of the usufructuary. A right of usufruct may not be created in favour of legal persons.

A right of usufruct is created by the mere declaration of will and may be created for a term or subject to a condition.

In real property matters, a right of usufruct may be created over the following rights:

1. 1)Ownership
2. 2)Tasarruf
3. 3)Superficie
4. 4)Double lease (ijaratain)
5. 5)Long lease (emphyteusis).

An easement is extinguished by cancellation of the registration entry. Cancellation is effected by agreement of the parties or by court order. The court may order cancellation if the easement is of no benefit or if it is impossible to enforce it.

A charge is extinguished by cancellation. Cancellation takes effect:

1. 1)By extinction of the obligation secured by the charge.
2. 2)By the creditor's renunciation of his right.

Pre-emption (shuf'a) is a right entitling its holder to substitute himself for the buyer in respect of the property sold, in the circumstances and on the conditions set out in the following articles. The right of pre-emption applies to freehold (milk) properties and to miri lands. Rights of preference (rujhan) and tapu rights under Ottoman land law are hereby abolished.

The right of pre-emption vests:

1. 1)In the owner of the bare property, if the right of usufruct is sold, whether the sale covers the entire right or part of it.
2. 2)In a co-owner in jointly held property, if a share or more is sold to a person who is not a co-owner.
3. 3)In the holder of the right of usufruct, if the bare ownership is sold, whether the sale covers the entire bare ownership or part of it.
4. 4)All other rights of pre-emption that arose before the entry into force of this Law and have not yet been exercised are hereby extinguished.

If pre-emptors from different categories compete, the right of pre-emption shall be exercised according to the order of priority set out in Article 239 above. If pre-emptors from the same category compete, the right of each shall be proportional to his share; if one or more of them waives his right, the remaining pre-emptors may exercise the right in proportion to their respective shares.

The right of pre-emption belongs to the persons referred to in Article 239 whose title deed pre-dates the buyer's title deed.

The right of pre-emption passes upon the death of its holder to his heirs. It may not be transferred to a third party.

The right of pre-emption may only be exercised against the buyer or the donee for value. In the latter case, the right of pre-emption is subject to the same grounds of nullity, voidability, and cancellation as the gift itself. A pre-emption action does not lie in respect of an exchange of immovables or in respect of a sale between spouses, or between an ascendant and a descendant, or between brothers and sisters.

The right of pre-emption is indivisible and may not be exercised or waived except in full. If there are multiple pre-emptors of equal rank and one or more of them waives his right, the remaining pre-emptors must either all claim pre-emption or all waive it. However, if there are multiple buyers, the pre-emptor may take the share of one of them only.

The right of pre-emption is forfeited:

1. 1)If the pre-emptor fails to exercise it within the legal periods specified in the next two articles.
2. 2)If the pre-emptor, prior to registration, expressly waives it in a written instrument of a duly established date that contains the name of the buyer, the price, and the conditions, and whose date does not pre-date registration by more than six months.
3. 3)If the pre-emptor was the agent of the seller in the sale or a witness to the contract and signed without reservation.
4. 4)If the pre-emptor expressly or impliedly waives his right after registration; however, after an action for pre-emption has been filed, such waiver is only valid with the buyer's consent.

After registration of the property, the buyer may notify pre-emptors of the registration through the notary for persons domiciled in Lebanon, and in accordance with Article 362 of the Code of Civil Procedure for persons residing abroad, stating in the notice the property sold and its description, the date of registration, the names and addresses of the contracting parties, the price, and the contractual conditions. The pre-emptor must exercise his right within ten days of notification, after adding a period for distance, under penalty of forfeiture.

If the notification provided for in the preceding article has not been given, the right of pre-emption lapses after one year from the date of registration of the contract in the land register. This period runs against incapacitated persons and absent persons. The period referred to in this article and in the preceding article is only interrupted by the filing of a pre-emption action before the court having jurisdiction in the place where the property is situated, determined by the amount stated in the contract.

The right of pre-emption may only be exercised on condition that the holder fully compensates the buyer. This compensation includes:

1. 1)The sale price that must be reimbursed and actually deposited on the day the pre-emption action is filed at the latest, unless the registered contract provides for deferred payment. The offer and actual deposit shall be made in the registry of the competent court hearing the pre-emption action.
2. 2)Contract expenses, including official registration fees and the agent's commission, provided this commission does not exceed the amount fixed by the legal schedule.
3. 3)The value of improvements made to the property by the buyer's acts, without regard to economic appreciation resulting from market fluctuations.

If the pre-empted property has been transferred to a third party by registration in the land register prior to the filing of the pre-emption action, pre-emption may only be exercised against the second buyer and on the conditions on which he purchased.

If there is a dispute between the buyer and the holder of the right of pre-emption as to the amount of the price of the pre-empted property, the court shall determine the true price having regard to the value of the pre-empted property. The buyer may not be heard to claim that the price is higher than that stated in the registered contract.

The right of pre-emption is established and the pre-emptor acquires the right to registration either by the buyer's voluntary delivery of the pre-empted property after payment of the price and its accessories as specified in Article 249, or by a judgment rendered in favour of the pre-emptor.

The pre-emptor is deemed to have purchased from the buyer, and the pre-emption has between them the effects of a sale. The pre-emptor is not entitled to benefit from any deferred payment provided for in the contract for the buyer's benefit, unless the court so decides subject to such guarantees as it deems necessary. Where there is deferred payment as provided for in the contract, the court may not grant the pre-emptor a period for payment.

There is no right of pre-emption in respect of waqf property, nor in respect of a sale by public auction conducted by the administration or the courts.

Entries are cancelled by agreement of both parties having the requisite standing, or by a judgment having the force of res judicata. They may, however, be cancelled without the creditors' consent if the amount of the debt has been tendered after its maturity in a genuine and effective offer to the creditors and they have refused to accept it. A valid tender of the debt after its maturity discharges the debtor and, as against him, stands in lieu of payment, provided the offer was made in a proper form. The amount or thing tendered in this manner is held in trust for the creditor at his risk and responsibility.

Prescription does not run against the following real property rights, nor may ownership thereof be acquired by adverse possession:

1. 1)Rights registered in the land register.
2. 2)Property belonging to the State pursuant to the provisions of Article 2 of Decree No. 275 of 25 May 1926, whether identified, defined, and recorded or not yet subjected to those formalities.
3. 3)Property of municipalities proper.
4. 4)Communal lands (mushaa) owned by villages in communal ownership.
5. 5)Courts hearing real property ownership cases, including real property judges, must join the Directorate General of Real Property Affairs — the department responsible for private State immovable property, and the municipalities concerned — as parties in every action or application asserting a right of ownership based on adverse possession, before rendering their judgments or orders.

No right whatsoever may be acquired by prescription over public dedicated, protected, or public domain properties.

The right to registration in the land register in respect of immovable property and rights not registered in the land register may be acquired by a person who possesses the property quietly, in good faith, and continuously for a period of ten years — either personally or through another person acting on his behalf — provided that possessor has a valid title deed; in the absence of such a title deed, the period required is fifteen years.

Adverse possession is deemed continuous from the moment the possessor regularly and ordinarily exercises the right claimed. A person invoking prescription may rely on the possession of the person from whom the property came to him. A farmer, operator, custodian, borrower, or their heirs may not invoke prescription.

Adverse possession proven at a given time, together with current adverse possession, raises a presumption that possession continued during the intervening period, unless the contrary is proven.

The right to register tasarruf over miri lands not subject to State property administration is acquired by ten years of adverse possession with or without a title deed, provided that the possessor has been cultivating the land.

A person may not acquire by prescription a real right against his own personal title deed or against that of his predecessors.

An advance waiver of the right of prescription is not permitted; however, any person of full legal capacity may waive in advance a right already acquired by prescription.

If prescription is interrupted, the period of adverse possession prior to the interruption shall not be counted.

Prescription is also interrupted whenever the possessor loses possession, even if that possession is lost through the act of a third party.

Prescription is also interrupted when the owner of the property claims his right by judicial action, provided his action has not been abandoned and allowed to lapse.

In real property matters, prescription does not run against absent persons or against incapacitated persons by operation of law.

In the event of failure to pay the secured amounts at maturity, any creditor holding a charge, regardless of his rank, is entitled to pursue the compulsory expropriation of the property or the right subject to the charge. The pledgee-creditor or the buyer under a sale with right of redemption or with exploitation may exercise the same right, but may do so only after the debtor has been granted a non-revocable periodic notice for this purpose.

The right to register real property rights is acquired by virtue of contracts. The special provisions on sale and gift apply to miri properties and to real rights pertaining to such properties.

The obligation to deliver a property includes the obligation to transfer it in the land register and to maintain it until transfer, under penalty of the creditor being compensated for damage and interest.

The obligations of transfer of property in the land register are governed by the provisions relating to sale, privileges, and charges, and by the provisions of Decrees Nos. 188 and 189 of 15 March 1926, concerning the establishment of the land register.

The following are hereby repealed and shall remain repealed: the Imperial Irade of 5 Jumada al-Ula 1331 — 30 March 1329 concerning tasarruf, and the provisions of Titles II, III, IV and V of Decree No. 1329 of 20 March 1922. As from the date on which this Decree enters into force, the following shall cease to have effect: the laws, imperial irades, regulations, decrees of the High Commissioner, and local decrees — and in particular the provisions of property law, the provisions of the Mecelle, and other related laws — on all matters regulated by this Decree. Beirut, 12 November 1930 High Commissioner ad interim Signature: Teitro This Law was published in Official Gazette No. 2479 of 27 March 1931.

Immovable property falls into three categories:

Immovables by nature are material things that, by reason of their very substance, have a fixed and non-transferable location, such as land, mines, plants rooted in the soil (so long as they remain attached to it), and buildings. The term "buildings" encompasses not only constructed structures (such as dwellings, warehouses, factories, temples, granaries, etc.) but also engineering works of every description, including bridges, wells, furnaces, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, and the like, provided they are formed by an assembly of building materials fastened together in a permanent manner, whether above or below ground level. All fixtures and fittings attached to a building and intended to complete it (such as balconies, gutters, door locks, and water-supply fittings) are likewise regarded as immovables by nature.

Immovables by designation are things that would ordinarily be considered movables but are appurtenances of an immovable by nature, subject to the following conditions:

1. 1)That the thing and the immovable by nature belong to the same owner.
2. 2)That the thing is designated for the exploitation of the property or, more generally, for the service of the property of which it forms a part.
3. 3)Among such things are:
4. 4)In respect of agricultural exploitation: animals kept for cultivation, agricultural implements, oil presses, stills, large casks intended for holding grapes in a winery, seed-stocks of nurseries, beehives, silkworm cocoons in a cocoonery, fertiliser and straw intended for use on the farm, and lime-spreaders.
5. 5)In respect of industrial exploitation: raw materials and all machinery (including small motors, pulleys, etc. and looms), provided that the building in which such machinery is installed is specially equipped for the machinery and apparatus it contains.
6. 6)(The furniture of hotels, furnished houses, entertainment establishments, bathhouses, and commercial premises is not considered immovable.)
7. 7)Among things also considered immovable are movables permanently fixed in the ground.

Incorporeal immovables are rights, charges, easements in rem, and other rights whose object is a tangible immovable property.

Real property ownership is the right to use, enjoy, and dispose of a given immovable, within the limits of the laws, decrees, and regulations. This right may only be exercised over freehold (milk) properties.

Ownership of a given immovable confers on its holder the right to all produce of the property and to everything that becomes physically united with it, whether such union or production is natural or artificial.

Ownership of land extends to ownership of everything above and below its surface; accordingly, the owner of land may plant it with whatever he wishes, erect whatever buildings he wishes, carry out excavations to any desired depth, and extract from those excavations whatever they may yield, all within the restrictions imposed by the laws, decrees, and regulations.

Low-lying lands are burdened, with respect to the higher lands that overlook them, with the obligation to receive water that flows naturally from those higher lands, without any human intervention in its flow. The owner of the lower land may not erect any dam to prevent this flow. The owner of the higher land may not take any action that increases the burden of this easement on the lower land.

Every owner of a property has the right to use rainwater falling on his land and to dispose of it; however, if such use or the direction in which the water is channelled is liable to increase the burden of the natural easement of drainage referred to in the preceding article, compensation must be paid to the owner of the lower land. The same provisions apply to water from springs rising on any land. If the owner of land diverts water onto his land by sinking a well or by underground excavations, the owners of lower-lying land must receive it, but they have a right to compensation if its drainage causes them harm. Houses, courtyards, gardens, orchards, and enclosed parcels adjacent to dwellings are not subject to the easement of drainage of water in the cases provided for in the preceding paragraphs. Disputes arising from the creation or exercise of the easements referred to in the preceding paragraphs, and similarly questions of compensation owed, where appropriate, to owners of lower-lying land, shall be referred to the judge of the district court. That judge shall, in rendering his decision, balance the interests of agriculture and industry with respect for the right of ownership.

Every landowner may enclose his property, unless such enclosure prevents the exercise of an easement established for the benefit of an adjacent property.

A sale with right of redemption (bay' bil-wafa') or pledge by transfer of ownership is a sale of an immovable on condition that the seller shall have the right at any time, or upon expiry of the agreed term, to repurchase the property by refunding the price, and the buyer shall have the right to recover the price upon return of the property.

Any immovable that may be sold may also be sold with a right of redemption. It may be stipulated in the sale with right of redemption contract that the seller shall remain in possession of the property as tenant: this is the sale with exploitation (bay' bil-istighlal).

Neither the buyer nor the seller may, during the term of the contract, transfer the property, lease it, or create real rights over it except with their mutual express consent.

The contract may stipulate that the buyer shall enjoy the use of the property without charge, or that he shall receive a portion of its fruits.

The buyer shall, unless otherwise agreed, be responsible for maintaining the property and carrying out useful and necessary repairs, and may recover the resulting costs from the fruits of the property. Once the property is delivered to him, the buyer becomes liable to the seller for the fruits received — unless otherwise agreed — and each year the value of the fruits shall be set off against the principal of the debt, after deducting, where appropriate, the value of the fruits received on his own account in accordance with the contractual conditions, and the amount of his expenditure on the property.

The buyer is liable for loss or damage to the property sold, on the following terms: The amount of the loss or damage shall be set off against the principal of the debt; if that amount equals or exceeds the price of the property, the sale shall be rescinded as a matter of law, and the surplus shall be owed to the buyer, unless the loss or damage was caused by force majeure. If an insured property is lost or damaged, the insurance indemnity shall be applied in priority to payment of the creditor's debt, and the debtor's debt shall be reduced by the amount of the indemnity.

Upon the death of the buyer or seller, the right of rescission passes to their heirs.

A sale with right of redemption is indivisible, even if the debt is divided among the heirs of the buyer or the seller.

During the entire term of the contract and prior to repayment of the price to the buyer, the seller's creditors have no right to exercise any claim over the property.

If the seller does not repay the price, the buyer is entitled to request the sale of the property in order to recover his debt from the proceeds.

A privilege, in real property matters, is a real right granted to a creditor by reason of the particular nature of his debt, entitling him to rank ahead of all other creditors, even ahead of holders of charges.

Privileged debts are three only:

1. 1)The debt defined in Article 44 of Decree No. 186 of 15 March 1926.
2. 2)Judicial costs arising from the sale of the property and the distribution of the proceeds thereof.
3. 3)Transfer duties and penalties imposed for false declarations regarding the sale price.

By way of exception to the general principle laid down in Article 10 of the Decree governing the establishment of the land register, these privileges are exempt from registration.

Waqf property may not be sold, transferred gratuitously or for value, or pass by inheritance; nor may it be pledged or charged. However, it may be substituted and subjected to double lease (ijaratain) and muqata'a.

The waqf does not prejudice real rights legally acquired and reserved over the property prior to registration of the waqf in the land register.

A waqf has no legal effect until the day of its registration in the land register.

The waqf covers all things that are or become integral parts of the property, as well as its appurtenances and necessary accessories.

No right whatsoever may be acquired by prescription over waqf properties used as a mosque, church, synagogue, hospital, educational institution, or property dedicated for public use.

The rules relating to the creation, validity, purpose, partition, lease, and substitution of endowments are set out in the provisions of the special laws governing them.

Real rights are acquired and transferred by registration in the land register. In addition to that mode, ownership rights and rights of tasarruf are also acquired by accession in accordance with the provisions of Chapter III of this Part. A person who acquires an immovable by inheritance, compulsory expropriation, or court order is an owner prior to registration, but the acquisition shall have no legal effect until registration.

The effects of registration entries are defined by the provisions of Article 11 of Decree No. 188 relating to the land register.

The right to registration in the land register is acquired by the following means:

1. 1)By inheritance.
2. 2)By gift inter vivos and by bequest.
3. 3)By occupation (istighal).
4. 4)By pre-emption (shuf'a).
5. 5)By prescription.
6. 6)By virtue of contracts.
7. 7)The right to registration in respect of gifts and bequests is acquired by the mere occurrence of the gift and the death of the testator.

Freehold properties (milk) are immovable properties situated within the zones of inhabited localities as those zones are administratively defined, over which full ownership may be exercised, with the exception of properties located in the territories of the former independent State of Mount Lebanon, which remain subject to customary and local rules.

Miri lands are immovable properties the bare ownership (raqaba) of which belongs to the State and over which a right of tasarruf (disposition) may be exercised.

1. 1)Public dedicated properties (matruka muraffaqa) are immovable properties belonging to the State over which communities hold a right of use whose characteristics and extent are defined by local custom or by administrative regulations.
2. 2)The properties referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed to be the special property of the municipality if they are situated within its boundaries. Municipal authorities may cancel or modify the right of use over some of the said properties while preserving the rights of third parties.
3. 3)Municipalities may sell or dispose of the properties referred to in paragraph 2 only with the approval of the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Finance and Municipal and Rural Affairs.

Protected public domain properties (matruka mahmiya) are immovable properties belonging to the State or to municipalities and forming part of the public domain.

Vacant waste lands (mewat) are miri lands belonging to the State that are not under cultivation and have not been reclaimed; the first person to occupy such land acquires, by virtue of a permit granted by the State, a right of priority thereover, subject to the conditions prescribed in the regulations governing State property.

Tasarruf is the right to use, enjoy, and dispose of a given immovable within the conditions prescribed in the provisions of this Decree and within the limits of the laws, decrees, and regulations. This right may only be exercised over miri lands.

Tasarruf over a given immovable confers on its holder the right to all produce of the property and to everything that becomes physically united with it, whether such union or production is natural or artificial.

The holder of a right of tasarruf over land may plant it with whatever he wishes and erect whatever buildings he wishes; he may carry out excavations to any desired depth and extract from those excavations whatever building materials he wishes, and may freely dispose of such materials, together with all other products, subject in each case to the restrictions imposed by the laws, decrees, and regulations.

The holder of a right of tasarruf over an immovable may exercise over it any act of disposition whatsoever, save that he may not create a waqf over it.

Any waqf created after the entry into force of this Decree over miri land shall be null and void and treated as if it had never existed.

The right of tasarruf is extinguished after the land has been left uncultivated or unused for a period of ten consecutive years.

A legal easement may be for the benefit of the public or for the benefit of private parties.

A mortgage (rahn) is a contract whereby the debtor pledges an immovable in the hands of his creditor, or in the hands of a third party, and the creditor acquires the right to retain the property until he is fully paid. If the debt is not paid, the creditor has the right to pursue the forced transfer of ownership of the debtor's property by legal means.

A mortgage may not be constituted to secure obligations of uncertain subject-matter or uncertain performance.

The validity of a mortgage is conditional upon the existence of a debt duly and properly established.

Any immovable that may be sold may be mortgaged. Co-owned shares may not be mortgaged.

An immovable may be mortgaged as security for a debt owed to a third party other than the pledgor.

The entire mortgaged property guarantees every part of the debt; however, the debtor may not claim to take back his property before the debt is fully paid.

It may not be agreed that the mortgaged property shall, in the event of failure to pay the debt, become the property of the creditor.

The property shall remain under the supervision of the depositary (adl) and shall remain at the owner's risk and responsibility if the pledgee proves the occurrence of force majeure events.

A mortgage does not rank ahead of real rights legally established and reserved over the property prior to registration of the mortgage in the land register.

The mortgage covers all things that are or become integral parts of the property, as well as its necessary appurtenances.

The creditor may not without the debtor's consent derive any gratuitous benefit from the mortgaged property; he shall, however, cause it to produce all the fruits it is capable of yielding, and those fruits shall be set off against the secured debt, even before maturity, applied first to interest and expenses, then to the principal.

The creditor is required to maintain the mortgaged property and to carry out useful and necessary repairs, and may recover from the fruits all costs of maintenance and repairs or claim them in priority from the proceeds of the property. He may at any time be relieved of these obligations by surrendering his right of mortgage.

A mortgage is indivisible, even if the debt is divided among the heirs of the debtor and the heirs of the creditor. If a debtor's heir pays his portion of the debt he cannot claim delivery of the mortgaged property, just as a creditor's heir who has received his portion of the debt cannot deliver the property and thereby prejudice the interests of his co-heirs who have not yet received their shares.

Neither the debtor nor the creditor may dispose of the mortgaged property without their mutual consent; any contract concluded in contravention of this rule is null and void.

A mortgaged property that the pledgee-creditor lends back to the debtor or leases from him remains allocated to securing payment of the debt.

The mortgage is extinguished by payment of the debt at maturity, or by agreement between the debtor and the pledgee-creditor, or by the pledgee's unilateral declaration of intent. The extinction of the mortgage has no legal effect until the registration entry in the land register has been cancelled.

A double lease (ijaratain) is a contract whereby a person acquires permanently the right to use and enjoy a waqf property upon payment of its price. Such price consists of a specified sum of money regarded as an advance rent equivalent to the value of the right transferred, to which is added a perpetual annuity equivalent to 3 per mille of the value of the property as assessed for the purpose of levying the real property tax.

The holder of the double lease (ijaratain) is entitled at any time to purchase the bare ownership of the property for a price equivalent to thirty annual instalments.

Prior judicial authorisation must be obtained before concluding an ijaratain contract.

The holder of ijaratain has the right to use and enjoy the property as a genuine owner; he may enjoy it personally or lease it, and may freely dispose of his right, in particular by transferring it with or without consideration, mortgaging it, creating a charge over it, and imposing any other real right or easement over it.

The right of ijaratain is transferable by inheritance or by bequest in accordance with the rules applicable to miri properties.

The right of ijaratain encompasses all the produce and all accessions to the property, whether the accession is natural or artificial.

The holder of the right of ijaratain may, with the permission of the waqf trustee, plant whatever he wishes and erect whatever buildings he wishes in the property, provided he observes the regulations relating to public order, roads, development, and planning.

The holder of the right of ijaratain may carry out excavations to any depth in the property and — subject to compliance with the laws and decrees relating to mines, quarries, and antiquities and to the regulations on public order and roads — may extract building materials from those excavations, but not any other materials.

The provisions of Articles 215 and following of this Decree shall apply in all cases where the holder of the right of ijaratain has erected buildings or made plantings without prior permission from the waqf trustee.

The holder of the right of ijaratain is liable for any diminution in the value of the property caused by him. He bears the costs of maintenance and any taxes and levies affecting the property. He may not claim reimbursement of expenditure incurred or the value of any improvement he introduces.

The holder of the right of ijaratain is obligated to pay the perpetual annuity; if he fails to pay it or fails to pay compensation and other expenses owed, his right may be subjected to compulsory expropriation by legal means.

The right of ijaratain subsists for the waqf in the event of the extinction of the heirs of the holder; however, it reverts to the waqf, and is extinguished as against its holder if he has failed to exercise it for ten consecutive years.

The right of ijaratain is not extinguished by the total destruction of the buildings or plantings; it continues over the land.

Alluvion — that is, silt deposited gradually and imperceptibly on land adjoining a watercourse — belongs to the owner of that land.

The owner of land displaced from its location by a sudden accident to lower-lying land may reclaim it, where it can be identified, within the year following the accident, under penalty of forfeiture of that right.

Large and small islands that form naturally in the beds of rivers and streams constitute the private property of the State.

Islands, large and small, and alluvion forming in lakes, as well as the alluvion of lakes and the sea, constitute the private property of the State.

Lands recovered from the sea, lakes, swamps, and marshes without prior survey constitute the private property of the State.

If a river or stream changes its course and takes a new channel, the owners of the adjacent land have the right to acquire ownership of the old channel, each in the surface area extending in front of his land up to the presumed median line of the river; the price of the old channel is determined by experts appointed by the president of the local court. The proceeds of such a sale shall be distributed as compensation to the owners of the land occupied by the new channel, in proportion to the value of the land lost by each of them.

The owner of a piece of land also becomes the owner by accession of a well sunk by a third party thereon, provided he pays the price thereof; he may, however, if he so wishes, allow the other party to take the crops produced in exchange for a fixed annual rental. If the well has not yet been completed, the landowner may require the third party to abandon it without paying him for ploughing and the well.

Buildings, plantings, and structures on any land are presumed to have been made by the landowner at his own expense and to belong to him, unless there is evidence to the contrary.

A landowner who builds on his land using materials belonging to another, or sows it with seeds belonging to another, is not required to return those materials or seeds, but must pay their value to their owner.

If a third party erects buildings or makes plantings on land belonging to another, using materials or plants belonging to the landowner, the landowner acquires those buildings or plantings by accession under the following conditions:

If the person who erected the buildings or made the plantings acted in good faith, he shall not be required to pay for fruits taken, or to pay for damage or deterioration caused by him; and if he has built or planted on land sought to be recovered, he cannot be compelled to demolish the buildings he erected or uproot the plantings he made, but shall be paid compensation for the improvement brought about on the land by those buildings and plantings. If the buildings or plantings exceed the value of the land, the holder of the buildings or plantings is entitled to acquire ownership of the land on which they stand after paying the owner the value of the bare land.

If the person who erected the buildings or made the plantings acted in bad faith, he must restore to the landowner the value of the fruits he received. Even if he is not responsible for a loss resulting from a fall in prices, he is liable for damage or deterioration even where it has not been caused by him. He may be required to demolish the buildings or uproot the plantings, unless the landowner prefers to keep them and pay their owner the mere cost of materials and plants, after deducting the costs of removal if he is compelled to remove them. Upon expiry of the usufruct term, these provisions apply to a usufructuary who has erected buildings or made plantings on the land.

If the plantings or buildings have been made or erected by a third party using materials not belonging to him, the owner of those materials has no right to reclaim them but is entitled to compensation payable by that third party and also by the landowner, but from the latter only to the extent of the value remaining in his hands.

If the plantings or buildings were made or erected on co-owned property by one of the co-owners without the permission of the other co-owners, the property shall be partitioned where necessary at the direction of the court, which shall then apply to each share the provisions of Article 216.

An heir acquires by succession the immovables included in the estate; however, he may not dispose of them vis-à-vis third parties until they are registered in the land register.

Estates are governed by the provisions of general law.

A foreigner is only entitled to inherit or receive a bequest of real property if the laws of his country accord Syrians and Lebanese reciprocal rights. A foreigner's real property estate by inheritance or bequest is governed by the laws of his country.

The following real rights may exist over immovable property:

1. 1)Ownership
2. 2)Tasarruf (right of disposition)
3. 3)Superficie (surface right)
4. 4)Usufruct
5. 5)Right of priority over vacant waste lands
6. 6)Real easements
7. 7)Rights of pledge: mortgage (rahn) and sale with right of redemption
8. 8)Privileges and charges
9. 9)Waqf (endowment)
10. 10)Double lease (ijaratain)
11. 11)Long lease (emphyteusis)
12. 12)Option arising from a sale with right of redemption.

No co-owner of jointly held immovable property may exercise his rights over the entire property or over a specified portion of it without the consent of the remaining co-owners. Nor may he exercise any right whatsoever over a co-owner's share without that co-owner's permission; however, the consent of an absent co-owner shall be presumed to have been given at all times in matters relating to the management and administration of the property, provided no harm accruing to the absent co-owner from such management exceeds the value of his share, calculated at the minimum. This provision does not preclude the application of Decrees Nos. 188 and 189 establishing the land registration system.

The co-owners shall, by mutual agreement, determine the manner of enjoyment of the co-owned property, and the fruits of the property shall be distributed in proportion to the respective shares, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

Each co-owner of jointly held property is obligated to pay, in proportion to his share, the costs of administration, repair, maintenance, and the taxes and levies applicable to the co-owned property. A co-owner who has advanced all or part of such expenses is entitled to recover them, unless they were incurred solely for the purpose of improving or beautifying the property, in which case they remain the liability of the person who incurred them.

Each co-owner may freely dispose of his rights in the property; he may transfer them to a third party or create a charge over them without the consent of his co-owners, but he may not mortgage his share.

Landowners may create over or for the benefit of their properties any easements they wish, provided that such easements are not imposed on persons or for the benefit of persons but rather on or for the benefit of land, and do not contravene public policy. The manner of use of such easements and their extent are defined by the instrument creating them; if no instrument exists, the following rules shall apply:

A creditor holding a charge may not assign his right to a third party without the debtor's express consent, unless the contract contains a clear provision authorising him to do so (for example, where the contract states that the charge is to bearer).

Assignment of the right is effected either by registration in the land register or in the charges register, or by endorsing the registration certificate. In the latter case, the endorser's signature must be officially certified in accordance with the provisions of Articles 59, 60, and 61 of Decree No. 188 issued by the High Commissioner of the French Republic on 15 March 1926.

Holders of debts secured by a charge over an immovable may pursue it in whatever hands it passes and receive the amounts allocated to them, each according to his registered rank.

A long lease (emphyteusis / muqata'a) is a contract whereby its holder acquires, for a specified consideration, the right to erect whatever buildings and make whatever plantings he wishes on waqf property; and he may thereby acquire exclusive ownership of those buildings and plantings within the conditions specified in Article 196.

The long lease with muqata'a — that is, with a fixed annual payment — is the only contract authorised; no other contract is permitted.

The consideration shall be a specified sum of money equivalent to the value of the right transferred, to which is added a perpetual annuity at the rate of two and a half per mille of the value of the property as assessed for the purpose of levying the real property tax. The rights arising from long-lease contracts other than muqata'a, acquired prior to the entry into force of this Decree, must be redeemed by purchase pursuant to the provisions of Decree No. 80 of 29 December 1926.

The holder of the right of muqata'a may at any time acquire ownership of the property for a purchase price equivalent to thirty annual instalments.

Prior judicial authorisation must be obtained before concluding a muqata'a contract.

The holder of the right of muqata'a is the owner of the buildings erected and the plantings made on the waqf property; he uses, enjoys, and disposes of them with full freedom as an owner. He may specifically transfer them with or without consideration, mortgage them, create a charge over them, create a waqf over them, or impose any other real right or easement within the limits of his right.

The endowed land shall be treated as an appurtenance of the buildings erected on it and the plantings growing in it; the land is therefore included in any transfer, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

The right of muqata'a is transferable by inheritance or by bequest in accordance with the rules applicable to freehold (milk) properties.

If no trace whatsoever of buildings or plantings remains on the land, the right of the muqata'a holder is forfeited if he fails to rebuild those buildings or replant within three years following a notice served on him by the waqf trustee, or if he fails to pay three years' due annual annuity. Forfeiture of the right in these two cases is declared by court order.

The right of muqata'a is extinguished by consolidation of rights in the same person, by forfeiture of the right by its holder, or by extinction of the heirs; in all three cases the right reverts to the waqf.

The provisions relating to co-ownership and partition apply to the rights of ijaratain and long lease (muqata'a).

The provisions of local law relating to gifts apply to foreigners.

The capacity to create a waqf and the form of its constitutive instrument are governed by the provisions of local law.

Immovable property falls into three categories:

Immovables by nature are material things that, by reason of their very substance, have a fixed and non-transferable location, such as land, mines, plants rooted in the soil (so long as they remain attached to it), and buildings. The term "buildings" encompasses not only constructed structures (such as dwellings, warehouses, factories, temples, granaries, etc.) but also engineering works of every description, including bridges, wells, furnaces, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, and the like, provided they are formed by an assembly of building materials fastened together in a permanent manner, whether above or below ground level. All fixtures and fittings attached to a building and intended to complete it (such as balconies, gutters, door locks, and water-supply fittings) are likewise regarded as immovables by nature.